Eco Domain (.eco) Last updated: March 13th, 2023

Finding an eco-friendly domain retailer

Looking for a .eco domain retailer that is environmentally friendly? In this article, we've got you covered.

There are now over a hundred places you can buy a new .eco domain. We are often asked which retailers we recommend. Our answer is that, well, it depends…

When buying a new domain name there's a lot to consider:

• finding a retailer in your region or that accepts your currency
• the services that the retailer offers such as web hosting, email service or DNS performance
• the price of the domain name and available hosting packages
• the security features they offer to keep your domain secure

We have tried to make it as easy as possible on go.eco (or kauf.eco for German-speakers or allez.eco for French-speakers) to filter the list of retailers to find one that meets your needs.

One of the things that makes .eco unique is our focus on supporting the environmental community online. We think it is really important to consider the environmental impact of the choices we make - and that includes deciding where to buy your .eco domain name.

The environmental impact of a domain name

Managing your domain name and hosting your website requires a lot of electricity. How that electricity is generated has a big impact on the carbon footprint of your website. Some data centers depend on electricity generated using coal or other fossil fuels. This means that a lot of greenhouse gasses could be emitted to keep your site running.

Fortunately, there are many .eco retailers who are concerned about the climate impact of their operations and power their data center with electricity generated 100% from renewable sources, like wind or hydro electricity. Renewable energy may not be available for all data center locations or for all business activities, so some retailers invest in carbon credits to offset the emissions produced by their operations.

It's important to consider not just how the electricity is generated, but also how efficiently that electricity is used. Less energy efficient data centers require more cooling, more computers and other equipment to handle the same processing load. A data center can be evaluated based on its Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). Data centers with a PUE of 1.2 or lower are currently considered to be highly efficient.

Running a data center requires lots of computers, cables, circuits and other electronic equipment. That equipment fails periodically and needs to be replaced or upgraded. Some retailers are dealing with that electronic waste (e-waste) by recycling it and disposing of it responsibly to keep it from impacting our environment.

It may not make sense to save a few bucks per month on hosting only to select a retailer that doesn't have a sustainability policy or isn't powering their services using renewable energy.

In addition, domain retailers operate an office. Like most businesses there are steps that they can take to reduce their environmental footprint, such as encouraging sustainable commuting, teleworking or running a paperless office.

Eco-friendly domain retailers

When searching for a .eco name on our sites, you can use the Environmental Policy filter to see only those retailers that have a published sustainability policy.

Here in this post, we want to provide a bit more information about those retailers and the actions they are taking to protect the environment. See the table below for a summary of some of the key sustainability characteristics of eco-friendly domain retailers.

In compiling this data, we've relied on the self-reported claims from the retailers based on their linked sustainability policy. If you have any questions or comments based on this analysis, please let us know at support@bigroom.eco.

We hope that this information makes finding an eco-friendly domain retailer a bit easier and will give you peace of mind that you can host your new website without adversely affecting the environment.