A couple of weekends ago, Patrick, Sophy and I went to the DC Green Festival, where we met someone from the Winslow Management Company. Winslow operates a green mutual fund (NASDAQ: WGGFX) which makes environmentally responsible investments in industries ranging from energy to healthcare, and Internet software to building materials. I asked why Internet software is considered eco-friendly, given the amount of power data centers consume (Ryan McIntyre has a great post on this). The rep stammered that when people use web apps, they save paper. Um, right.
But - a few days later, I met Jason Lemkin from EchoSign, whose e-signatures app really does save paper. In addition, EchoSign has an informal referral program through which the company plants trees on behalf of customers who help bring in new signups.
And just now I came across this Rackspace UK press release on Webhosting.info. Earlier this month, Rackspace began offering carbon neutral web hosting in partnership with the International Tree Foundation. Customers now have the option to offset carbon emissions produced by their web apps by planting one tree per server. The International Tree Foundation has even set aside land in Pembrokeshire, just for Rackspace customers.
So maybe that guy from Winslow had a point after all. Web apps can be eco-friendly. Or at least carbon neutral :)
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