Green Square is the symbol of our UK server provider commitment to the environment and encompasses various initiatives that they are undertaking at BlueSquare Data to help make the ecompany greener, to reduce  carbon footprint and make be more carbon conscious.

Where possible we believe in reducing BlueSquare Data's impact on the environment in the first place, for example by using the latest power efficient technologies in our data centres.

It is our ultimate aim to become carbon neutral.

Carbon Offsetting

BlueSquare Data offers carbon neutral hosting through tree planting with the Carbon Managers:

• We support the Trees 4 Business Campaign and have made a commitment to plant 500 trees this year alone through our support of the Carbon Managers
• This commitment is published in a public register which can be viewed at www.carbonmanagers.com/treeregister
• The trees will be planted in Scotland and will help to return the Highland Glens to their former glory. A single tree can absorb a tonne of CO2 each year and our planting programme is designed to make a significant difference to our net carbon output. One hundred thousand trees have already been planted there under this scheme.
• The aircon units in Milton Keynes use a system called "free air cooling" which means if the outside temperature is low enough to cool the hot air extracted from the data floors, then the chillers will not enable. This saves energy whilst also making the most of a natural resource. A survey was done taking the average temperature of the area of BlueSquare MK over the space of a year and it showed that on average the chillers wouldn't be used for 9 months of the year.

Data Centres

Our carbon neutral initiatives do not start and end with tree planting. We have several projects underway within our own data centres. For example:

• Our new facility in Milton Keynes uses the latest Airedale OptiChill cooling system with an Energy Efficiency Ratio of 3.0 - which means that for every one kilowatt of power input, three kilowatts of cooling power are generated
• We are currently installing the latest evaporative cooling technology in the non critical areas of our Maidenhead and Milton Keynes campuses - technology which typically uses 75% less energy than conventional systems
• Our new virtual server platforms for PoundHost Internet offer significant energy saving opportunities over traditional dedicated servers.

Research

We are collaborating with the School of Engineering and Design and the Research Support and Development Office at Brunel University to identify practical ways we can recycle the heat and airflow generated by our air conditioning units to minimise the draw on external power supplies. The project will involve sponsoring an MSc or PhD thesis over the course of a year to research, design and test a prototype prior to commercial implementation.

Recycling

Given the nature of our industry, we receive a significant volume of packaging on products we buy. However, using the latest compacting technology, we ensure we capture, crush and then recycle all of this packaging material.

At BlueSquare Data they  are committed to delivering a sustainable contribution towards minimising the carbon footprint of our business.

All paper generated from the day to day workings of BlueSquare Data is collected once a week securely shredded and recycled as well as all cans and plastic bottles from drinks.

 Internet Watch Foundation

Our UK server provider BlueSquare Data Group is a member of the Internet Watch Foundation, the UK internet hotline for the public to report their inadvertent exposure to online child sexual abuse content hosted anywhere in the world and criminally obscene and incitement to racial hatred content hosted in the UK.
The IWF works in partenership with the online industry, government, police and the public. As the result of this self-regulatory approach, less that 1% of online child sexual abuse content has apparently been hosted in the UK since 2003, down from 18% in 1997.

For more information or to report a website visit www.iwf.org.uk.