Cloud and Green Data Center for a sustainable future
The technological evolution suffered by the service sector in recent years has turned that sector into one of the main ones responsible for global energy consumption.
If we believe the most obvious aspect is the one linked to powering each computer and electronic device of our daily life, Data Centers are really the ones responsible for using energy, indispensable for keeping servers and hardware infrastructures operating all the time, and for the cooling systems needed to keep them safe and efficient.
The current challenge is to develop new methods and techniques that combine competitive performance with an approach that is as eco-sustainable as possible.
The estimate is that global energy consumption attributable to Data Centers in 2021 will amount to 200 terawatthour (TWh) per annum, corresponding to 0.3% of global carbon emissions, with dramatic exponential forecasts for 2030 (8%) and 2040 (14%).
In the IT sector alone, migrating to Cloud could reduce CO2 emissions by over 80%, almost 60 million tons a year worldwide.
Considering the European Union (Eurostat survey), 98% of companies (from 10 employees upwards) use internet, but only 36% exploit Cloud services: more specifically, 76% for e-mail, 67% for archiving files, 58% for company software and 47% for databases. Lastly, only 45% use the Cloud for their financial or account management and a miserable 27% for relations with customers.
If Finland leads this ranking (75% of companies), Italy is in fourth place with 59%: 96% of Italian companies use e-mail in Cloud, 63% use company software and 55% exploit the cloud to store files.
So, we must find innovative solutions to support the technological evolution as soon as possible, foreseeing and limiting the environmental impact and damaging effects generated.
AI-based systems to reduce consumption, use of renewable energy, cooling systems at sea are just some of the methods developed in recent years to contain the effects caused to the environment by latest generation technologies. Choosing a green Data Center is both ethical and economic seeing that advanced infrastructures require less maintenance and generate less waste.
The Climate Neutral Data Center Pact
In the wake of the European Green Deal, the “Climate Neutral Data Center Pact” groups the main European players of the Cloud Computing and Ict industry.
The project is to achieve measurable energy efficiency and resource reuse goals for Data Centers and Cloud infrastructures, with the first targets for 2025.
Measurable, monitorable indicators, recycling heat produced, acquisition of 100% clean energy and water saving: for the Cloud and Data Center world the pact is the chance for unique self-regulation, an important step towards an ecosustainable IT future.