Greenpeace report How Clean is Your Cloud? I saw mentioned in 3T magazine news is actually quite interesting reading. This year’s report provides a look at the energy choices some of the largest and fastest growing IT companies. The report analyzes the 14 IT companies and the electricity supply chain in more than 80 data center cases.
The report contains also lots of interesting background information on both IT and telecom energy consumption. I recommend checking it out. Here are some points picked from How Clean is Your Cloud? report:
Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo – these global brands and a host of other IT companies are rapidly and fundamentally transforming the way in which we work, communicate, watch movies or TV, listen to music, and share pictures through “the cloud.”
The growth and scale of investment in the cloud is truly mind-blowing, with estimates of a 50-fold increase in the amount of digital information by 2020 and nearly half a trillion in investment in the coming year, all to create and feed our desire for ubiquitous access to infinite information from our computers, phones and other mobile devices, instantly.
The engine that drives the cloud is the data center. Data centers are the factories of the 21st century information age, containing thousands of computers that store and manage our rapidly growing collection of data for consumption at a moment’s notice. Given the energy-intensive nature of maintaining the cloud, access to significant amounts of electricity is a key factor in decisions about where to build these data centers. Industry leaders estimate nearly $450bn US dollars is being spent annually on new data center space.
Since electricity plays a critical role in the cost structure of companies that use the cloud, there have been dramatic strides made in improving the energy efficiency design of the facilities and the thousands of computers that go inside. However, despite significant improvements in efficiency, the exponential growth in cloud computing far outstrips these energy savings.
How much energy is required to power the ever-expanding online world? What percentage of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is attributable to the IT sector? Answers to these questions are very difficult to obtain with any degree of precision, partially due to the sector’s explosive growth, a wide range of devices and energy sources, and rapidly changing technology and business models. The estimates of the IT sector’s carbon footprint performed to date have varied widely in their methodology and scope. One of the most recognized estimates of the IT sector’s footprint was conducted as part of the 2008 SMART 2020 study, which established that the sector is responsible for 2% of global GHG emissions.
The combined electricity demand of the internet/cloud (data centers and telecommunications network) globally in 2007 was approximately 623bn kWh (if the cloud were a country, it would have the fifth largest electricity demand in the world). Based on current projections, the demand for electricity will more than triple to 1,973bn kWh (an amount greater than combined total demand of France, Germany, Canada and Brazil).
The report indicates that, due to the economic downturn and continued energy efficiency and performance improvements, global energy demand from data centers from 2005-2010 increased by 56%. Estimates of data center electricity demand come in at 31GW globally, with an increase of 19% in 2012 alone. At the same time global electricity consumption is otherwise essentially flat due to the global recession is still a staggering rate of growth.
Given the scale of predicted growth, the source of electricity must be factored into a meaningful definition of “green IT”. Energy efficiency alone will, at best, slow the growth of the sector’s footprint. The replacement of dirty sources of electricity with clean renewable sources is still the crucial missing link in the sector’s sustainability efforts according to the report.
The global telecoms sector is also growing rapidly. Rapid growth in use of smart phones and broadband mobile connections mean mobile data traffic in 2011 was eight times the size of the entire internet in 2000. It is estimated that global mobile data traffic grew 133% in 2011, with 597 petabytes of data sent by mobiles every month. In 2011, it is estimated that 6 billion people or 86.7% of the entire global population have mobile telephone subscriptions. By the end of 2012, the number of mobile connected devices is expected to exceed the global population. Electronic devices and the rapidly growing cloud that supports our demand for greater online access are clearly a significant force in driving global energy demand.
What about telecoms in the developing and newly industrialized countries? The report has some details from India (by the way it is expected that India will pass China to become the world’s largest mobile market in terms of subscriptions in 2012). Much of the growth in the Indian telecom sector is from India’s rural and semi-urban areas. By 2012, India is likely to have 200 million rural telecom connections at a penetration rate of 25%. Out of the existing 400,000 mobile towers, over 70% exist in rural and semi-urban areas where either grid-connected electricity is not available or the electricity supply is irregular. As a result, mobile towers and, increasingly, grid-connected towers in these areas rely on diesel generators to power their network operations. The consumption of diesel by the telecoms sector currently stands at a staggering 3bn liters annually, second only to the railways in India.
