With more of us using the digital ether that is the Cloud platform, the technology is replacing physical storage of old (CDs, DVDs, magazines and floppy disks) and provides users with an invisible mainframe to maintain one’s digital life. But although the Cloud may seem intangible, somewhere in the world, massive servers are chowing through electricity.

Greenpeace has released a report in which they studied the energy consumption of tech companies that provide cloud services. According to the report, IT-related services account for 2% of all global carbon emissions. That’s similar to the aviation sector’s carbon emissions. Every time you use social media page from now on, imagine a fleet of Boeings taking off.

Greenpeace urges more tech companies to follow in the footsteps of Apple, who have committed to use solely renewable energy for its iCloud service. With analysts expecting data usage to triple between 2012 and 2017, to 121 billion gigabytes, more tech companies will need to clean up their clouds to reduce their impact on climate change.

To read the Greenpeace report, click here. 

[ Source : TIME ]