The Cloud is Making Businesses More Sustainable: Here’s Why

Companies around the world are spending over $400 billion on cloud technology. As cloud technology becomes more valuable, green businesses are using it for scalability.

Many people are skeptical of the benefits of the cloud for the environment, since it uses so much energy. However, eco-friendly businesses are relying on it to become more sustainable.

The development of cloud technology is driving more and more companies to make the switch. After all, why wouldn’t this happen? With remote work spreading all over the planet, cloud tech jumped in as the hero to save the day.

But the benefits of centralized cloud technology go further than just global file sharing. In this blog post, we’re going to talk about the environmentally friendly aspect of cloud tech.

1. E-waste reduction

All businesses need to do everything they can to minimize the horrors of e-waste. Cloud technology can be helpful in this regard.

Having an on-site server solution comes with regular hardware updates. And this means a lot of old tech you need to get rid of. Outdated tech is a large part of the e-waste problem that’s been ramping up in the last decade, mainly driven by the ever-accelerating evolution of technology.

Businesses that made the switch to cloud tech resolved this problem almost instantaneously. Since storage and computing are done in the cloud (i.e., remotely), you don’t have to worry about regular hardware updates. Computer purchases, selling old tech, and dedicated server rooms are the main issues cloud tech solves.

2. Better energy source solutions 

One big upside of centralized cloud services is the opportunity to “do the computing en masse”. This, of course, allowed cloud service providers to optimize power consumption, thus lowering electricity waste.

On top of that, by having a clear insight into the cloud tech needs for electricity, going green became even more accessible.

3. Lower demand for on-site electricity

If you were to eliminate the need for an on-site hardware center or even the local data cluster, your business energy demands would drop significantly.

The thing is – servers and data centers require lots of computing power. But that’s not all. A large chunk of electricity goes to air conditioning and special on-site cooling systems. And whenever cooling is involved, you can expect a large electricity bill.

When you migrate your computing power off-site, you can expect a significant drop in your business’s energy needs.

4. It’s easier to scale a business

As a business grows, so do its computing and energy needs. Scaling comes with a set of challenges, computing and storage being some of the main issues. It also usually means more data to handle (internal data and client info).

But companies that used cloud tech while scaling didn’t have to worry about the extra hardware and software requirements. There’s no need to plan for a larger data room or to hire extra people to manage your data.

In short, you get to scale your venture without worrying about extra hardware or energy expenses.

5. Cloud tech is only getting greener

As you might have noticed, centralized cloud computing brought the service providers the opportunity to go green, making their users go green by extension.

To put it simply – if a hundred businesses switched to a cloud service that’s supplying their hardware from renewable/green sources, we would have 101 green businesses.
By removing the need for a hundred different energy solutions (some green, some not), we can hit a hundred energy birds with one centralized stone. 

All major cloud tech players are in the process of switching to green energy, so the future of the cloud is most certainly green.

The cloud is contributing to overall carbon footprint reduction

If we were to summarize all of the above, the conclusion is simple – on-site server solutions are becoming a thing of the past. Cloud tech is becoming more secure, accessible, and efficient.

As for sustainability, you can rest easy – cloud tech is on a green path, pulling all its users along into a more sustainable future.