Addressing the Environmental Toll of Cloud Computing, AI & Data Centers
Cloud Sustainability Watch is a nonprofit website enabling technologists to adopt sustainable computing
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Technologists need a place to find green software tools and sustainable IT information quickly.
This website serves that need.
Cloud Sustainability Watch is a free hub for sustainable computing resources across the web.
Click Plan a Project to access practical steps that walk through a green computing project.
Need to find Sustainable Computing Tools, expert Consultants, or Training from across the web? They are in our Directories.
Our free “Guide to Sustainable Computing” serves software & web developers, architects, Dev/Cloud Ops, and IT leaders.
Our Explore Issues pages and Resource Link Library provide context and background on data centers, AI, and cloud computing.
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Every day, decisions about software applications and websites impact our communities and environment
75% of technologists would like to reduce the environmental impact of their work but over 50% don’t know how and just 11% measure & manage IT carbon emissions
Most organizations don’t consider the resource consumption and carbon emissions of their computing decisions.
But online computing takes a bite from the world’s scarce resources.
Building a slide presentation or coding software affects the environment because the user devices, networks, and data centers that deliver online applications consume water and power and drive carbon emissions. AI’s explosive growth is adding fuel to the fire.
This escalating problem requires attention from those who can reverse it: the creators of online applications. Applying green principles during planning and deployment cuts power use, cloud bills, and environmental impact. In turn, users and customers can choose green applications over conventional ones.
Customer preference for greener products and technologists' adoption of green software are what Cloud Sustainability Watch is all about.
Every Action Makes a Lasting Difference
The public uses cloud applications and services for streaming, AI chatbots, shopping, search, and social media. There is little popular awareness of the real-world impacts of virtual activity. At work we spend hours in spreadsheets and HR portals that are delivered on the cloud. With cloud computing usage exploding, fueled by a popular wave of new corporate AI applications, the environmental and financial consequences of inaction will only intensify.
Solutions such as green software design, streamlined AI use, and greenhouse gas emissions tracking, all exist today. But information technology decision makers must take action to embrace these techniques, slow their companies’ climate impacts. and optimize resource consumption. Often, these techniques help to reduce business expenses too. Every platform improvement saves water, power, carbon emissions, noise, and air pollution for as long as the platform endures.
US data centers produced 105 million tons CO2e in the past year
Reported in “Environmental Burden of US Data Centers in the Artificial Intelligence Era” Nov 14 2024