

How Green Is the Cloud? - c_loudtweaks_88
http://www.wired.com/cloudline/2012/03/cloud-carbon/
How Green Is the Cloud?
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maukdaddy
Ugh woefully inadequate article.

On a macro level the "cloud" represents a tremendous opportunity to reduce
greenhouse emissions by consolidating many inefficient datacenters into fewer
VERY efficient datacenters. The average 100+ person firm today probably runs
their own datacenter, usually in a converted closet, floor, or other section
of a commercial building. These locations cannot come anywhere close to
matching the electrical and cooling efficiencies of large, professional
datacenters. Secondly, by moving to "cloud" you can transfer electrical and
cooling from high-cost areas to others. For example, a company located in the
US Southwest would certainly reduce their carbon footprint by eliminating
their datacenter and moving to a provider with a datacenter located in a
cooler locale, preferably one powered by renewable resources.

Then you get additional environmental savings by co-locating many tenants on a
set of shared or virtualized hardware vs each company running their own
underutilized primary and hot backup servers. Add in storage arrays,
networking gear, UPS, generators, etc. and it's quite a difference.

