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Bottom Line

News from Seattle's Office of Economic Development

New study reveals environmental benefits of cloud computing

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A new study, “Cloud Computing and Sustainability: The Environmental Benefits of Moving to the Cloud,” released in early November by Microsoft, Accenture, and WSP Energy & Environment suggests that cloud computing has the potential to dramatically reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, especially for small businesses.

The study was designed to collect empirical evidence that cloud computing – in which resources, software, and information are shared and managed over the Internet – resulted in energy and carbon efficiencies compared to an on-premise computing environment.

For many companies, cloud computing is already the “new normal” thanks to its reduced cost and increased storage and flexibility compared to on-premise servers and traditional network computing. But no previous study has examined whether cloud computing also has significant environmental benefits.

“The findings are actually pretty impressive,” said Josh Whitney, corporate sustainability strategy lead with WSP. “I think this study provides further reinforcement of the benefits of the cloud beyond the bottom line. It provides one of the first quantitative and measurable analyses of the impact that cloud computing can have directly compared to a traditional deployment of IT within a company.”

For a complete summary of the study, visit Microsoft’s news center.

Seattle City Council hosts Carbon Neutrality Community Forum

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On September 14, 2010, the Seattle City Council hosted a Carbon Neutrality Forum where members from the eight sectors most critically involved in reducing carbon emission presented action plans and recommendations for the next 1-3 years. Those sector groups are: Transportation, Green Jobs, Land Use, Energy, Youth, Neighborhoods, Food Systems, and Zero Waste.

Individual representatives from each group gave presentations on their recommendations. Max Hepp-Buchanan, the Transportation representative, recommended “utiliz[ing] pricing mechanisms such as increased parking prices and tolling to reduce single occupancy vehicles.”

The Zero Waste sector focused on a push for legislation to put a collar on businesses that create excessive waste, such as the phone book opt-out system, promoted by Councilman O’Brian (more info here).

The Neighborhoods sector recommended more community-based projects where, for example, high school students would be able to learn and practice composting and recycling through incentives such as the Neighborhood Matching Recycling Grants. All are welcome to visit the Neighborhoods sector website, carbonneutral.seattle.gov, to suggest carbon neutral ideas or to browse recent ideas.

Mike O’Brian, chair of the Seattle Public Utilities and Neighborhoods committee, added that “ [he was] impressed by the amazing  effort shown by the community members in each sector who have organized themselves and spent hundreds of volunteer hours generating recommendations and white papers that will inform the work Seattle will undertake over the next few years .”

Some simple suggestions to participate in carbon reduction, such as introducing florescent bulbs and reducing average thermostat temperature in households can be found at seattleCAN.org. There is also a carbon footprint calculator where an individual can estimate their carbon emission and begin to cut unnecessary carbon producing activities.

For the full Press Release from the City of Seattle’s September 14th meeting at City Hall, click here.

Please visit the carbon neutral community to stay updated on current and future events.