Cloud computing has always been beneficial to business owners, organization leaders, and the IT industry, in general. Lower costs, instant scalability, mobility, and extensive data storage systems are some of the advantages of cloud computing. However, what many are not aware of is that cloud computing is more environment friendly than the traditional on-premise datacenters. Green technology is extremely important today to provide sustainability to our planet that is already going through massive environmental crisis. Climate change and deforestation that lead to disrupted biodiversity life can be reduced through green technology like cloud computing.
How does cloud computing helps the environment?
Shared Datacenter
Cloud service providers, like Microsoft, typically have large datacenters all around the world. With cloud, these large datacenters are shared by thousands of small and big companies or organisations all around the world. Companies no longer need their own personal datacenters in their companies’ buildings as can use their CSP’s datacenters instead. By decreasing the number of datacenters, cloud computing services not only reduce companies’ spending but it also lowers the resources that companies may need to power up their traditional datacenters.
Renewable Energy
Datacenters require air-conditioning systems to cool down the heat that is generated from their servers and to avoid combustion. With air-conditioning, datacenters typically consume a lot of electrical energy for them to function well. However, with large datacenters like Microsoft, the electrical energy used comes from renewable energy like windmills or solar panels. Microsoft even experimented with underwater datacenters that can provide natural cooling system for the servers without the usage of electricity. By using renewable energy, cloud computing systems are reducing the carbon footprint of the IT industry and significantly contribute to fighting today’s climate change.
In conclusion, cloud computing services are more environment friendly than the traditional on-premise infrastructure. It is important for businesses to give back to society and still sustain their companies. Businesses can profit and reduce their operational costs while simultaneously improving the planet’s climate with cloud computing.