Greening The Internet Cloud

If cloud data storage were a country it would rank fifth for electricity usage. Greenpeace is prodding companies like Apple and Facebook to get their energy from renewable sources instead of coal and nuclear.

Internet use and the demand for storage in the cloud are soaring. A new report from Greenpeace looks at data storage companies and their energy use. Gary Cook, an IT analyst at Greenpeace, tells host Bruce Gellerman that companies like Apple should be transparent about their energy use and invest more in renewable energy. One company, Akamai, ranks high on energy transparency in Greenpeace’s report. Nicole Peill-Moelter is Akamai’s Director of Sustainability. She says Akamai wants to help other businesses be more efficient but the company knows firsthand that affordable renewable energy is not always available on a large scale.