Economic, social and environmental sustainability is a prime focus of today's business environment. In fact environmental sustainability is inextricably linked with business success. So how can cloud computing reap positive environmental benefits for businesses, local councils and law firms? Let’s get to the bottom of this important question.
1. It Reduces Energy Consumption
On-site servers need to be constantly powered by electricity. In fact, according to Ehow.com, one server can use between 500 to 1,200 watts of electricity per hour. Larger data centres use an estimated 200 terawatt hours (TWh) each year. That is more than the national energy consumption of some countries! Cloud computing provides an opportunity to dramatically reduces these figures. Research by Northwestern University revealed that transitioning your commonly used software applications to the cloud would in fact cut energy use by up to 87%.
2. It is Powered by Renewable Energy
Many cloud data centres are powered by renewable energy sources; solar, geothermal and wind, which emit little or no greenhouse gases. Lateral Technology has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS), who are firmly “committed to running (their) business in the most environmentally friendly way possible and achieving 100% renewable energy usage for (their) global infrastructure”.
3. It Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Cloud computing cuts the amount of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) produced from data centres. A survey conducted by Accenture recently revealed that cloud computing has a substantial effect on carbon emissions; companies can lessen their per-user carbon footprint from between 30% and 90% by switching to cloud computing. Measuring and reducing carbon emissions is not an easy task for any business, but switching to a cloud based computing ecosystem is a great start.
4. It Results in Dematerialization
The opportunities and advantages that a cloud ecosystem offer include immediate sharing of digital documents or parts of them, on any type of device, from anywhere. Dematerialization is defined as the replacement of high-carbon physical products with new, virtual equivalents. By shifting to a cloud-based computing system your business will rely less on hardware and physical machines, you’ll use less energy and you’ll reduce your environmental impact. In turn, environmental sustainability leads to improved profits from increased efficiencies, reduced costs and improved sales.
5. It Better Allocates Resources
Storing your important data in house requires on-premise servers, however if you have a cloud provider you can have fewer machines and less hardware, which translates into lower cooling and space requirements for your operation. Your costs reduce and you become more operationally efficient. This important aspect of the cloud is one of the most overlooked, multifaceted advantages of working within a cloud ecosystem.
Lateral Technology is a cutting-edge cloud software provider, helping businesses, local councils, government agencies and law firms of all sizes mitigate the consumption of energy, reduce their carbon footprint, and move toward a greener future. Get in touch now to learn more.