Get out of the cloud computing misunderstanding (1)-cloud computing and Environmental Protection

This article is the first cloud computing and Environmental Protection Article in the series "getting out of cloud computing misunderstanding" in cooperation with it168. First of all, this series will pass about 10 articlesArticleTo help you solve some misunderstandings about cloud computing, and this article will first focus on the environmental protection aspect, the original article address.

In terms of environmental protection, some people think that cloud computing is not very friendly, because large data centers not only need to invest huge resources during construction, but also during operation, it will also consume a lot of energy constantly. For example, an average Google search consumes 100 watt hours or 0.1 degrees. Also, in March 30 this year, the world-renowned Greenpeace released a report on cloud computing called "make it green: cloud computing and its contribution to climate change ", in this report, Greenpeace pointed out that Internet companies will build more and more cloud computing centers and consume more electricity because the Internet will be used on a larger scale, in addition, due to the cost, the coal and electricity that pollute the environment will become the first choice, rather than other renewable energy, so cloud computing and other IT technologies will cause the deterioration of the environment.

Although cloud computing technology is indeed very energy-consuming, technological advances may also have a negative impact on the environment. The most obvious example is the current car, however, based on my understanding of cloud computing, I think cloud computing is very helpful to the environment, mainly because, although cloud computing does need to consume a lot of resources, however, compared with previous computing models (such as client/server), cloud computing is much higher in terms of energy efficiency. Therefore, in the long term, it is very beneficial to the environment, the following are four main aspects that cloud computing can help the environment:

1. The centralization of computing resources will greatly improve the efficiency, because computing resources are centralized, and work load can be transferred from inefficient enterprise data centers to efficient clouds (for example, the energy utilization rate of Google's data centers is more than twice that of ordinary enterprise data centers), and can integrate many small workloads to increase the utilization rate of computing resources. More importantly, the cloud computing center can be built in the most suitable place. For example, the power consumption caused by power grids can be avoided by the construction of the power plant, and the energy investment for cooling can be reduced by building the power plant in the cold north.
2. Devices connected to the internet tend to be less energy-consuming. Mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and laptops have gradually replaced high-energy desktops as the first choice for accessing the Internet. Most of these devices consume about of traditional desktops.
3. Online Communication and conferences through Internet access will effectively reduce the number of people traveling and thus reduce traffic pollution.
4. Cloud computing will improve the efficiency of energy operations. For example, the smart grid solution supported by cloud computing will greatly reduce the transmission loss of current, because a lot of power is wasted in transmission by inefficient power grids rather than being used, for example, refer to the IBM smart planet related solutions.

Finally, I just want to say that as an engineer, sometimes I have to face the conflict between environmental interest and technological development, but I firmly believe that as long as I continue to study technology, you can find the best strategy for both worlds, as John Lennon sang in the song: "You may call me a dreamer, but I'm not the only one ".