No matter what the economic state of the nation, savvy businesses continue to evaluate their budgets and determine ways to reduce costs. Some of the primary expenses that businesses have are utilities and hardware costs, such as servers, switches and other related items. Utility costs are particularly high, because most businesses have excessive server space to accommodate infrequent high volume spikes, such as holiday sales periods. Though these servers are under-utilized 90 percent of the time, they still require energy. This use of energy drives up energy costs. Furthermore, the practice is not environmentally sound because excess energy use increases carbon emissions.
The recent trend of “going green” has prompted large corporations and small Mom and Pop businesses alike to evaluate their business practices, with an eye toward lowering not only carbon emissions, but also costs. Cloud computing is an ideal solution to both problems, since it is both energy efficient and cost effective for companies.
What is cloud computing? Essentially, it involves purchasing subscriptions to run applications in the “cloud” rather than on an in-house server. Companies who run applications in this cloud access their applications via the Internet, which means that each application and all data resides on a server that is physically located elsewhere. The company is therefore freed from renting storage space for servers, cooling that space, maintaining it, installing hardware and software—and hiring IT techs to take care of these tasks. They can downsize to a small office, and see their energy consumption decrease. This, of course, translates to decreased carbon emissions and more cost savings.
Cloud computing will also allow consumers to use devices that require less energy to operate. For instance, cloud computing allows users to migrate to a more streamlined laptop, iPad or smartphone, instead of being tied to a physical desk with a desktop computer. Cloud computing allows employees to access their entire workstation from the Internet, which makes it easier for those employees to be located remotely—in an area where energy costs are lower, for example—or to telecommute from their homes. By migrating data and system applications into the cloud, a company could theoretically close down its home office, or at least greatly reduce the number of personnel who must be onsite at any given time, and therefore move to a smaller, more energy efficient workspace. This will reduce capital expenditure for the company, in addition to being environmentally sound.
In theory, cloud computing could be a solution to reducing carbon emissions, but more research should be done into best business practices to reduce carbon emissions. Those who desire to promote cloud computing should also research alternative power sources. Companies such as Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Google are all making strides to introduce cloud computing and also find alternative energy sources. Recently, IBM and ABB Group, in an effort to reduce carbon emissions by 9,000 tons annually, extended their IT sourcing contract to include cloud computing as a part of the environmental strategy. The reduction, they say, will be equivalent to removing 1,600 cars from the road.
