Ways Cloud Computing Can Help Your Business Go Green

An environmentally friendly approach to sharing and storing your computer generated documents and other communications, cloud computing can also help you and your business save money and operate much more efficiently and effectively. Every computing need from servers to hardware to software to paper can be adapted by using cloud-based solutions, using less energy, resources and cash while keeping the productivity up and the information flowing.

Can’t Stand The Heat

Servers pose two types of problems related their operation and energy use. They contribute to an enormous energy load and they also throw off a tremendous amount of heat. The heat generated at data centers can require cooling systems to keep the hardware from deteriorating. If your business houses its own servers, the cost to operate and cool the equipment fall directly upon you.

Balance The Load

Moving to a cloud-computing arrangement helps reduce negative environmental consequences directly attributed to your company but it does not merely move the environmental effect elsewhere. Using cloud-computing services means sharing server capacity among a number of other subscribers. The efficiency and economy of scale means that the amount of energy attributed to each user is much less than if every user had their own server.

The mining and manufacture of materials used to construct a server also impact the environment. When accessed only by a limited number of computers, a server is often underused, meaning the damage to the environment caused by its very existence is doubly wasteful. When more businesses and individuals access storage and applications through the cloud, that server can perform closer to capacity and eliminate the need for duplication of hardware and other equipment.

Server Location

The radiant heat issues of large data center servers can be addressed by specially designed and applied venting and cooling systems. Consolidating the server needs of a large number of computing consumers permits these cooling and venting strategies to cover the computing of many users, lowering the cost and the ill effects per customer.

Another clever and environmentally savvy way cloud severs can minimize cost and impact on the biosphere is by locating the cloud servers in an area where temperatures generally are lower. Locating these multi-use servers in an area where cooling is rarely or never needed because of the ambient temperature is a great idea, reducing the need for both heating and air conditioning.

Update To More Efficient Equipment

Make sure that the cloud server and your own hardware is the most energy efficient available. Review your work stations, laptops, tablets and other electronics to make sure you are not negating the positive impact you are achieving with cloud servers by depending on poorly performing equipment that requires excessive amounts of energy.

Take Advantage Of Working Remotely

Using cloud-based servers means your work and the work of your staff can in many cases be completed away from your main place of business. The flexibility of the cloud server allows your employees and management to minimize commuting, reducing the environmental impact of getting the work of your company completed.