Infomaniak offsets its own CO2 emissions by 200%, including, for example, manufacturing and disposal (recycling) of servers, generating electricity (even renewable), staff transport to get to work and air travel required for business.

Infomaniak is MyClimate-certified and has been for over 10 years. This Swiss non-profit foundation was set up in 2002 at the EPFZ Engineering School to provide comprehensive climate protection services.

As a green web host, Infomaniak is currently offsetting the carbon it produces by supporting a CO2 storage project in a forest reserve in the Swiss canton of Jura (Vallon de Soulce, Undervilier). This involves no longer using the wood from this reserve. The resulting wood biomass stores CO2 and reduces its concentration in the air. What's more, by no longer harvesting the wood, habitats can be created for endangered species.

Electrical power used by Infomaniak to run its datacenters and offices comprises:

 60% hydro power ("TÜV SÜD EE01"-certified)
 and 40% renewable energy ("Naturemade Star"-certified).
 
Target: By 2025, Infomaniak will power all its facilities with electricity from renewable sources ("Naturemade"-certified).

The company's electricity generators and datacenters are now part of the Swissgrid electricity regulation market.  By making its facilities available (during essential monthly checks to ensure they are operating properly) and by feeding into the local Swiss power grid, Infomaniak is helping to stabilise the Swiss grid and boost the efficiency of power generation infrastructure.

Infomaniak buys only energy-efficient "low-voltage" technology servers (in terms of electricity usage and heat given off).

As the processor uses the most power in a server, Infomaniak works exclusively with "low-voltage" Xeon L-series chips. When operating at full power, these processors use 40% less energy than older generations. By making this choice, we have increased the number of machines by 20% while cutting our total electricity consumption by 5%.

Infomaniak uses inverters to ensure a stable power supply. These inverters are on standby 99% of the year, which means they are 99% efficient. So, for 100 watts of electricity used by a server, just 1 goes to the inverters.
Our inverters use "eBoost" technology developed in Teissin (Switzerland) and only kick-in when required, compared to conventional units that work all the time.

The new green datacenter at Satigny was commissioned on 1 December 2013 and boasts a energy-efficiency indicator (PUE) of less than 1.1, making it, as far as we know, the greenest in Switzerland!

This environmentally-friendly datacenter is cooled exclusively by filtered outdoor air. It uses "Fresh Air" technology to lower temperatures without the need for air-conditioning. Our servers can run constantly at temperatures of 35°C and even up to 45°C if it does not exceed 20% of their running time. In winter, the heat generated by the servers is recycled to keep the facilities warm.

The datacenter at Vernier is cooled two-thirds of the time with fresh (un-chilled) air from outside. This is supplemented by a simple, natural air-cooling system using adiabatic water evaporation. It kicks-in automatically when the outside temperature exceeds 18°C. Infomaniak has already been using this technology since 2007.

Reuse its internal servers

If a server were no longer performing well enough for a product and had to be replaced with a more powerful server, every effort would be made to reuse the old server for another product or service that required fewer resources.

Keep its servers for at least five years

The aim is to reduce the amount of CO2 generated during the server’s lifetime. In fact, given the company’s renewable energy source, the majority of CO2 related to servers is emitted when the servers are produced. Using them for as long as possible also means that fewer rare earth elements required for their production are used.

The decommissioned servers are fully recycled:
The materials recovered from decommissioned servers are sorted and taken exclusively to official SWICO-approved recycling facilities. This partnership gives Infomaniak the assurance that its waste is processed in compliance with current legislation and that the waste recovery centres meet relevant environmental standards, such as a ban on exporting materials to countries in the Global South (without the guarantee of environmentally-friendly waste processing measures).

Infomaniak provides its customers with a choice of energy-saving technology, i.e. by offering them a Cloud Server instead of a dedicated server. Server components are, in reality, shared by several customers, while ensuring they have their own dedicated facilities. This way, we can optimise the energy used without compromising the quality of service provided.

Infomaniak has a non-motorised travel plan for its staff, to encourage eco-friendly travel and physical exercise.

As a result, staff receive an allowance that varies depending on their choice of transport and distance travelled to work.

The highest allowance is 1,500 CHF, if an employee agrees to walk to work. A sliding scale applies thereafter depending on the form of transport used. These are, in descending order: bicycle or pedestrian all-year-round, bicycle or pedestrian from April to October, public transport all-year-round, bicycle in summer + public transport in winter, car-sharing.

Infomaniak provides its staff with five company-owned electric bikes.

Our intention is to minimise business travel and adopt video and audio conferences as much as possible.

Infomaniak is committed to stopping business air travel. When this is unavoidable, corresponding CO2 emissions must be doubly offset (by 200%).

Infomaniak has an electric company car, one of the first on the market, which is now 12 years old. This saloon car has a 130 km range, and emits no greenhouse gases, fine particles or carbon monoxide.

As a green web host, Infomaniak has, since 2009, worked with Nest, a pension provider that selects its investments based on ecological and social criteria, thereby contributing to a more sustainable economy and society.  All investments are assessed from an ethical perspective. Notable exclusions include GM crops, arms, child labour and nuclear energy.

Infomaniak supports a number of nature conservation associations by donating 1% of its turnover every month from new annual contracts. Beneficiaries include WWF, the Bruno Manser Fund or the Shipstern Nature Reserve.

Infomaniak has made environmental issues part of its company management process since 2015, in line with ISO 14001 certification. This quality standard sets out management criteria that compels the company to cut the environmental  impact of its activities. ISO 14001 also helps anticipate and control environmental hazards related to its activities.

The company undertakes not to support commercial activities designed to encourage overconsumption or compulsive consumption. Specifically, Infomaniak will never participate in Black Friday or similar campaigns.

Infomaniak has stopped using single-use tableware for workplace meals or celebrations. PET and aluminium waste-sorting facilities have been introduced in the cafeteria.

Fabric rolls have replaced disposable paper towels, with each roll replacing up to 60,000 paper towels!

Bottles and water fountains have been removed in favour of tap water.

As an ecologically-minded web host, Infomaniak has adopted the use of microfibre cloths, which significantly cut the use of detergents and chemical cleaning products. The company now only sources eco-friendly cleaning products.

Infomaniak avoids as far as possible buying any type of material that contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Special attention is therefore given to items and materials that form the walls, floors (carpets) and the entire staff working environment.

All internal correspondence must be by e-mail only. Conventional post or faxes must only be used when there is no other option.

All paper used by the company for printing and envelopes, etc. comes exclusively from 100% recycled or FSC-approved sources.

Archiving is systemically done in electronic, non-printed form only using a scanner, with data storage and protection software.

We invoice our customers on-line and encourage them to pay electronically after e-mailing them a bill in PDF format. No invoices are sent out by post.

All waste must be sorted and recycled at all levels of production (except biodegradable waste).

Conventional batteries must be replaced with rechargeable equivalents for all electronic equipment. Chargers and collection trays for end-of-life items are made available to all staff. Swico recovers and recycles all electrical or electronic components.

Printer toner cartridges are collected and recycled by specialist firms.

The collection of bulky waste (metal, glass, plastic and cardboard) is organised several times a year and taken to a recovery facility for processing.

Each office has a refuse bin and waste paper bin for recycling.