global data centers and offices will be using renewables since 2017.

global data centers and offices will be using renewables since 2017.

By Dr.Ali Fourkan

Google announced that it had purchased enough wind and solar power for its global electricity consumption each year. That means the search process servers that require Google Maps, Gmail or YouTube storage will only use clean energy. By 2015, 44% of the energy the company uses comes from renewable energy.

“It’s a long way, but we’re excited to finally get to the finish,” says Neha Palmer, director of energy infrastructure strategy for Google, to Mashable.

Google’s announcement comes at a time of uncertainty in the field of clean energy. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to abolish restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions and instead promote fossil fuel production. He showed no small contempt for wind farms.

According to Nathan Serota, a senior analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, if the Trump administration is delayed in environmental issues, companies must play a bigger role in the clean energy market in the United States. Gary Cook, an IT specialist for Greenpeace, says businesses should advocate policies that help build a cheaper, solar-powered wind farm.

For its part, Google says there is no plan to change its approach to clean energy under Trump. “We continue to run our business responsibly with the environment. We will maintain our value, including the purchase of clean energy, “Palmer said.

Clean Technology Firms

In particular, technology companies are buying more renewable energy for two main reasons. First, it benefits their business: US solar prices have fallen by 80% since 2012, while wind power prices have fallen 60% thanks to improved technology and design, financial costs lower and bureaucratic decreases. Wind and solar power are more competitive than traditional sources like gas or coal.

When buying power from wind or solar power projects, they usually sign long term deals with developers. Contracts offer fixed prices in 10 or 20 years, allowing the company to manage future costs and save on costs.

Google signed its first US renewable energy purchase in 2010 with a purchase of 114 megawatts from a wind farm in Iowa. Since then, the search giant has signed more than 17 wind power deals and two solar projects in six US states and six countries. Together, 20 projects produce 2,600 megawatts of clean energy, enough for all of Google’s worldwide direct operations. It does not include indirect electricity demand from third party producers.

The second cause is the goal of sustainable development. As the e-economy expands, digital companies must build more data centers around the globe. They face increased pressures from customers and environmental organizations to meet greater energy requirements, resulting from renewable energy rather than coal and gas emissions.

Since 2010, technology businesses account for about two-thirds of renewable energy transactions, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute environmental organization. According to Cook, “IT is leading the way in buying renewable energy.”

Cook is the lead author on Greenpeace’s “Click Clean” report on Internet business on environmental performance. In the 2015 report, Google was listed as “green innovator” while Amazon Web Services was considered “on the way” and Oracle was stuck in the “dirty energy past.”

Facebook scored pretty well in Greenpeace’s latest report after implementing a “fundamental upgrade in transparency” and encouraged Iowa facilities to invest billions of dollars in new farms through the construction of a data center in this state. Two other social media data centers – Clonee (Ireland) and Los Lunas (Mexico) – will be fully controlled by clean energy when completed.

Apple, one of Google’s biggest rivals, has made significant strides in clean energy. The iPhone maker in September said it would work with manufacturers to reduce carbon emissions from factories. Nearly all of its data centers, offices and retail stores use renewable energy. In August 2016, Apple was licensed by the federal government to sell clean electricity like Google in 2010.

This summer, Microsoft announced a new target: 50% of the power in the data center from clean energy in 2018 and 60% from renewables in the early 2020s.

At Salesforce, the goal is 100% clean energy for the global branch. To do this, the cloud computing company signed two major contracts with wind farms in Texas and West Virginia.

Suzanne DiBianca, head of charity at Salesforce, wrote in an email: “Looking at the future, businesses have the opportunity and responsibility to transform their energy systems so they are reliable, safe and clean.”

Google’s own efforts to buy wind and solar power create a precedent for many other businesses to follow. For example, Google recently teamed up with Duke Energy in North Carolina to build a 61 megawatt solar project, which runs a new data center in the state. As part of the deal, other companies in the region were also able to purchase electricity from the project without additional intermediary costs.

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