Energy-efficient Capability of Cloud Computing
In the corporate world, “energy efficiency” is becoming standard jargon, with business executives scrambling for ways to reduce or minimize energy consumption. So, here is the good news: cloud computing can help!
In the words of Urs Holzle, Google’s Senior Vice President for technical infrastructure, “Google’s servers refresh 20 billion pages a day, process over 100 billion search queries a month, provide email for 425 million Gmail users and process 72 hours of video uploaded per minute to YouTube. And yet we’re able to do all that work with relatively little energy, compared to other industries.”
He stated that data centers, including Google’s, utilize only 1.1-1.3 percent of global energy, compared to the transportation industry which gulped 25 percent. The ability to save energy is attributed to the practice of moving to the cloud by small and medium-sized businesses, including some Governmental agencies.
Holzle also cited a report by the Carbon Disclosure Project which authoritatively confirmed that cloud computing can help companies save on their energy expenses by $12.3 billion by 2020. About 85.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide will purportedly be saved during the same period. Nothing more can prove the energy-efficiency capability of cloud technology than the robust figures described above.
A typical example of a governmental agency that has gained immensely from using cloud computing is U.S. General Services Administration. The agency has cut the rate of servers’ energy consumption by a whopping 90 percent and drastically reduced its carbon emissions by 85 percent. In financial terms, the agency has saved $285,000 every year on energy costs.
Running in-house IT structure, as research shows, consumes a lot of energy. Sometimes companies will have to set up alternative energy sources in order to guarantee uninterrupted services or operations. Now, though, the headaches of alternative power generation can be turned over to cloud service providers, who will make sure their clients’ business operations are unaffected by power outages.
Apart from providing enviable protection to clients’ data and information, cloud computing also gives business managers the opportunity to diversify and innovate. They need not worry about in-house IT infrastructure and personnel anymore!
Business administrators stand to gain much from cloud computing, saving time and money on energy, personnel and data-protection. Greening up the earth will involve businesses switching IT systems to the cloud.
The dream of every business owner is to cut the costs of running his or her business while maximizing profitability. Cloud computing does not only guarantee more profits but also engenders greener business that benefits humans, governmental agencies and anybody with an interest in keeping the planet green.
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About the Guest Author:
Jerry Olasakinju, a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree holder, is a passionate researcher and writer whose interest in everything computing is unparalleled. He blogs about his literary works at http://jerryolasakinju.blogspot.jp/
