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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: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 02 2020, @04:30PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 02 2020, @04:30PM (#965539) Journal

    Who wants to live in a neighborhood where factories dumped toxic chemicals for decades? Who wants their county to be a nuclear power spent fuel dump? Or, how about a biological waste dump?

    Probably nobody wants to live there.

    But some are happy if less equal people live there. They pass laws or support (lack of) regulations accordingly.

    While I can't get onboard the climate change alarmist train

    I am not aware of the alarmist train you speak of. Scientists, without a political agenda, seem pretty united on this. It is something that needs to be addressed before it can no longer be fixed. That's where the politics come into play. And then you get "teach the controversy". If I have an equal and opposite expert, their opinion should have equal weight. Etc. It should not be (for either side) to start from a political position and then inject climate change into it.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @05:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @05:20PM (#965556)

    Who wants to live in a neighborhood where factories dumped toxic chemicals for decades? Who wants their county to be a nuclear power spent fuel dump? Or, how about a biological waste dump?

    I live right on top of all-of-the-above. You should see the size of my feet!