Why we decided to ‘Go Green’
Why are we, an IT company from Wiltshire switching our focus to ‘Going Green’ in 2023? It’s easy to think that sustainability is something that starts with governments, but we think that everyone can play their part, from huge organisations and governments down to smaller brands and individuals. Ever since Black Nova Designs was first launched, we knew that as well as serving our clients and making IT work for them, we wanted to help other people too. Whether that was by providing jobs, sponsoring local community groups or supporting charities, we’ve always wanted to make sure we’re making our mark. And that’s what we’ve done, raising money for charities, growing the number of employees and teaching kids how to build PCs! Then, last summer (the summer of 2022), we decided we wanted to add a new focus to our charitable endeavours.
Why is ‘Going Green’ important for tech firms?
It’s becoming increasingly clear that tech in all its forms, has a big impact on the environment. We use the internet multiple times every day – sometimes throughout our working days – without thinking about the carbon footprint! All those emails, videos, images, files, WhatsApp messages and Google searches require data to be processed, and while it might not feel as relevant to climate change as filling up a car, using plastic or flying on an aeroplane, it is a problem. Data centres consume vast amounts of energy both to run servers, but also to cool them, as they degenerate huge amounts of heat. That means data processing contributes to carbon emissions and exacerbates climate change. As our lives are ever more reliant on digital technologies, the need for data centres keeps growing. At Black Nova we know how amazing IT can be to connect people and run businesses, but this can’t be at the expense of the natural world.
With an ever-increasing demand for websites – and therefore website hosting – in 2022 we decided to invest in our hosting capability. More and more people – sole traders, side-hustlers, the self-employed – and businesses want websites of their own, and it now represents 80% of our annual turnover. So, we ploughed energy and money into ensuring we can serve that demand with UK-based, fast and responsive hosting.
We are now the only hosting company in Wiltshire who has their own infrastructure. That means that we don’t resell hosting space from third parties – we own the entire hosting hardware and rent the data centre space. When we made that decision, we knew we needed to ensure we focused on sustainability too.
That’s why we announced our ‘Going Green’ initiative earlier this year. We know that IT firms just like us need to focus on sustainability and mitigate our impact on the environment. If we can make greener tech the norm, and support some other sustainable initiatives along the way, we’ll be doing our bit to protect the planet for our children and their children.
How is Black Nova Designs ‘Going Green’?
Our data centre, Swindon-based company Proximity is using 100% renewable energy to power and cool their Edge 7 data centre. The team there have been fantastic and stepped up when a sustainable data centre we were due to partner with tried to triple their prices at the last moment. As this part of our business grows, we’re proud that we’ve put sustainability at the heart of this service and our customers can enjoy the benefits of their website and know they are using a sustainable data processing centre.
As well as ensuring our hosting service is as green as possible, we’ve also made sure we tick the boxes with our own operation. Our offices in Calne are powered by solar panels and we have a ‘no to low paper’ office, where we avoid printing wherever we can. We also encourage our clients to upgrade to newer IT hardware (laptops, PCs etc) which are more energy efficient. Of course, some of you might wonder where that leaves the older tech – surely, we don’t tell them to just throw it away?! The answer is that we don’t want any old tech to end up in landfill. We are an authorised recycle centre for old tech thanks to our partnership with Green Machine (you can find more details of that agreement here). We also offer a service where we restore old laptops to factory conditions (that means wiping all your files and ensuring the battery is in top condition ) before they are donated to local schools and colleges.
And the final element in our ‘Going Green’ initiative? Our co-founders Kyle and Danielle Holmes really love the ocean, it’s their happy place for relaxation and reflection – and they even got married on a beach! As it becomes ever clearer that the oceans and our environment are inextricably linked, they wanted to play a small part in helping to protect and improve the health of seas and oceans around the world.
That’s why every month we adopt one coral via Coral Guardian using a percentage of our monthly hosting profit. We can name the coral, and a certificate of adoption is sent to our office, so anyone who visits us can see the difference we are making! Coral Guardian uses the funds raised to protect and restore coral ecosystems and works with local coastal and island communities to improve knowledge of the importance of healthy coral reefs.
If you are looking to work with a company that cares about the planet and about the success of your website why not get in touch