What is the case on other developing and newly industrialized countries? I don’t actually know.
NOTE: Please note that that many figures given on the report are just estimates based on quite little actual data, so they might be somewhat off the actual figures. Given the source of the report I would quess that if the figures are off, they are most probably off to direction so that the environmental effect looks bigger than it actually is.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1EnVXPAWfk/
Sähkönnälkää: Lahden DayOne datakeskuksen sähkön tuotantoon tarvittaisiin seitsemän Kalantia, Suomen suurinta aurinkopuistoa.
Yksi tuottaa sähköä 20 000 kotitalouden tarpeisiin: seitsemän 140 000 kotitalouden – tai yhden Lahden datakeskuksen.
Orimattilan suunniteltuun 800MW:n datakeskusalueeseen näitä Suomen suurimpia aurinkopaneelipuistoja tarvittaisiin 35 kappaletta, tai 700 000 kotitalouden tarpeen verran.
Uudenkaupungin Kalantiin valmistunut aurinkovoimala on Suomen suurin, ja se tuottaa sähköä jo valtakunnan verkkoon. Puisto havainnollistaa hyvin, kuinka paljon sähköä nykyaikaiset datakeskushankkeet vaativat toimiakseen ympäri vuorokauden.
Kalannin aurinkovoimalapuiston alta on poistettu 200 hehtaaria maa-ja metsätalousmaata 40 vuodeksi.
Kalannin puisto lukuina
Helenin omistama Kalannin aurinkovoimala kattaa noin 200 hehtaarin eli kahden neliökilometrin alueen 12 paneelikentässä. Voimalan nimellisteho on 206 megawattia, ja vuotuinen sähköntuotanto on Helenin mukaan yli 200 gigawattituntia.
Puistoon asennettujen paneelien tarkka lukumäärä on vaihdellut eri vaiheiden uutisoinnissa: alkuperäisissä suunnitelmissa puhuttiin 380 000 paneelista, kun taas tuoreimmat, valmiin puiston läpikäyneet raportit puhuvat noin 360 000–362 000 paneelista. Ero selittynee rakennusvaiheen tarkentumisella suunnittelusta toteutukseen.
Paljonko sähköä datakeskus tarvitsee?
Aurinkopuiston 200 gigawattitunnin vuosituotanto vastaa keskimäärin noin 22,8 megawatin jatkuvaa tehoa (200 000 MWh jaettuna vuoden 8 760 tunnilla). Jos tällä sähkömäärällä pyöritettäisiin datakeskusta, jonka energiatehokkuusluku (PUE) olisi 1,2, varsinaiselle IT-laitteistolle jäisi käytettäväksi noin 19 megawattia.
Laskelma on kuitenkin teoreettinen: aurinkopuisto ei tuota sähköä tasaisesti ympäri vuorokauden tai vuoden, vaan 206 megawatin huipputeho toteutuu vain kirkkaimpina hetkinä keskellä päivää kesällä. Yhden aurinkopuiston varaan rakennettu datakeskus tarvitsisi väistämättä tuekseen sähköverkon, energiavarastoja tai muuta tuotantoa tasaamaan vaihtelua.
Lahteen Kiveriön alueelle rakennettava DayOnen datakeskus on mitoitettu 128 megawatin IT-kuormalle täydessä laajuudessaan – tämä luku viittaa nimenomaan IT-laitteiston tehoon, ei koko laitoksen sähkönkulutukseen. Jos datakeskuksen PUE olisi esimerkiksi sama 1,2 kuin edellä, laitoksen todellinen kokonaissähkönkulutus olisi noin 154 megawattia ja vuosikulutus noin 1 350 gigawattituntia – tämä vastaisi noin seitsemän Kalannin kokoisen aurinkopuiston vuosituotantoa.
