Energy Consumption Could Be Reduced Thanks To Cloud Computing

Facebook.com/storetec

Storetec Services Limited

@StoretecHull www.storetec.net

Cloud computing is already being lauded for its ability to save businesses time and money. However, it may also have another beneficial impact – that of cutting their energy usage down to size.

According to a new study by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and Microsoft, cloud-based systems are a lot less power-hungry than their traditional counterparts and so have the potential to help in the global drive to improve sustainability and reduce carbon footprints.

The companies, together with scientists at Harvard University, Imperial College and Reading University, discovered that cloud computing is 95 per cent more efficient than servers.

Consequently, if 80 per cent of public and private companies implemented a simple infrastructure comprised of cloud-based email, customer relationship management and groupware, 11.2 TWh of energy a year – the equivalent of taking 1.7 million cars off the road – could be saved.

Furthermore, 60 per cent of the energy savings could come from smaller firms, meaning it is not just big multinationals that would reap the rewards of abating 4.5 mega-tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

"The findings show, contrary to the perception of power-hungry data centres, that the energy efficiency of cloud infrastructure and its embedded carbon outperform on-site services by an order of magnitude," said lead author of the research Dr Peter Thomond.

If governments set an example and install cloud infrastructure when they require service procurement, more businesses may be persuaded to do the same, he added.

This investigation represents "the first academically rigorous and industrially relevant study of its kind", commented GeSI chairman Luis Neves.

It could be that many business owners in all kinds of sectors are galvanized to act in light of the research, as it comes shortly after the International Energy Outlook 2013 from the US Energy Information Administration predicted that global energy consumption will soar by 56 per cent in the next 30 years.

Online hosting and document scanning from Storetec could help your company to take the first step towards a cloud-based, greener future.

Storetec News/Blogs."http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/energy-consumption-could-be-reduced-thanks-to-cloud-computing/".

Energy Consumption ‘Could Be Reduced Thanks To Cloud Computing’. Aug 5, 2012. Storetec.