Microsoft Is Using Big Data to Tackle Environmental Issues

Grazed from eWeek. Author: Pedro Hernandez.

Earth Day (April 22) has emerged as an opportunity for tech companies to voice their support for clean energy, low-waste IT operations and environmentally-friendly policies. This year, Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, has joined the chorus. Amid the backdrop of the eco-themed day’s festivities, Nadella touted his company’s efforts in steering the tech industry toward greener IT pastures.

In a letter to the Business Roundtable, an association of U.S. CEOs, Nadella outlined how the software giant is addressing environmental concerns and taking steps to eliminate its carbon footprint. "Through Microsoft Research, we have teams of computer scientists who are using the power of big data to understand complex environmental challenges in ways they never have before," he wrote…

Sifting through massive stores of scientific data and unearthing new discoveries "can enable scientists and policymakers to take more informed and holistic approaches to addressing environmental challenges from the very local to the truly global level," said Nadella. Key to making short work of big data for climate scientists is the company’s massive cloud computing infrastructure…

See more at: http://www.eweek.com/cloud/microsoft-is-using-big-data-to-tackle-environmental-issues.html/#sthash.ILpd4Rhb.dpuf

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