Orimattilan Pennalaan kaavaillun datakeskuksen arvioitu kapasiteetti on kaupungin omien kaavadokumenttien mukaan 800 megawattia täydessä laajuudessaan. Kaavamateriaalissa ei eritellä, viittaako luku IT-kuormaan vai koko laitoksen sähkönkulutukseen. Jos 800 megawattia otetaan sellaisenaan jatkuvana kokonaistehona, vuosikulutus olisi noin 7 000 gigawattituntia – noin 35-kertainen määrä Kalannin puiston tuotantoon verrattuna.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EDF6GaXnr/
As the race for artificial intelligence intensifies, China is moving some high-performance computing infrastructure beneath the ocean to reduce the energy required for cooling.
Underwater data centers are already operating off Hainan and Shanghai. Their sealed server modules use seawater as a natural cooling source, reducing reliance on conventional refrigeration systems.
For the Shanghai project, developers have reported that cooling can account for around 40% to 50% of electricity consumption in conventional facilities, while the underwater design can reduce the cooling share to below 10%. The operational Shanghai facility has also been reported to reduce overall electricity consumption by 22.8% and eliminate freshwater use compared with a conventional land-based facility.
The technology could therefore reduce the environmental footprint associated with cooling, water consumption and land use. At the same time, large-scale deployment requires careful monitoring of potential environmental effects, including how discharged heat could affect surrounding marine ecosystems over time.
As underwater computing expands, its long-term sustainability will depend not only on energy efficiency but also on responsible design and continued environmental assessment.
Images are generated by AI and for demonstration purposes only.
Source: Xinhua. (2025). World’s first wind-powered commercial underwater data center project launched in Shanghai. Xinhua, n/a, n/a.
#technology #artificialintelligence #ai #datacenter #innovation #sustainability #china #fblifestyle
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DF71ejZYw/
The UN’s warning isn’t a headline. “Water insolvency” is what happens when demand beats nature’s ability to refill the tank. Aquifers built over centuries are being spent in decades. Rainfall is shifting. Farms, factories, and cities are pulling from the same shrinking account. The fix is boring and proven: manage better, waste less, recycle more, and irrigate smarter. Protecting freshwater isn’t optional. It’s the constraint everything else now sits inside.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19WoAR3KCv/
Data centers consume staggering amounts of water to cool their servers—water that’s then released as vapor into the atmosphere or drained as contaminated wastewater into local waterways. In drought-stricken regions, this means communities face higher utility costs, restricted water access, and depleted aquifers so that tech companies can store our photos and emails.
The technology exists to solve this. Closed-loop cooling systems, recycled wastewater integration, and air-cooling alternatives are all viable. But they cost more, and without regulation, companies choose the cheapest option—which is always someone else’s problem.
Here’s the tension: societies need digital infrastructure. But they also need clean drinking water, which no technology can replace. When those needs collide, which one should lose? The answer depends entirely on who holds the power to decide. Right now, it’s not the people whose wells run dry.
Source: MOST Policy Initiative, Data Center Water Use, 2026.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How about instead of melting Antarctica, build them in cold countries some distance away from cities in industrial area, and use their excess heat to keep the buildings warm without need to burn oil, gas and wood?
Power those data centers mainly from renevables and CO2 free power sources.
Would that be a good practical idea?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Randy Joyce Data centers primarily use clean municipal drinking water (potable water) for evaporative cooling systems, though many modern facilities increasingly transition to treated wastewater (recycled or gray water) or closed-loop liquid systems to conserve freshwater resources.Types of Water UsedFresh Potable Water: Standard municipal tap water is the historical and current default because it minimizes mineral buildup, scaling, and biological growth in cooling towers.Reclaimed / Recycled Wastewater: Treated sewage effluent or gray water is increasingly used by major operators like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to reduce strain on local drinking water supplies.Dielectric / Specialized Liquids: Used in modern direct-to-chip or immersion cooling setups, these non-conductive fluids circulate in sealed, closed loops rather than evaporating.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Susi Art I checked your claim rather than dismissing it, and there’s an important distinction.
