Perhaps we could use a bit of grounding from the implied benevolence of cloud storage of our unending flow of music, videos and documents.
After all the lofty green 'n clean cloud imagery, cloud storage resolves to mundane bricks and mortar data centers.
Coal Trains of Cooling
Traditional data centers:
Require massive numbers of power-sucking, heat-generating servers that consume COAL TRAINS OF COOLING KILOWATTS.Cloud storage is an energy-intensive proposition. For our collective well-being, two questions worth considering are:
While a traditional data center might be sourced from a finite supply of air-fouling coal, a forward-thinking data center might be sourced from the steady winds of Wyoming, or from geothermal energy stored somewhere under the half-light and bitter cold of an Icelandic winter.
- What's the energy source? and
- What's the impact on public safety and public health?
Wind Energy
In Cheyenne Wyoming, Green House Data is powered by 100% renewable wind energy. According to Green Data Center News Green House Data is about 40% more energy-efficient than traditional data centers. It helps that Cheyenne's average annual temperature is 46 degrees F.
Hydro-Electric and Geothermal
In Iceland, west of Reykjavik, Verne Global operates a power-conscious data center that is dual-sourced by hydroelectric and geothermal power. Verne Global's energy is 100% renewable hydro-electric power and its facility is 100% cooled by the natural environment of Iceland. Brrrr.
Present & Near Future
The Greenpeace report How dirty is your data? includes a Clean Cloud Power Report Card.
Facebook is building a new data center in northern Sweden that will use hydro-electric power. Sited about 62 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Facebook servers will be cooled by Arctic air.
Google's Hamina Data Center is sited on the Gulf of Finland. The data center uses sea-water for cooling rather than freon-packed compressors in traditional air conditioners.
Both Facebook and Google are driven by economics more than earth-stewardship. Nonetheless when earth-friendly infrastructure collides with profit-increasing cost-savings, cloud green isn't simply cloud nine.
Resources
- BBC One Planet Radio - Are Clouds Green?
- Greenpeace Report - How dirty is your data?
It's rather difficult to systematically improve the energy efficiencies of the over 100 million desktops and laptops in the USA. It seems that the cloud holds more promise in that regard. The individual computers in a typical server farm are already significantly more effiecient than the average person's computer.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the profit motive actually leads companies to make greener choices. Maybe that seems like a tainted victory because it's driven by selfiness. I'm willing to count it as a good thing just the same.
Larry - I agree. The cloud holds more promise than improving desktop consumption. Making a green choice that also cuts energy costs is a double win.
ReplyDelete