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Cloud Computing Is Not the Energy Hog That Had Been Feared

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday March 01 2020, @12:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the send-in-the-clouds dept.

mendax writes:

The New York Times has an interesting story:

The computer engine rooms that power the digital economy have become surprisingly energy efficient.

A new study of data centers globally found that while their computing output jumped sixfold from 2010 to 2018, their energy consumption rose only 6 percent. The scientists' findings suggest concerns that the rise of mammoth data centers would generate a surge in electricity demand and pollution have been greatly overstated.

The major force behind the improving efficiency is the shift to cloud computing. In the cloud model, businesses and individuals consume computing over the internet as services, from raw calculation and data storage to search and social networks.

There may yet be hope for data centers.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 02 2020, @02:35PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 02 2020, @02:35PM (#965480) Journal
    What I find most remarkable about the story is that even if it were the worst case, it just means that the industry is consuming more cheap power with mild environmental effects. There's little relevance to us. There would be slightly more expensive electricity and slightly more contaminated environment - even if we care about things like climate change more than the benefit of said cloud.

    But as it turns out, those data centers don't like paying for resources consumed even when they're cheap.