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Brightfire Ventures LLC (DBA Greenest Host)
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Tell us a little about your product or service.
Greenest Host is a web hosting solution for individuals and small to mid-size businesses that is 100% powered by solar energy and was founded on the principal that, in addition to being the ethically superior choice, "going green" can also mean an economically better value and still bring the highest levels of performance. There no longer has to be a trade-off between making the right choice for the environment and having your needs met 100%. We are headquartered in sunny San Diego, California, in the middle of one of the world’s best year-round climate. Our data center is powered by one of the most state-of-the-art data center designs and is located just 90 miles northeast of the city in one of the sunniest year-round areas in North America. The center is powered by 120 solar panels which generate 100% of the electricity needed to power the AMD Opteron Servers night and day.
How did you start your company?
It's 100% self funded, mostly from my own personal savings.
Greenest Host is changing the Internet web hosting landscape one website at a time, by offering zero emissions web hosting...
What or who inspired you to go into business for yourself?In March, I started a company called Brightfire Ventures to look for opportunities in the “Clean Tech” (a.k.a Green Technology) industry. It was through this effort that I aimed to closely align my personal values (including my desire to do some good in the world) with my daily work life. After doing some research, I became bothered by how overlooked the impact the power required to sustain the ever-growing Internet is on the environment and how little it weighed on discussions about sustainability and corporate stewardship. The numbers don’t lie: most web servers in operation today have the same yearly carbon emissions as burning 107 gallons of gas into the atmosphere and for every 5 web servers that use power from a renewable energy source like ours is the equivalent of taking one passenger car off the road for a year. Popular websites require 10s of thousands of servers to sustain their businesses. I’ll let you do the math. That’s how the idea for Greenest Host was born and today we are offering a solution. Our web servers produce ZERO carbon emissions because they are powered 100% of the time by a vast clean energy producing solar array (and batteries that capture the excess energy during the day power them at night.) There will be more than 40 million new personal and business websites added to the Internet this year, if only one million (<2.5%) of those website chose a “Green” hosting solution, it would have the same environmental impact as saving 7,900 acres from being deforested, planting 240,000 trees or replacing the energy consumption of about 1,400 American families.
What were some of the startup hurdles you overcame?
If consumers knew how much of an impact their choice of hosting providers made on the environment and how easy, reliable and comparably priced making the right choice for the environment is now, the decision would be a relative no-brainer for most people. But that's our biggest challenge: educating consumers that an affordable alternative to 'dirty' web hosting is available.
How has LegalZoom helped you in starting up your business?
Forming our LLC. We've also been working with LegalZoom's partner, The Tax Club, on tax issues. And if we decide to take investment for Greenest Host, we'll incorporate it as a separate entity and Legal Zoom will handle the incorporation filing.
Description
Greenest Host is changing the Internet web hosting landscape one website at a time, by offering zero emissions web hosting. The company does not purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) or carbon offsets, rather it powers all of its state-of-the-art servers and data center cooling with 100% clean solar power 100% of the time. The service was first launched online in August 2007. Greenest Host is a privately held company headquartered in San Diego, California. Here's a good overview: http://www.demo.com/demoletter/company_lives_its_go_green_pledge.php
