Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) announced that findings from the Carbon Reduction Opportunity of Moving to the Cloud for APAC report by 451 Research found that organisations moving their business applications from on-premises data centres to cloud infrastructure in APAC can expect to reduce their energy use, and associated carbon footprint, by 78 per cent.
“Customers in APAC who move compute workloads to the AWS Cloud can significantly reduce their carbon footprint, benefiting from the net effect of all our sustainability efforts,” Ken Haig, head of energy policy for Asia Pacific and Japan at AWS, said. “Apart from maximising efficiency in our operations to reduce the amount of energy needed to power our data centres, we’re also working toward procuring 100 per cent renewable energy for all of our energy needs by 2030 and are on a path to reach that milestone globally by 2025.”
The study found that cloud-based data centres have significant efficiency advantages at both the server and facility levels. Further, it found that cloud servers are responsible for more than 67 per cent of energy reduction due to the use of advanced technology and high utilisation. The research further found that facility-level efficiency gains at cloud data centres, such as advanced power distribution systems and using advanced cooling technology, account for more than 11 per cent of energy efficiency gains compared to typical on-premises infrastructure. To execute on this front, the company designs data centres to lower energy losses with optimised electrical infrastructure and energy-efficient cooling methods. They are also innovating the design of cooling systems to reduce water use and utilises real-time sensor data to adapt to changing weather conditions.
Significant investments in renewable energy are a critical step to reducing the company’s carbon footprint globally. They are the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy and have over two hundred solar and wind energy projects across the globe. These projects have the capacity to generate over 10,000 megawatts (MW) and deliver more than 27 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy annually.
