Companies going green in the cloud, study finds

20 July 2011 14:18:38

In addition to cost savings and performance boosts, include energy efficiency as one of the myriad benefits afforded by the cloud.

According to a recent study from the Carbon Disclosure Project, a not-for-profit organization that helps companies measure their greenhouse gas emissions, businesses in the United States will save a total of $12.3 billion in annual energy costs by 2020 by moving to the cloud.

Additionally, the study noted that cloud spending is poised to increase significantly during the next decade, growing from 10 percent to 69 percent of IT budgets by 2020. This, in turn, will reduce annual carbon emissions by 85.7 metric tons, which, the report noted, is the equivalent of 200 million barrels of oil.

Cost efficiency is often cited as the main driver toward cloud adoption. While this typically refers to cost efficiency through more affordable IT solutions, the CDP's study revealed that the cloud enables companies to save in other ways as well.

Experts predict the cloud to have a significant impact on not only businesses, but the world. Cisco chief futurist Dave Evans, for example, recently identified the cloud as one of the 10 most important technologies of the next decade.