Head in the clouds?
Cloud computing was supposed to be the tech-savvy way to massively cut carbon emissions. But is it? A new report from Greenpeace raises some disturbing questions.
A new report (April 2010) from Greenpeace warns that greenhouse gas emissions from so-called ‘cloud computing’ could triple by 2010.
The Greenpeace report – 'Make IT Green: Cloud Computing and Its Contribution to Climate Change' suggests that cloud computing could produce a much larger carbon footprint for the IT sector than previously estimated, mainly because of the new buildings that are required to house the hardware.
The report was published to coincide with (some would suggest ride on the back of) the launch of the new Apple i-pad.
Cloud computing is where data, entertainment, news and other services are delivered to a device in real time, from the internet – none of it has to be stored on the device itself. This was always illustrated as a technology that by its nature was green. Virtual data after all uses less carbon than real data.
However, building on previous industry research, the Greenpeace report shows that at current growth rates, data centres and telecommunication networks – the two key foundations of cloud consuming – will use around 1,963 billion kilowatts hours of electricity in 2020.
Never one to avoid over-egging any point, Greenpeace says this is more than triple the current electricity consumption of France, Germany, Canada and Brazil combined - consumption figures for the last are notoriously unreliable.
“As the cloud expands, the IT industry’s appetite for energy will increase, making it a major source of climate change unless the industry adopts and advocates renewable energy use and backs laws to cut global warming,” said a spokesperson for Greenpeace, at the reports launch.
“IT companies like Microsoft, Google, and IBM are now in powerful positions at the local, national, and international levels. They must use that influence to promote policies that will allow them to grow responsibly without helping to fuel climate change.”
According to Greenpeace, one company that recently failed to take a lead on this issue is Facebook, when it announced the construction of its own data centre in Prineville, Oregon. This, it is thought, will be powered mainly by coal.
In doing so, the campaign group believes Facebook missed a chance to promote the use of renewable energy and instead “reinforced the coal industry's grip on the United Sates power grid”. However, it fails to point out that the most of the coal that will be used by the Facebook site is locally sourced from "clean" mines. Not perfect, but hardly importing fossil fuels across the seas.
However, the report does find praise for Yahoo!, which chose to build a data centre in New York, that is powered by energy from a hydroelectric powepoliciesr plant, dramatically decreasing its carbon footprint.
“Technologies that enable smart grids, zero emission buildings and more efficient transport systems are key to cutting climate change pollution. But given the current pace of growth in cloud computing, the industry needs to get its own carbon footprint under control,” said the spokesperson.
“The ICT sector has the ability to help us combat climate change by doing what it is best at – innovating to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency
Another IT giant Apple has taken significant steps – such as installing energy efficient lighting and motion sensors for automatic shut off – to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions produced by its facilities worldwide,but many of them are powered by coal.
She added that two of the company’s facilities – in Cork and Elk Grove – now operate entirely on renewable energy.
Greenpeace is now calling on the giants of the IT industry to put their might behind government policies that give priority grid access for renewable sources like wind and solar energy.
IT companies should also support economy-wide climate and energy policies around the world that peak emissions by 2015, it says.
