CW+ Premium Content/Computer Weekly

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace has praised technology giants Google, Facebook and Apple for their use of renewable energy to power datacentres but has blamed AWS and Twitter for not caring enough about the source of the energy they use to power their facilities. In its latest report Clickin Clean, on big datacentre operators’ environmental performance, Greenpeace recognised the efforts Apple, Google, eBay and Facebook have made towards improving energy efficiency in their IT operations. But organisation also singled out Amazon Web Services and Twitter for a lack of transparency in their energy and carbon reporting, as well as for their limited use of sustainable energy to power datacentres. The report describes Google, Facebook, Apple and to a certain degree even Yahoo as “green Internet innovators” because of their commitment to renewable energy. Facebook powers its IT infrastructure with 100% renewable energy sources, while Google is using wind energy in its facilities as part of its carbon neutrality commitment. ...