You’re correct that some data centers use potable municipal water for cooling. That’s well documented, and I agree that using drinking water for cooling deserves scrutiny especially where water is scarce.
But potable water isn’t required for data-center cooling, nor does every facility use it. Reclaimed water, non-potable sources, closed-loop cooling and other technologies are already being used.
I’m perfectly willing to change my position when the evidence supports it. But if we’re making claims this strongly, we should be able to verify the sources being cited.
Tomi Engdahl says:
While AI data centers dominate headline anxiety over local drinking supplies, agricultural crops like alfalfa consume vastly more water on a macro scale.
Data Centers (Direct Consumption)
National Total: ~0.14% to 0.2% of total U.S. water consumption. Over 40% of data centers are built in high water-stress regions. In specific watersheds (like Northern Virginia’s Potomac River Basin), data centers can account for around 3% of all local water used.
Alfalfa (Agricultural Irrigation)
National Total: ~6% to 8% of total U.S. freshwater withdrawals nationwide.
Western US / Colorado River Basin: ~20% to 32% of all water consumed across the American West.
The Regional Reality: “Exporting Water”
West Coast Export Share: ~30% to 38% of all alfalfa grown in states like California and Washington is shipped abroad.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The concern about automated surveillance networks—like Flock Safety cameras—is grounded in real, documented developments. Tens of thousands of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) collect billions of vehicle scans monthly, creating nationwide, searchable databases used by police departments and local governments.
However, conflating that real-world surveillance system with the physical buildout of commercial AI data centers conflates two completely different technological and business ecosystems.
The hardware stack required for consumer AI products like ChatGPT or Gemini is completely different from what is needed to process and index camera footage.
Modern Flock cameras run computer vision models right on the device at the edge using small solar-powered processors, uploading plain text metadata (plate numbers, color, make) to standard cloud servers. Storing text logs of vehicle scans takes up a fraction of a percent of normal cloud storage—it does not require gigawatt-scale AI supercomputing clusters.
Who Owns the Infrastructure?
The multi-billion-dollar AI data centers dominating current headlines are built by public commercial companies (Microsoft, Amazon, Google) and specialized private cloud providers (CoreWeave, Lambda Labs).
Their financial viability depends on charging enterprise clients, developers, and consumers for cloud software, API tokens, and web services.
Flock Safety is an independent surveillance vendor selling hardware and software subscriptions to municipal police departments, private security, and neighborhood associations. It hosts its services on commercial cloud networks, but it doesn’t build or run 100-megawatt AI campuses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yes, water vapor is technically the single most abundant greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere and accounts for the majority of the natural greenhouse effect. However, calling it “worse” than \text{CO}_2 misses a fundamental distinction in how atmospheric physics and climate feedback loops operate.
Water vapor does not drive climate change on its own; it acts as an amplifying feedback, whereas \text{CO}_2 acts as the primary driver.
Tomi Engdahl says:
water vapor is technically the single most abundant greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere and accounts for the majority of the natural greenhouse effect. However, calling it “worse” than \text{CO}_2 misses a fundamental distinction in how atmospheric physics and climate feedback loops operate.
Water vapor does not drive climate change on its own; it acts as an amplifying feedback, whereas CO2 acts as the primary driver.
Water Vapor (\text{H}_2\text{O}): Stays in the atmosphere for roughly 9 to 10 days. If you pump extra water vapor into the air—whether from cooling towers, ocean evaporation, or rain—it simply condenses and falls back down as rain or snow within a week and a half.
Carbon Dioxide (\text{CO}_2): Remains in the atmosphere for 300 to 1,000+ years. Once emitted, it accumulates continuously, creating a persistent, long-term heat-trapping layer that does not fall out with the weather.