Host applications and files in the public cloud can be more effective in reducing energy consumption and significantly lower carbon emissions into the atmosphere than to do it in local data centers in companies. This is reflected in a report from the technology consultancy 451 Research for AWS, which is responsible for analyzing the state of carbon emissions in the company, and how public clouds can help improve them.
To carry out the report, the consultancy has carried out a survey among more than 300 European companies, with which it discovered that the migration of business applications to the public cloud could reduce energy consumption by up to 80%. In addition, carbon emissions would drop 96% by taking this step. This could be due to the fact that public cloud data centers in the European Union are about three times more efficient than the average EU business. From AWS they also ensure that they are up to five times more efficient in energy matters.
These data centers for the cloud use renewable energy sources, in addition to having more possibilities and investment to optimize hardware performance. That is why the use of public clouds allows companies to reduce their carbon emissions. In fact, according to the report, a one-megawatt corporate data center, roughly one square kilometer, with an assumed rate of electricity use of 30%, could cut emissions by about 1,079 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
This amount is equivalent to the annual electricity emissions of 50 average households in the European Union, or the removal of 500 cars from the road. But the amount of emissions that are lowered by using cloud storage is further reduced when the chosen cloud provider runs its facilities exclusively on renewable energy. Then it comes to 1,293 tons of carbon dioxide.
According Chris Wellise, Director of Sustainability, AWS, «This report shows the potential that the cloud offers European companies to improve their energy efficiency while reducing costs and carbon emissions at the same time«.
