Cloud Computing Can Save Energy – Here’s Why
Posted August 14th, 2013
Companies of all sizes are wondering if cloud computing can save them money on their energy bill. The truth is that “yes, it can”.
Energy Efficiency
A lot of the research about the energy savings related to cloud computing because the “cloud” has shown some of the largest energy efficiency opportunities.
Globally, individual data centers buy $30 billion of power per year. Moving these companies’ software — for e-mail, CRM software, and bundled productivity software (spreadsheets, file sharing, word processing, etc) – from local data centers to “the cloud” could cut information technology energy consumption by up to 87%. That equals approximately 23 billion kilowatt-hours – roughly the same amount of electricity used to power Los Angeles each year, according to a recent study led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (with financial support from Google).
Businesses no longer need to own and operate their own data centers, and the fact is that most in-house data centers are not very efficient. Factoring in all of the typical IT hardware, as well as non-IT equipment for cooling, lighting, etc., the amount of energy wasted is substantial.
When a company moves their software to the cloud, the savings in energy consumption comes from the fact that the data centers and the actual servers hosting these cloud services are far more efficient than the individual data centers used by most companies. These energy savings are even more significant for smaller companies, which tend to have the most inefficient IT services of all.
Green Computing
Cloud computing companies have been marketing their services as green. This is attractive to many organizations who either
- want to address global warming by lowering their CO2 emissions
- have customers who want them to do something about global warming by lowering their CO2 emissions.
There has been some skepticism about just how green these cloud computing providers really are, but many have already done the work to reduce their carbon footprint. For example, Google is building data centers around the world and is gained expertise in using renewable energy and new cooling technologies to reduce these centers’ greenhouse gas emissions. Some examples include centers:
- In Finland that use cold outside air and sea water to cool its servers
- In a former paper mill that re-used pumps and other electrical equipment from the mill to operate its servers.
- In Georgia (Douglas County) that use recycled (or “grey”) water for 100% of its cooling needs
Companies that move their software to the cloud win in two ways – first in energy consumption savings and second by leveraging all the work cloud providers have done to reduce their carbon footprint.
Bayside Solutions is an expert in green technology. When you need to tap into the experience pool of green technology professionals in the Bay Area, you can count on our specialized staffing experts to assist you. Whether you are looking for a job or trying to fill a position, contact us today.
