The cloud may be the next frontier as more people and business transition to cloud computing to make data easily available as well as make operations more efficient. But what does this transition mean for the environment?

Yes, it reduces the need to print files over and over again because of revisions as employees can now collaborate and edit files in real-time, so printing can left for the final draft. This saves paper and reduces trash. But is cloud computing really clean? Don’t forget, cloud computing is only possible because of data centers – data centers which consume tons of energy to stay up and running 24 hours a day.

Greenpeace, the activist group that fights to make the world a cleaner and greener place, has just released a new report regarding Internet giants’ efforts for a greener Internet, and it makes for particularly mucky reading.

In the report Clicking Clean: How Companies are Creating the Green Internet, Greenpeace praises Apple, Facebook, and Google for being transparent about their energy use and renewable energy drives in their data centers. It also notes that Apple, Box, Facebook, Google, Rackspace, and Salesforce have all committed to a goal of powering data centers using 100 percent renewable energy, and says these all show early signs of fulfilling that promise.

“Google maintains its leadership in building a renewably powered internet, as it significantly expands its renewable energy purchasing and investment both independently and through collaboration with its utility vendors,” Greenpeace wrote.

“Facebook continues to prove its commitment to build a green internet, with its decision to locate a data center in Iowa driving the largest purchase of wind turbines in the world… Apple is the most improved company since our last full report, and has shown itself to be the most innovative and most aggressive in pursuing its commitment to be 100 per cent renewably powered.”

But not every tech firm’s environmental efforts are as commendable. Greenpeace also makes a point of naming and shaming the dirtiest data centers around. The organization lambasted the likes of Amazon, Twitter and Oracle, giving the former a miserable “F” rating for Transparency, its Renewable Energy Commitment & Siting Policy and its Renewable Energy Deployment & Advocacy, and a “D” rating for its Energy Efficiency & Mitigation efforts.

“In sharp contrast to competitors Google, Apple, Rackspace and Microsoft, which are working with their electric utilities to increase the supply of renewable electricity, AWS’ Oregon utility (Umatilla Electric) is working to gut the state renewable energy law in order to avoid having to meet the higher renewable targets it now faces as result of AWS’ rapid growth in electricity demand,” Greenpeace noted.

Twitter also came in for similar criticism, receiving three “F’s” and one “D” for its own data centers:

Greenpeace took Amazon to task over its high energy use

Unsurprisingly, Amazon wasn’t best pleased with Greenpeace’s assessment of its cloud operations, stating that although it agrees tech leaders should help safeguard the environment by implementing both efficient use and clean sources of energy, “Greenpeace misses the mark by using false assumptions on AWS operations and inaccurate data on AWS energy consumption.”

The company added that two of its ten global data centers run on “100 per cent carbon-free” power.

Though Greenpeace praised Google, Facebook and eBay for their efforts in building a greener Internet, the group mentioned that it’s troubling how many tech companies are members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), “a group that allows member corporations to pay to ghostwrite model legislation for mostly right-wing state legislators around the country” and “is actively collaborating with many of the nation’s worst polluters to kill clean energy and climate policies around the country.”

photo credit: Billy Wilson Photography via photopin cc