Sustainable Practices at Canvas Dreams UK

Sustainability is about proactively balancing the natural and energy resources used by a business in a way that supports the environment and local economy.

Sustainability is not something you can buy. It begins with a company's philosophy and grows from there naturally into every facet of the business. Beyond our commitments to environmental and social justice, Canvas Dreams UK believes that sustainability mandates that we must aim for a higher level of quality and integrity in how we conduct business. We can best demonstrate this by operating with complete honesty, listening to and supporting the real needs of our clients, and serving as an example to businesses around us who would like to become more sustainable.

We consume literally megawatts of power on a 24x7 basis across our datacentres, and it is therefore crucial that we mitigate the impact of these services on the environment. Whilst some ISPs and network operators purchase ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) or use "Offsetting" to mitigate their impact, we do not believe that alone they can be fairly shown to consistently and clearly achieve their stated aims. There is much controversy surrounding ROCs and Offsetting due to the lack of transparency or globally accepted standards. This means that we do not believe that Offsetting provides a consistent or fair recognition of the environmental impact that is being mitigated.

Despite these problems, Canvas Dreams does still aim to encourage the construction of renewable energy sources in the UK through the purchase of 100% of our mains grid power through Green tariffs.

More importantly however, Canvas Dreams works to ensure that each and every design decision made through our operations, networks or datacentres is done to minimise waste, energy, and ultimately carbon emissions. These include, amongst other initiatives:

• Use of Ambicool (Glycol-based) energy efficient CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioning) to reduce energy footprint by 30% compared to traditional systems
• Implementation of evaporative cooling technology to office and switchrooms reducing energy footprint by 90% compared to traditional cassette systems
• Use of heat recovery from datarooms into office areas reducing energy requirements for offices by literally hundreds of thousands of kWh of energy each year
• Power subsystems in the datacentre including Power Factor Correction to ensure efficient power draw from the mains grid
• Paper use minimised through reduced numbers of printers and unnecessary printing
• Recycling of all paper, cardboard, plastic and related products
• Fully WEEE directive compliance for the disposal of electrical waste
• Low energy lighting levels, TFT displays to replace older and less efficient CRTs
• Encouraging energy smart sleep or complete power down for all PCs out of hours

Equipment Re-Use

The standard Web server has an expected shelf life of about three years of stable performance. After this timespan is reached, components may start to wear down and fail, including power supplies, hard drives, RAM, and even CPUs and motherboards. When a component of our network has reached the end of its optimal lifetime, we try to put it to good use by providing non-critical services as a gameserver or development box.

Aggressive Recycling

All of our paper and cardboard is regularly recycled. Metal and other items are recycled at Edinburgh-area drop-offs. "Non-recyclable" packaging and shipping materials, including styrofoam and bubble wraps, are donated to the local Postal Annex, where they can be reused as packing materials.

All of our plastic, whether it be hard-molded or LDPE plastic bags, can be recycled through the local Master Recyclers program that is held every three months through Washington County, Scotland. Laser toner cartridges are recycled through the local Office Depot.

E-waste recycling is handled through certified e-waste recyclers.

Transportation

Through an open telecommuting program, each of our staff are able to save thousands of miles of driving each year. Further, we carpool and take mass-transit whenever possible, to further reduce our use of fuel.

Marketing Collateral and Paper Reduction

All of our marketing collateral is printed using soy-based ink and low-VOC UV coating on minimum 30% recycled paper.

Whenever possible, we utilize paperless invoicing and payment processes to further minimize waste.

Corporate Responsibility

At Canvas Dreams, each of our team members has a responsibility to respect everyone with whom we interact.

It is fostered in the relationships we establish with our customers. They are neither numbers nor dollar signs. They are individuals. Families. Small business owners. Clients. They entrust us with the security of their online business and count on our reliability to deliver world class services to ensure they can do the same for their own customers.

It is advanced in our continual drive towards more efficient technologies. The increasing development of cleaner, greener Web servers that generate less physical and energy waste is proof that many companies share in our view of a sustainable future for our industry.

It is practiced in our day-to-day business activities. We understand that our operating decisions directly impact the environment around us. By taking an aggressive stance on recycling, purchasing 100% new and renewable wind energy to power our business, and choosing to carpool and telecommute whenever possible, these simple decisions, collectively, can become a powerful force in the move towards sustainable business.

We understand that our company is only limited by the extent to which we can dream of a better tomorrow. That is why we at Canvas Dreams are always looking to improve ourselves and our services, so that we can lead our clients to a better, more environmentally friendly future.

We choose to offer our clients the highest levels of quality and integrity, to earn their trust and to protect our environment. It is not a political statement. It is simply a philosophy of doing what is right.

That is the goal of Canvas Dreams' commitment to corporate responsibility.