Google and Microsoft turn to renewable energies for data centers

While Google and Microsoft are two of the world’s largest cloud-focused companies, always competing for more customers in the enterprise space, the two companies agree on one thing: the need to radically change the environmental impact of ever-growing data centers.

The path to a more environmentally sustainable cloud business is through clean renewable energy sources. Both Google and Microsoft intend to go completely “carbon neutral” in just a few years. In this context, companies are purchasing more clean energy than ever before.

Microsoft and Google aim to be carbon neutral by 2030

Google recently announced that it has entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Engie, a French-based utility company, to acquire 100 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy from an offshore wind farm in Scotland. According to Matt Brittin, Head of Google EMEA, the UK and Europe are increasingly concerned about climate change and energy resources. In this context, Google shares this common concern and plans to be 90 percent carbon neutral in Europe by 2025. Google previously made a deal with SoftBank/SB Energy to buy 900 MW of solar power for its data center in Texas.

Microsoft, on the other hand, is equally concerned about the environmental impact of its data centers. The software and technology giant wants to make both European and global data centers work with green energy. The firm has most recently announced a new energy purchase to provide 900 MW of renewable energy in Irish data centers. Renewable energy comes from a mix of wind and solar power plants, and Microsoft plans to make Irish data centers 100 percent carbon-neutral by 2025.

Data-centric uses about 1-1.5 percent of global electricity generation. Recent information shows that data centers consume between 200-250 TWh of electricity. However, studies show that energy consumption will reach 3.2 percent in 2030. However, despite the high energy consumption of data centers, they are quite efficient. The new equipment and the efficiency of cooling systems ensure that the energy consumption of data centers does not increase in parallel with the increasing internet usage and data amount.