Expert: Flexibility of cloud contributes to energy efficiency
27 July 2011 05:16:48
As more businesses gravitate toward the cloud, many are realizing the technology's capacity to improve efficiency and reduce energy costs. According to one expert, there are several factors contributing to this energy efficiency.
Stanford University professor of consulting Jonathan Koomey asserted that the flexilibity of the cloud can be instrumental in reducing a company's carbon footprint and, in turn, its energy bills.
Most in-house data centers only have server utilization rates of about 15 percent, he said, meaning that much of the energy used by these systems is lost. However, though the cloud, companies can outsource these processes to a third-party vendor, which typically has a much more efficient utilization range.
"In essence, this technique redefines the concept of reliability from one that is based on the reliability of a particular piece of hardware to one that is based on the reliability of the delivery of the IT services of interest, and this is a much more sensible approach," Koomey stated.
A recent study from the Carbon Disclosure Project supported Koomey's claims, asserting that cloud computing will help U.S. companies save a combined $12.3 billion in energy savings every year by 2020.
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