As cloud computing becomes more and more ubiquitous, and more content and data is created than ever, datacenters are pegged to become one of the largest consumers of energy on the planet. And at a recent green energy conference, Microsoft reiterated its promise to make sure the energy it uses is sustainable.
Microsoft, which has received prizes and accolades for adopting renewable energy in its business, has promised to continue and bring extra transparency to the way it uses energy and where that energy comes from. On top of that, the company plans to improve the energy mix in its overall business and datacenters. As such, it plans to use 50% renewable energy by 2018, and 60% as we go into the 2020s. That’s up from 44% green energy usage today.
Of course, this isn’t Microsoft’s first foray into the renewable energy sector. The company has been keeping a close eye on this field, especially as lowering its energy costs could have a substantial impact on its bottom line. The company has previously handed out research grants for green fuels used to power datacenters, and has developed software aimed at optimizing energy use across buildings.
Finally, the company is also looking at much more direct ways of lowering energy costs, especially when it comes to cooling datacenters. We reported on one of its proposed approaches, dumping servers to the bottom of the ocean, which gained popularity quickly.
With more and more of our daily lives having to pass through a datacenter in one way or another, it’s not surprising that Microsoft and its competitors are looking at ways to optimize energy usage, lower their costs and even do a little bit of good for the planet.
Source: Microsoft Green