In Without an iota of doubt, the internet has been the biggest invention of mankind, not only of the past century, but of all human history combined. With close to 2 billion people connected to the web (a penetration of around 30% of the global population), and over 300 billion emails sent every day, humans are now connected to each other as they have never been before. This huge medium has unleashed a great force of creativity and productivity, millions of people not only work, shop, eat, play on the web, they literally do a lot more - chat, connect, learn, study and much more. It will be quite hard to really quantify the positive impact the web has had on our lives. To get a feel, just imagine not being connected to the web for a day and you will know how critical it has become.
But while almost everyone who is on the Net can understand its importance, not many are aware of its dark side, especially the carbon-intensive one. In a recent report released by Greenpeace, the NGO highlights the rapidly growing environmental footprint of the online world and talks about the usage of dirty energy by web behemoths like Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo! and others.
In a severe indictment, the report, How Dirty is Your Data? showcases the enormous amount of electricity required to power the cloud and finds that the ICT sector, despite significant advances in energy efficient data center design, is both largely ignoring the importance of using renewable power as a top criterion for locating new infrastructure and is not transparent in disclosing its energy use. "Despite the speed and ingenuity of the devices and networks that deliver this information to us, and their potential to make a positive contribution to cutting carbon out of many of our daily activities, the key elements of the 21st century digital infrastructure are still primarily powered by 19th and 20th century dirty energy - coal and nuclear power - which are largely responsible for our catastrophic levels of global pollution," states the report.
The biggest grouse according to the report is the lack of transparency. Most of the web companies are very secretive about their energy footprint, while most claim that they are on the way to be carbon-neutral. No one knows for sure that how many server farms are being used by these companies. Thus, most of the analysis is based on conjecture and analysis. For instance, sometime back, a Harvard University Physicist, Dr. Wissner-Gross, extrapolated that a typical search on Google generates about 7g of CO2, while boiling a kettle generates about 15g. Thus, two searches on Google is equivalent to boiling a kettle of water, in terms of the CO2 released.
So, even though cloud computing has been painted in green, yet not much is known about how Green it really is, as few companies provide data that would allow us to objectively evaluate these claims. "In contrast to the functionality of their products, there is a pervasive lack of transparency regarding the environmental impact and energy consumption of IT operations. It is increasingly troubling that IT companies characteristically refuse to disclose the amount of electricity consumed, carbon emitted, or nuclear waste produced as a result of maintaining our digital infrastructure," states the report.
In the said report, Greenpeace evaluated ten cloud companies on their transparency, infrastructure sitting decisions, and mitigation strategies. Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, and others receive failing marks in one or more categories.
Some of the key findings are:
1.Despite the fact that data centers, which house the explosion of virtual information, currently consume 1.5-2% of all global electricity and are growing at a rate of 12% per year, companies in the sector, as a whole, do not release information on their energy use and its associated global warming emissions.
2.Some companies have coal intensity greater than the US grid average. One of the most popular social media companies, Facebook, is among the most dependent on coal-powered electricity at 53.2%.
3.Yahoo! and Google seem to understand the importance of a renewable energy supply. Yahoo! has sited near sources of renewable energy, and Google is directly purchasing clean power. Their models should be employed and improved upon by other cloud companies.
Of the ten brands graded, Akamai, a global content distribution network, earned top of the class recognition for transparency; Yahoo! had the strongest infrastructure siting policy; IBM and Google demonstrated the best overall approach to reduce their current footprints.
In India, where there is limited reliable grid electricity, there is a tremendous opportunity for telecom operators to show leadership by investing in renewable energy, but many are relying on heavily polluting diesel generators to fuel their growth.
Hence, while you continue to surf, chat, or email, the emissions due to the "dirty energy" being used by the service providers might actually be precipitating a global climate conundrum, and as the interactions balloon, so does the impact. It is high time that these companies need to come out good on their commitment and be more transparent about the steps they are taking to mitigate the impact. The report by Greenpeace can be a good starting point for the discussion. Let's hope that it grows in storm and compels the behemoths to change!
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