Cloud services offer greater flexibility for organisations, which is attractive in times of uncertainty. There is every indication this is likely to increase, with the Google Cloud Brand Pulse Survey, Q4 2022 showing that 41.4% of global tech and business leaders plan to increase their investment in cloud-based services and products due to the current economic climate.
As Cloud infrastructure reduces the need for private on-premise servers, localised storage devices, and portable memory devices, it is logical to perceive it as relatively ‘Green’. However, as the need for data centres grows, so too do the resources (energy, chips and electronics, cooling systems, fire prevention systems etc) required to manufacture, build, and run these facilities.
So, is Cloud Computing sustainable, is a ‘Green Data Centre' even possible, and how can Cloud improve sustainability? Just how sustainable are the data centres required to continue delivering data storage and Cloud services? These are complicated but fascinating and important questions to ask.
Comparing Cloud Computing data centres and on-premise servers
For instance, companies often plan their internal servers to be larger than normally required which means they are usually never fully utilised, but nonetheless consume as much energy as if they were. This is because the energy demand of a server depends on its operation, not its degree of utilisation.
On the other hand, data centres use Virtualisation of physical IT resources (such as hardware, software, storage, and network technologies) which makes it possible to distribute these resources flexibly and according to demand from different customers, to optimise their utilisation. In addition, many cloud providers overbook the virtualised resources, as users do not fully claim all booked resources at the same time. This approach ensures that cloud capacities are more efficiently utilised.
There are greater working efficiencies too. The use of shared documents and files in the Cloud (through Microsoft Teams for example) means fewer redundant versions of files are saved on local drives, and therefore less data and the associated resources is required overall.
Resource consumption of data centres
Figures from The Shift Project in France suggest that by 2025, 8% of global CO2 production will come from the digital economy.
However efficient they are, it is important to remember that data centres still require large amounts of both electricity and water to operate and produce CO2 as a result.
Data centres are estimated to be responsible for up to 3% of global electricity consumption today and are projected to touch 4% by 2030. The average hyperscale data centre facility (Hyperscale data centres are massive facilities built by companies with vast data processing and storage needs) consumes 20-50MW annually – theoretically enough electricity to power up to 37,000 homes.
Servers also generate tremendous amounts of waste heat making water consumption for cooling another significant resource requirement. Hyperscale data centres are estimated to use 1.7m litres of water a day (622m litres a year). This is contrasted against UN predictions that by 2025 50% of the world’s population is projected to live in water-stressed areas. Whilst climate change and human consumption of water are key reasons for this, data centre usage creates another pressure on reserves.
Because of the essential nature of the data stored in a data centre, everything must have a backup with full redundancy should the primary servers fail. This means backup servers, backup power supplies, and backup cooling systems. Effectively, twice the capacity is required at all times to ensure failover.
With more and more businesses demanding cloud services, the number and size of data centres will continue to grow. The environmental footprint of data centres to maintain these now essential services is considerable. It is therefore vital that companies think about their environmental impact and the digital solutions and devices they use during their digital transformation.
Despite this, there are figures that prove that the switch from on-premise servers to the cloud still results in significant energy savings and CO2 reductions. Cloud computing is capable of improving energy efficiency by 93%, and producing 98% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than on premises IT infrastructure, according to the Microsoft-WSP collaborative study.