Jan / Feb 09:

The former US vice president, Al Gore, is backing the creation of a new green .eco domain name.

The Dot Ecogroup (Al Gore backed company) applied to create the .eco domain which would then be used to host sites supporting environmental causes and other Green issues.

The latest is the .eco domain name which is being promoted by the Dot Eco LLC Partners. The domain would focus on information linked to the environment such as initiatives being carried out by companies or organizations focused on looking after the environment.

Commenting on the push to implement the .eco domain Al Gore said:
We fully support Dot Eco LLC in its efforts to secure the .eco top level domain through the ICANN application process and look forward to working with Dot Eco LLC to promote .eco. This is a truly exciting opportunity for the environmental movement and for the internet as a whole.
"This is a truly exciting opportunity for the environmental movement and for the internet as a whole," said Mr Gore.

However, Green ISP is a little concerned that the result of this new .eco introduction is that there will be more servers in a data center somewhere soaking up electricity and raking in the cash for the company, it would be good to see the companies selling and hosting these domains are making efforts to be as Green as possible (as Green ISP is).

THE .ECO IDEA

A Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2007 for his campaign on climate change and an Oscar for his film An Inconvenient Truth - a documentary about global warming - Al Gore is the co-founder and chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Dot Eco said it had entered into an "integrated partnership" with Gore's group to secure the .eco domain. "We fully support Dot Eco in its efforts to secure the .eco top level domain through the ICANN application and look forward to working with them to promote .eco," said Mr Gore.

The firm said proceeds from the registration would be used to fund research on climate change and other environmental issues.

The bid to introduce .eco is boosted by the fact Al Gore and his Alliance for Climate Protection (ACP) organization have pledged their support for it. The main goal of the ACP is to use scientific evidence to persuade people to start using solutions that protect our environment in the future.

With growing support Dot Eco are expected to apply for the .eco domain before the end of 2009 and plan to use the new generic top level domain system to do it. It is also expected that profits generated from administering .eco will be given to environmental charities.

Green ISP's opinion:
We suppose it is good generally that Al Gore is backing the .eco domain name and it adds a lot of weight behind the effort to actually get this to market and available for relevent companies and organizations to register.

We also think it would end up being quite a popular domain because of the growing interest in being environmentally friendly and companies wanting to promote what they do in that area.It will require some quite stringent registration criteria to stop companied jumping on the Eco Bandwaggon who are not really promoting or practicing green issues and who simply wish to GreenWash their potential customers

More info at:
http://www.dotecotld.com/

Read more at the Dot Eco press release, found via BBC News

sources:
BBC news
Geek.com