Cloud computing the new poster child of Green IT. Large scale computing in the cloud is more energy efficient then decentralized local computing. In a large computing facility it's a lot easier to optimize the hardware, run the processors at a slightly lower frequency to reduce heat or just let them run a little hotter than you normally would to reduce cooling costs. It's possible to fine tune the life expectation versus the energy consumption during the lifespan. All this tweaking and tuning can only be done by these large scale computing facilities and thus creating an energy efficiency over local computing resources.
The availability of cloud computing solutions increases day by day. We all have our social responsibilities and why not rethinking our IT strategies towards cloud computing? This is what IT wants us to believe, but is this really going to save the world?
In the 1950's the automobile became a product in reach for normal people and the number of cars in the world have only been growing ever since. Technology enhancements and improvements have made today's car a lot more fuel efficient, however this has not been able to keep up with the increased traveled distance. The overall fuel consumption by motor vehicles is still raising.
Cloud computing will have exactly the same effect. Ten years ago I made more mobile phone calls as I do today, but I only needed to recharge my phone twice a week. Today I can hardly live on a single charge a day, because cloud computing has give me the ability to constantly update to the world what I'm doing and where I'm about. The power consumption of my local device has gone up significantly and imagine the computing infrastructure to deal with all the additional information.
Cheaper and easier available computing resources will only increase the overall usage and will not have any positive effect on the overall energy consumption. The skies are gray and the clouds are black. It's time that IT comes will real innovative ways to stop our continues need for increased power consumption.
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