Acorn Host is a green reseller host. Reseller host means that Acorn Host buy hosting space from another web host and sell that space to their own customers. Reseller hosting is not unusual, your current host is probably a reseller host.

This is what Acorn Host say about themselves:

Web hosting from a company that shares your values. We are dedicated to being a company that enriches and supports life. We offer exceptional uptime, responsive service, and carbon neutral hosting.

Sounds good, but let’s get back to the reseller part. From what we have been able to dig up Acorn Host servers are located in a data-centre owned by either ServInt or SwitchMedia (I would bet my money on ServInt). But none of these two web hosts are a green web host. So that means Acorn Host is not a reseller host of another green web host.

But how is Acorn Host a green web host then you might ask? Well, Acorn Host says this on their site:

Acorn Host purchases Green Certificates monthly for the amount of energy that is used to run the servers, office equipment, lights, etc. Green Certificates (also known as Green Tags) are a simple way to offset the use of carbon-based energy sources and effectively power a business (or your home) on 100% renewable energy resources, without changing electricity providers. Find out more about the Green Certificates program at 3phases.com.

Acorn Host buys energy credits (also known as RECs or Green Tags) to make their hosting green. This is not the best way to be a green web host on, but it is a start. Green Blog would love to see Acorn Host become greener by taking part in more “green projects” or actually doing it’s hosting like Aiso. But being a reseller host is not the easiest thing. You can’t buy your own data-centres just like that. So we understand if Acorn Host can’t be any better. That is why we need to put more pressure on our governments and energy suppliers to drop the investments in fossil fuels and nuclear energy and start supporting renewable energy. That way all hosts will become green web hosts to a certain extent.

I also want to mention that the most recognized certifier of RECs is Green-e, an independent, non-profit group that verifies renewable energy credits and certifies that they are what they claim to be. Acorn Host uses this RECs certifier.

But does Acorn Host offer anything more worth mentioning? Well in fact they do. Acorn Host is woman owned and offers discounts to non-profit organisations.

http://www.acornhost.com