Very green

The Atomic server is now CO2 neutral, and the forests a few trees richer.

Atomic has signed on with a newly launched organisation, Tick Green, which manages tree planting specifically aimed at offsetting CO2 emissions from web servers.

The trees are planted in northern NSW by the Department of Primary Industries & Forests NSW.

Tick Green determined that the Atomic server requires 6 carbon credits per year. Simply, each carbon credit represents one tonne of CO2 being removed from the atmosphere and it takes just over five trees to do this.

The trees each remove a tonne of carbon for at least 100 years, which is a stronger requirement than for Kyoto -compliant credits. All the legalities and more interesting information about the carbon pool are available here:

http://www.forest.nsw.gov.au/env_services/carbon/credits/default.asp

According to Forests NSW calculations it takes just over five trees (5.33 trees) to create one carbon credit over a 100 year period. So Atomic will be responsible for having 32 trees planted per year, with a total of 96 over the three years we have signed up for (the longest contract currently available).

Tick Green are supplied carbon credits by Carbon Planet (who also provide offsetting services which you or your company may be interested in, eg flights and vehicles). A bit more about them and the credits is available here:

http://www.carbonplanet.com/home/credits_forests_nsw.php

Tick Green is a new initiative, and Atomic is one of the first sites to become involved. You can find out more about Tick Green by clicking on the logo we're now proudly displaying on the site, or here:

https://www.tickgreen.com/index.html

It's a small step forward, but one we need to make. We run servers, we consume electricity as part of running the business. By doing this we're countering the environmental impact of an unavoidable part of running Atomic.

Running more energy efficient servers is another direction we continue to move in. All of us embrace technology, it's the foundation that Atomic is built on. You're part of Atomic, and you too can help take steps to reduce the impact of the tech you love, for the world we love.