When is the last time you streamed a
video on the internet? What about listening to your favorite song
though Apple's iCloud? Have you ever stored information online using
DropBox or Google Documents? If so, you have participated in what is
commonly known as cloud computing. The data you are accessing does
not reside on your local computer or smart phone, but rather on
another computer server. Sometimes these data centers can be quite
large. For example, Google estimates that they use the energy
equivalent of 188,000 homes per year on data centers. Nationally data
centers consume roughly 3% of total electricity, doubling every 8
years.
Where does the energy to run these
facilities come from? On Google's home page they state that 35% of
the total electricity is renewable. Apple made news in 2011 when they
announced a $1 billion project to build solar panels and a data
center in North Carolina that would store users iCloud data. Of
course, it is in the best interests for both of these companies to
promote their renewable use. Where does the rest of the energy come
from?
Greenpeace reported the energy choices
Google, Apple, and other tech companies make in the spring of 2011.
They produced a report card that lists a clean energy index and coal
intensity use.
What is striking about this list is the
fact that Apple is last in clean energy and first in coal intensity.
I did not expect this because of the great marketing effort the
company has. Second, it seems that coal might be the fuel running the
internet. Third, there are significant issues with energy
transparency, siting, and mitigation. Fourth, the report highlights
that improvements in energy efficiency are not enough. A change in
the source of that energy is required. Finally, there is no mention of total oil use, but it can be assumed that a large portion of the difference between coal intensity and clean energy is filled by oil.
Data centers are likely here to stay.
Reporting on the energy use of companies that provide this service is
vital to enacting real change.
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