Computer servers in data centers account for about 2% of global energy demand, growing about 12% a year, according to the group. The servers, Greenpeace said, can suck up as much power as 50,000 average U.S. homes.
But most of what powers the cloud comes from coal and nuclear energy rather than renewable sources such as wind and solar, according to Greenpeace. Clusters of data centers are emerging in places like the Midwest, where coal-powered electricity is cheap and plentiful, the group said.
In its report, the organization zeroed in on 10 major tech companies, including Apple, Twitter and Amazon. Recently, the group has waged a feisty fight against Facebook, which relies on coal for 53.2% of its electricity, according to Greenpeace.
Greenpeace complains Internet is too polluting
Posted on Sunday, April 24 2011 @ 1:00 CEST by Thomas De MaesschalckLA Times writes Greenpeace has urged the IT industry to decrease its reliance on dirty energy. The report highlights that if the Internet were a country, it would rank fifth in the world for electricity use, and complains too many servers are powered by coal and nuclear energy.
