Environmental Impact of Cloud Computing: Earth Day Exclusive

Today is Earth Day, so naturally, we think there’s no better time than now to shed a light on the environmental impact of cloud computing. In recent years, cloud computing has become one of the industry’s hottest buzz words and for good reason. Cloud-based computing offers one of the most effective ways that companies can reduce overhead, improve efficiency, and reduce costs all while taking a more environmentally-friendly approach to doing business.

Cloud computing eliminates a business’s need for costly networking equipment and the space in which to hold all of it. Let’s face it, between the cost of the equipment, the ongoing maintenance of the infrastructure, and the cost of manpower just to keep everything running smooth; a business can be spending an exorbitant amount of money annually just on their IT network. Add to that the fact that the IT system you just installed will likely be inadequate and obsolete in less than a year and you can just imagine how much it costs to keep a business technologically up-to-date.

But since this is Earth Day, let’s take a more eco-centric look at the environmental benefits of cloud computing.

In a 2010 study released by Microsoft, it was found that companies could reduce their carbon emissions by 30% to 60% simply by moving to a cloud-based network system. And quite surprisingly, this kind of savings isn’t only confined to large-scale businesses with huge IT infrastructures. According to the study,   relying on the cloud for widely deployed and commonly used applications such as email, content sharing, and customer relationship management, could allow smaller businesses (with 100 users or fewer) to reduce their carbon emissions by as much as 90%.

How Cloud Computing Effectively Lowers IT Energy Use & Carbon Emissions

By making the transition to a shared IT infrastructure over the Internet, a company can greatly reduce its carbon footprint because unlike an independent IT infrastructure, cloud-based infrastructures allow for the following:

Dynamic Provisioning – Cloud computing allows for the ability to more accurately match server capacity with server demand. This greatly reduces computing resources from being wasted.

Multi-Tenancy – In a cloud-based infrastructure, a large number of organizations and businesses share the resources. Since the resources are flattened and evened, there is never a problem with peak load times.

Server Utilization – When servers aren’t utilized to their full capacity, resources are being wasted for no reason. Cloud computing’s server sharing system enables servers to be operated at higher utilization rates so less waste is created.

Data Center Efficiency – Companies that provide cloud-based computing services are experts at maintaining and utilizing their servers so they normally feature the most innovative and efficient means of reducing power loss on their systems. By implementing advanced cooling and power conditioning methods, the data center can dramatically reduce its carbon emissions whereas an independent IT infrastructure may not be maintained as efficiently, thus causing its equipment to run hot

Liquid Technology Can Help Your Business Transition to the Cloud

At Liquid Technology, we understand that making the transition to the cloud is not without its own share of challenges. For instance, once your company’s infrastructure is converted to the cloud, your IT department will have to decide what to do with the excess of networking equipment left over.

Liquid Technology’s suite of asset management services can help. We can liquidate your inventory and provide you with a return on your investment. We can provide safe and effective data destruction services so any information recorded on your old equipment will be destroyed in accordance with the DOD and NIST guidelines. We can also help your business maintain its eco-friendly dedication by providing EPA-compliant e-waste recycling and disposal of any equipment that no longer has any operational or recoverable value.

Contact Liquid Technology for a free quote and start the process of reducing your business’s carbon footprint today.