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:
Data centers generate low-level, non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and electrical harmonic distortions via heavy-duty power equipment, transformers, and cooling systems. While direct on-site fields drop rapidly outside the building, high-capacity grid demands can alter local power quality (“dirty electricity”).
Sources of EMF & Electrical Distortion
Power Infrastructure: High-voltage transmission lines, local substations, and large transformers supplying the facility create Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) magnetic and electric fields.
Operational Gear: Switching power supplies, inverters, and cooling fans generate localized high-frequency voltage transients and electromagnetic interference (EMI).
Grid Harmonics: Massive computing loads (especially for AI) can distort AC power waveforms on surrounding municipal grids.
Safety and Community Impact
Local Proximity: Direct magnetic and radiofrequency radiation from the internal servers does not typically extend past the physical walls in concentrated amounts.
Health Research: Non-ionizing ELF fields are classified by agencies like the World Health Organization as possible human carcinogens based on long-term statistical links to power-line exposures, though localized data center contributions remain heavily debated.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1E1Gwihdaz/
Amazon disclosed its data center water consumption for the first time, revealing that its global operations used 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025 — a volume equivalent to roughly 3,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The company maintains an expansive network of more than 900 facilities across over 50 countries, where massive water-based cooling systems prevent server overheating.
Despite significant expansion in its data center footprint to meet surging artificial intelligence demand, Amazon reduced direct water usage by 2% between 2024 and 2025 through more efficient cooling methods and a commitment to return water to communities. Facing mounting pressure from regulators and environmental advocates, the company is advancing its goal to become water positive by 2030.
The disclosure comes amid growing public scrutiny over data center environmental impact. In the U.S., Utah recently enacted groundbreaking legislation requiring certain new data centers to publicly report their annual water usage. Polling reveals shifting public sentiment: only one-third of Americans support new data center construction, and a mere 14% would accept having one built near their home — highlighting the challenge tech giants face in expanding infrastructure while maintaining community trust.
Images are generated by AI and for demonstration purposes only.
Source: Bhutani, A. (2026). Amazon Says Its Data Centers Used 2.5 Billion Gallons of Water in 2025. The Wall Street Journal.
#sustainability #waterconsumption #datacenters #AI #technology #environmentalimpact #transparency #fblifestyle
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://tech.supercarblondie.com/how-much-water-ai-data-centers-actually-use/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disgusting. https://trib.al/lbSu77T
How Exhausting
AI Data Centers Are Causing Unfathomable Amounts of Air Pollution, and It Gets Worse With Each New One They Build
The tech industry is showing no signs of slowing down.
https://futurism.com/future-society/ai-data-centers-air-pollution-generators-worse?fbclid=IwdGRjcATmquhjbGNrBOaqxHBkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEe938cUddFiI9LhYwalkeL8eVlPBllXG25fB5rXcRw2t8Yi7Cz3ZMLO8fliqU_aem_xhHAXU4U5mcdkeX8woHXnw
The amount of pollution spilling out of fossil-fuel generators is astounding. In the United States, this explosion of emissions is led by states like Texas, which on a global scale is comparable only to China in terms of new infrastructure powered by dead dinosaurs.
And as more data centers crop up throughout the US, that problem — of rising emissions linked to the accelerating demand for any kind of electricity — is only going to get worse.
According to reporting by the New York Times, the US currently has at least 82 data center-linked gas generators either in development or in the proposal stage. These are massive facilities which rival public electrical generators in size and power, only they’re not managed by the government, and the power they generate isn’t meant for citizens.
Instead, these are private generators, developed by big tech companies like Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta or Elon Musk’s xAI. The electricity they’ll supply is intended only for data centers, which grow ever-hungrier for power as new iterations of AI chips and energy-hungry large language models enter into production.
Assuming all 82 of those plants come online as planned, the NYT notes they could spew enough emissions in one year to rival the output of half the passenger cars in the US.
That’s an astonishing amount of pollution, made possible thanks to industry-friendly state regulators in places like Texas and Ohio, where permits for behemoth fossil fuel fired generators are approved in as little as 18 days, often without public disclosure.
It’s possible that moratoriums on new data centers might slow the burn, but unless states begin the unlikely task of banning new gas generators for existing facilities, we can expect US fossil fuel emissions to continue to rise precipitously in the years to come.