94% of enterprises utilise some form of cloud service, with benefits including security, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. But, another cloud computing advantage which should be on every company’s radar is sustainability.
With the rise of big business, we’ve also seen the rise of carbon emissions. However, adopting the cloud can go a long way in reducing your organisation’s carbon footprint. In fact, Microsoft has stated that cloud computing has lowered carbon emissions by 98%, while another leading cloud provider AWS has claimed it’s 88% more energy efficient than on-premise data centres.
This post delves deeper into the environmental benefits of cloud-based solutions.
Remote work possibilities
Over the past few years, working remotely has skyrocketed and its benefits have really come to fruition. Thanks to cloud computing, organisations can now grow bigger, better and faster with the ability to hire workers from any location.
55% of brands around the world now offer some opportunities for remote work.
That’s over half of employees spending less time driving their car or catching public transport, in turn reducing their carbon emissions.
Less energy is needed to power offices, and fewer physical resources are required now everything is on-screen. Additionally, cloud-based solutions like DocuSign remove the need to print off paper documents as they can be signed virtually. This is all positive news for our environment.
Lowers carbon emissions
Data centres are typically large, heat-generating facilities which utilise a lot of resources. The IEA found that data centres were responsible for 1.1.4% of global electricity use in 2020, and the world’s biggest data centre requires 100 megawatts of power which is enough to power 80,000 homes.
Cloud computing can reduce the carbon emissions by minimising energy requirements and consumption.
The aggregation of discrete enterprise data centres to larger-scale facilities can cut CO2 emissions by: efficiently managing power capacity, cooling optimisation, the use of power-efficient servers, and increasing server utilisation rates.
Powered by renewable energy
In addition, many cloud data centres are now being powered by renewable energy sources including solar, wind and hydropower, emitting little or no GHG’s.
These methods are far more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels, which currently account for 80% of global power, with coal being the single biggest contributor to climate change.
If all businesses switched to cloud computing powered by renewable energy, the benefit to the environment could be enormous.
Some of the world’s biggest tech companies are leading the way, with Google, Apple, Microsoft, HP and Facebook all now using renewable energy methods.
Reduces e-waste
E-waste is a rapidly growing problem. In 2022 so far alone, over 9 million tonnes of electrical items have been disposed of, which for context is four times the weight of the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building!). It’s expected to reach 120 million tonnes by 2050 if businesses and consumers don’t change their habits.
Cloud computing is one of the most sustainable ways to reduce waste. Companies which adopt cloud-based solutions don’t need to frequently repair or replace their end-user hardware such as laptops, keyboards, mice and monitors. The servers of the hosting company will take care of the majority of the processing and storage.
And unlike other technologies, cloud computing does not require people to get rid of their old devices. Instead, the cloud revitalises them. By minimising hardware, cloud computing also reduces e-waste. In fact, businesses may not even have to purchase any new hardware because employees can access cloud-hosted applications from their personal laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
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