Study Shows Cloud Computing Carbon Efficient

Over the last ten years Cloud computing has been gaining momentum. The system allows users to use applications, store information and access data remotely without having to download and administer software.

Major IT companies, like Google, Microsoft and Apple, are investing in and moving towards this form of computing, and energy providers like GE are investing in technology to support the power demands these systems will require.

Currently, salesforce.com offers Cloud computing services through a platform called "multitenant" to 92,300 customers.  The multitenant design works like an apartment building in that "all customers – no matter what size or where they are located – use the same infrastructure." One of the major advantages to this system is that it requires fewer servers and uses less energy than on-premise systems.

In fact, according to a WSP Environment and Energy study, saleforce.com's system on average is 95 percent more carbon efficient than on-premise systems and 64 percent more efficient than private cloud systems. Last year the company reduced its carbon footprint by 170,900 tons.

"This study proves what I've suspected for years – the use of public cloud computing offers significant energy and environmental advantages," said Jonathan G. Koomey, Ph.D., consulting professor of civil and environmental engineering, Stanford University, who reviewed the analysis. "The cloud's diversity of users and economies of scale make it tough to beat from either an environmental or cost perspective."

Read the full story at PRNewsire: Salesforce.com Customers Emit 95 Percent Less Carbon than Companies Running Comparable On-Premise Systems

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