Cloud provider: Growth at all watts
Context
Your company is at the forefront of digital innovation, delivering streaming, gaming, and communication services to billions worldwide. But projections show that, if growth continues unchecked, your data centers could triple their energy use within the next decade—potentially matching or surpassing the emissions of entire countries.
Dilemma
Do you:
A) Invest heavily in renewable power and low-impact architecture—even if it slows market expansion and risks losing ground to competitors.
B) Continue rapid expansion to meet consumer and investor demands.
Summary
Experts warn that global data center energy consumption could triple within the next decade. This dramatic increase is fueled by the exponential growth of internet traffic, cloud computing, video streaming, and big data processing. Such a surge in electricity demand poses a significant challenge to climate change mitigation efforts, potentially leading to a substantial rise in carbon emissions if the energy primarily comes from fossil fuels. The report underscores the urgent need for greater energy efficiency measures within data centers and a rapid shift towards powering digital infrastructure with renewable energy sources.
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| Last modified: | 29 April 2025 2.06 p.m. |