Many organizations around the world have been increasingly looking to adopt greener, or more environment-friendly, ways of doing business over the last decade. From minimizing carbon footprints through fully remote operations in the service sector post-COVID to conducting mass plantation drives, modern businesses are taking much-needed positive steps towards preserving our precious planet and its resources. However, the impact of the public cloud on creating a green business environment is often overlooked by many. A research paper commissioned by Google shows that migrating from traditional technologies to the cloud reduces energy consumption by 87%.

It’s hard to deny that with rapid advancements in technology, cloud computing solutions are getting more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. With that said, let’s compare the in-house data centers and cloud systems.

5 environmental benefits of the public cloud

Low energy consumption

Having a dedicated in-house data center is a hefty investment, to begin with. Maintaining such a huge data infrastructure needs a tremendous amount of electricity, which adds a significant burden on resources. An uninterrupted surge of electricity is required to run data centers and cool them off.

On the other hand, public cloud servers work as a central data center for multiple organizations which are operated remotely. This means organizations don’t have to invest in creating and maintaining data infrastructure, but it also helps them save electricity significantly as it will be maintained by a third-party service provider.

Maximum utilization of resources

A high utilization rate is often a good sign for being environment-friendly as it reduces waste. Data center hardware staying idle for a long time increases the risk of it becoming obsolete, which is often the case with on-premise data centers. Research into this shows that physical data centers have only a meager 5% to 10% utilization rate in general.

The public cloud, on the other hand, has a utilization rate ranging from 60% to 70%. Every hardware in a public cloud is installed with maximum utilization in mind. With a single public cloud system handling the data of many organizations, it can use every data center optimally to manage the fluctuating demand and even out capacities.

Environment-centric infrastructure

Infrastructure plays a huge role in making a cloud system energy efficient. The strategic location and source of electricity are key considerations in choosing the ideal cloud system location. Unless you are a large corporation like Amazon or Google, it’s not possible to find your ideal data center location with an in-house, uninterrupted electricity supply. Here, opting for a public cloud is a greener, and cost-effective, option.

Here’s why:

Most public cloud servers are near the facilities that transmit electricity. Additionally, the servers are monitored and maintained by experts round-the-clock to maintain optimal hardware utilization, which results in relatively lower energy consumption to operate and maintain the ideal temperature.

Quick updates for maximum efficiency

A frequently updating cloud system is the ideal one for an organization. With every update in cloud technology, the system gets more and more efficient in utilizing the resources while minimizing the energy consumption in the long run.

The system and hardware used in legacy data centers are often used for the longest time, with little to no updates in between. Using outdated technology that requires heavy physical infrastructure usage, like multiple servers, can have huge implications on an organization’s carbon footprint.

The biggest strength of a third-party cloud service is you don’t have to worry about getting the latest versions of business applications. Since it’s operated and maintained by professional cloud operators and managed service providers, they can ensure that your business gets the most efficient technology that also optimizes the use of resources and costs.

Positive impact on climate

In addition to all the factors mentioned above, cloud computing provides additional benefits that make it a welcome addition to scaling businesses that want to be more environment-friendly. For instance, AWS, along with its partners, uses a 28% less carbon-intense power mix compared to corporate data centers. Also, its global cloud infrastructure is constantly striving to achieve 100% renewable energy usage as it reached 40% in 2016.

With all the factors mentioned above, it’s quite clear that the future of business needs an environmentally conscious infrastructure, and cloud computing can play a key role in it.

ZeaCloud®, as your strategic cloud partner, can help you design, build, and smoothly run a robust public cloud infrastructure that helps you play your part through an eco-friendly approach to enterprise IT.

Get in touch with us today.

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