Cloud Computing: Bigger Really Is Better When It Comes to Green IT

Grazed from ITBusinessEdge.  Author: Aurthur Cole.

I’ve pointed out many times over the years that everyone has their own perception of green. To a coal plant operator, a 20 percent reduction in emissions is cause for celebration, while the environmentalist still frets over the 80 percent still coming out of the stack.

So it is understandable that the data center industry – arguably the top energy consumer on the planet – is both the hero and the villain when it comes to greening up the world’s digital infrastructure. And in time-honored tradition, the biggest targets are always first on the hit list, which in this case would be the hyperscale providers like Google, Facebook and Amazon…


But as Data Center Dynamics’ Peter Judge points out, criticism of the web-scale providers actually misses the mark when it comes to environmental friendliness because their facilities, while massive, are also among the most efficient on the planet. According to a recent breakdown from the National Resources Defense Council, hyperscale infrastructure consumes about 5 percent of total data center energy draw, and is probably responsible for even less of the emissions due to its state-of-the-art power capabilities. The largest consumers of data center power are the small-to-mid-sized facilities, which account for about half of total consumption. Large enterprises take up another quarter or so, followed by the colocation industry, which draws another 20 percent…

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