Is Email Green?

Many offices have moved from sending paper memos to sending company-wide emails. While this is undoubtedly a greener option, that begs the question: Exactly how green is it?

When you send an email, it isn’t using paper products, but it is using energy. It might not take much energy to send a single email, but think of all of the emails you send and receive in a year – hundreds, thousands, millions of emails. Even the ocean is made up for drops of water.

I’m not trying to discourage you from sending emails. This is still one of the greenest communication methods, especially if you don’t print emails unless you really need them.

There are even greener options. One of the best I’ve found is an email program run by a company called ThinkHost. The email here is free, much like Gmail, but your emails are sent using 100% renewable energy – wind and solar. ThinkHost purchases green energy certificates to cover ALL of their energy usage (they also offer web hosting, which you should consider). In addition, many of their workers telecommute, saving fuel, and use laptops rather than desktops, which also saves energy.

You can learn more about their green services here.

Maybe I’m just out of the loop, but I had no idea that an green email and hosting company existed. “Green” is such a buzzword these days that some great companies are getting lost in the shuffle. We so commonly think of email as green already, but it is important to always ask “how can we go greener,” and do a little research. You’ll be surprised at the green solutions you’ll uncover!