Written by: Lynn Cadet
Edited by: Lillian Castro
TL; DR: The hosting industry has one of the largest carbon footprints in the world. Users who want an eco-friendly alternative can often feel stumped in their search for a web host. But look no further. Krystal.io is a UK-based web hosting company that uses 100% renewable energy to power its network of cloud servers without compromising on performance or features. We spoke with David Kimberley, COO of Krystal, about why cloud hosting is the best solution, what makes Krystal different from other green web hosts, and its mission to do right by the planet.
Being sustainable isn’t always easy. Some things are just beyond our control, such as airline emissions or plastic buildup. But being mindful of our habits can help in the fight against climate change. That may look different to different people.
One easy way to start is by making conscious buying decisions. According to Business News Daily, 83% of Americans surveyed are concerned about the environmental impact of their purchasing choices and think it’s important for companies to design sustainable products.
Many brands have already answered the call to reduce their impact. You can research brands and see whether they prioritize eco-friendly measures and initiatives in their operations. But be cautious of greenwashing. It’s a deceptive marketing tactic that businesses use to appear as if they are sustainable to reel in more customers.
If you’re looking for an eco-friendly hosting partner, Krystal.io is the real deal. Web hosting is one of the highest sources of carbon emissions on the planet. By joining Krystal, website owners can help offset some of that impact and steer the industry in the right direction.
“Our core mission is to provide web hosting that’s fair to you and the planet. It’s the whole reason we’re in the business. Instead of shareholder returns, we invest our profits into protecting the planet,” said David Kimberley, COO of Krystal.
Krystal offers a robust cloud hosting platform built on the latest and greenest technology. Its data centers leverage renewable energy to power its servers and networks, providing ultra-performance and 100% uptime to customers. So users get not only green hosting but also powerful and efficient hosting.
In the Business of Helping the Planet
The internet consumes about 416.2TWh of energy per year. To put that into context, the web consumes more power than the entire UK. With numbers like these, tech’s environmental impact may seem inevitable. But Krystal proves the opposite, showing that conscious efforts can change everything.
“The key thing is that our platform runs on renewables. Data centers consume a ton of power. So the more hosting companies can move toward renewable electricity, the better,” said David.
Krystal is leading the charge in an industry that has been slow to relinquish its reliance on fossil fuels. In 2017, Krystal became one of the first hosting providers to power its data centers and facilities with 100% renewable energy from the sun, wind, and sea. Its team also fulfills its mission through other green initiatives.
“We’ve got a lot of internal initiatives. Every single month, we plant thousands of trees. We donate 1% of our revenue to further environmental causes around the world. We’re also B Corp certified, which is a rubber stamp to say this company is practicing the correct things from a sustainability and transparency point of view,” said David.
Unlike many other hosts, Krystal doesn’t just partake in carbon offsetting but does the work to reduce the actual impact of its services and make them 100% sustainable. David advises users to research green hosts to assess their impact before purchasing a plan.
“My advice would be to do your research. It’s not costing you more to make that move. And what you’ll end up with is not just better for the planet, but also you might end up with a better hosting solution,” said David.
Web Hosting That You and the Environment Can Rely On
Krystal doesn’t compromise on power. Users receive the same reliable and performant web hosting they would find with other hosts but with an eco-friendly focus. This is evident in the fact that Krystal has won the UK’s Best Hosted Service three times — including two in the last two years.
With Krystal, users can make a conscious hosting decision without worrying about missing out on performance and features. Krystal offers premium cloud hosting plans with all the essentials, including NVMe storage, unlimited bandwidth, daily backups, and DDoS protection using it’s state-of-the-art cloud platform Katapult developed by Krystal.
The Krystal team is investigating ARM processors because ARM cuts power consumption in half while maintaining high speed. “We still need to make sure the software we run on the service supports ARM. At the moment, not everything does. But we’re still working on that,” said David.
Another highlight of Krystal’s platform is its award-winning customer service. Krystal shows its dedication to offering the best hosting experience by listening to customer feedback. Besides its standard phone support, its Discord community allows the team to learn more about user experience and the improvements users seek. Customer feedback has kept them agile.
“Having a strong community and customer engagement has always been super important. And that’s how we evolved. We do things now we didn’t do five years ago. We don’t do them because we thought we should but because we listened to customer feedback,” said David.
Because Krystal does everything in-house, it can develop tailored solutions for customers. Its managed WordPress platform, Onyx, was built by its developers and is currently undergoing a revamp.
The Future is Hybrid, Cloud, and AI
The cloud has cemented itself as the number one hosting type among users. And it doesn’t seem to be letting go of the crown anytime soon. David told us the cloud will be the standard of web hosting going forward because of its unmatched reliability and performance.
“I think the future is going to be cloud 100% across the board for web hosting. There won’t be a split between web hosting and cloud. It will just be about cloud web hosting,” said David.
Many web hosting companies still operate from a single physical location, but David sees more decentralization coming with increased cloud adoption. He also said more consumers will seek a hybrid approach to their web hosting.
“Web hosting companies will have to get stronger partnerships with other suppliers so users can cherry-pick what they want. It will become more about partnerships versus one web hosting company doing everything,” said David.
Don’t forget to mention the introduction of AI. Hosting providers have already adopted AI for website builders and customer support tasks. “I think that AI enablement across the platform is the future because it saves time, and everybody wants to save time. An AI toolkit that will help guide support teams and businesses in the right direction. Katapult, our own cloud platform, now supports AI workloads,” said David.
