Renewable energy is useful energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, including carbon neutral sources like sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. The term often also encompasses biomass as well, whose carbon neutral status is under debate. This type of energy source stands in contrast to fossil fuels, which are being used far more quickly than they are being replenished.

Renewable energy is generated through natural resources. It is naturally 're-usable'. Hydroelectricity and wind power are often the most common natural resources. In North America, electricity is mostly generated by renewable energy. For example, according to Wikipedia, "Canada is the world's second largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world and one of few countries to generate the majority of its electricity from hydroelectricity (59% in 2006)". In daily operations, a handful web hosting firms start taking proactive solutions such as using more efficient server hardware to reduce the electricity usage. All of these practices become very common in North American web hosting industry.