Pike Research’s report, ‘Cloud Computing Energy Efficiency’, that provides an in-depth analysis of the energy efficiency benefits of cloud computing forecasts that data centers will consume 139.8 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2020, a reduction of 31% from 201.8TWh in 2010.
The reduction, which represents a decrease from the 226.4TWh that would be used by data centers in the firm’s business as usual scenario, will lower total data center energy costs from $23.3bn in 2010 to $16.0bn in 2020, and cause a 28% reduction in GHG emissions from 2010 levels.
Pike Research senior analyst, Eric Woods said that the growth of cloud computing will have a very significant positive effect on data center energy consumption; few clean technologies have the capability to reduce energy expenditures and GHG production with so little business disruption.
"Software as a service, infrastructure as a service, and platform as a service are all inherently more efficient models than conventional alternatives, and their adoption will be one of the largest contributing factors to the greening of enterprise IT," Woods said.
