Sunday, May 17, 2015

2015 clickingclean

2015 clickingclean

Published in: Internet

Transcript

  • 1. greenpeace.org Clicking Clean: A Guide to Building the Green Internet May 2015 2015Update
  • 2. 2 For more information contact: greeninternet@greenpeace.org Lead Author: Gary Cook, Greenpeace Co-author: David Pomerantz Research: Kassie Rohrbach and Brian Johnson Editor: Joe Smyth Design by: www.arccommunications.com.au Published in May 2015 by Greenpeace Inc. 702 H Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20001 United States greenpeace.org
  • 3. Executive Summary 5 Company Scorecard 8 Cloud Power: Streaming Video On The Rise 11 Renewable Power for the Cloud: Drivers and Barriers 15 Road Map to a Green Internet 23 Powering Data Centers with Renewable Energy: A User Manual 29 Colocation Operators: The Landlords of the Internet 35 Your Online World: Dirty or Clean? 37 Appendix I: Methodology 38 Appendix II: Company Scores Explained 40 Appendix III 57 Notes 68 Contents
  • 4. 03 4 UTP structure wiring in Data centers.
  • 5. Greenpeace USA 5 Clicking Clean A Guide to Building the Green Internet Executive Summary 5 The internet is rapidly working its way into nearly every aspect of the modern economy. Long unshackled from our web browser, we now find the internet at every turn, and ready to play a bigger role in our lives with each passing day. Today, the internet is rapidly transforming how you watch TV. Tomorrow, the internet may be driving your car and connecting you to high- definition video from every corner of the planet via your watch. The magic of the internet seems almost limitless. But each new internet enabled magic trick means more and more data, now growing over 20% each year.1 The emergence of cheap smartphones means that internet traffic from mobile devices will soon exceed what is delivered over wired connections. Global mobile data was estimated to increase by a whopping 69% in 2014, and is expected to maintain its breakneck growth through at least 2019, due to the rapid increase of video streaming to mobile devices and as more of the world’s population gains basic access to the internet via smartphones. The online population topped 3 billion in 2014, and mobile broadband subscriptions are expected to jump to a staggering 7.6 billion by 2020.2 While there may be significant energy efficiency gains from moving our lives online, the explosive growth of our digital lives is outstripping those gains. Publishing conglomerates now consume more energy from their data centers than their printing presses. Greenpeace has estimated that the aggregate electricity demand of our digital infrastructure back in 2011 would have ranked sixth in the world among countries.3 The rapid transition to streaming video models, as well as tablets and other thin client devices that supplant on-device storage with the cloud, means more and more demand for data center capacity, which will require more energy to power. The transition to online distribution models, such as video streaming, appears to deliver a reduction in the carbon footprint over traditional models of delivery. However, in some cases, this shift may simply be enabling much higher levels of consumption, ultimately increasing the total amount of electricity consumed and the associated pollution from electricity generation. Unless leading internet companies find a way to leapfrog traditional, polluting sources of electricity, the convenience of streaming could cause us to increase our carbon footprint. Executive Summary ©Dreamstime “If having the audacity to rely on grid power now puts a company at risk for public shaming, then the day is coming when every company’s energy usage will be viewed through a moral filter – similar to how its labor practices and foreign investments are viewed today. ”David Crane, NRG CEO4
  • 6. 6 Greenpeace USA Clicking Clean A Guide to Building the Green Internet Executive Summary 6 The Internet Can and Must Be Green The internet has already enabled positive changes and better lives for people around the world, and has the potential to serve as a critical foundation for sustainable economic growth, but we cannot make the transition to a renewable powered society fast enough to avoid catastrophic climate change unless the internet is also a platform to transition the world toward a renewable energy future. The good news is that a growing number of companies have begun to create a corner of the internet that is renewably powered and coal free, with over a half dozen major internet companies now committed to being 100% renewably powered, including major operators such as Apple, Facebook and Google. Renewable commitments by internet companies have had a big impact in driving renewable power in several key markets, as a growing number of utilities have begun to shift their investments to renewable energy to meet this new demand. A second tier of major data center operators and internet companies have now begun to explore options for increasing their renewable energy supply. While colocation data center operators still lag far behind consumer facing data center operators, several have begun to shift to explore how they can best increase their supply of renewable electricity, as an increasing number of their customers are asking that their cloud be powered by renewable energy. Holding The Green Internet Back Monopoly electric utilities which sell electricity that’s powered by mostly coal, and very little renewable energy, are the sole energy providers to several critical data center hubs, which continue to attract significant new data center investment. Prominent examples of such utilities - including Duke Energy (North Carolina), Dominion Resources (Virginia), and Taiwan Power Company (Taiwan) - have all recently established green electricity tariffs to provide a renewable electricity option for their large customers, but they have not yet attracted customers due to their poor design and locked-in price premium, even though renewable energy is increasingly at parity with, if not superior to, traditional sources of generation. These utilities represent the biggest obstacles to building a green internet, and will require collaborative pressure from data center operators and other electricity customers to secure the policy changes needed to open the market up to competitors that offer meaningful options for renewable energy. “An energy efficient facility is good, but a 100% renewable energy facility is better. ”Apple Environment report5
  • 7. 7 Greenpeace USA Clicking Clean Overcoming Obstacles to a Green Internet Executive Summary Key Findings: • Apple continues to lead the charge in powering its corner of the internet with renewable energy even as it continues to rapidly expand. All three of its data center expansions announced in the past year will be powered with renewable energy. Apple is also having a positive impact on pushing major colocation providers to help it maintain progress toward its 100% renewable energy goal. • Colocation companies continue to lag far behind consumer-facing data center operators in seeking renewable energy to power their operations, but Equinix’s adoption of a 100% renewable energy commitment and offering of renewably hosted facilities is an important step forward. • Google continues to match Apple in deploying renewable energy with its expansion in some markets, but its march toward 100% renewable energy is increasingly under threat by monopoly utilities for several data centers including those in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Singapore and Taiwan. • Amazon’s adoption of a 100% renewable energy goal, while potentially significant, lacks basic transparency and, unlike similar commitments from Apple, Facebook or Google, does not yet appear to be guiding Amazon’s investment decisions toward renewable energy and away from coal. • The rapid rise of streaming video is driving significant growth in our online footprint, and in power-hungry data centers and network infrastructure needed to deliver it. • Microsoft has slipped further behind Apple and Google in the race to build a green internet, as its cloud footprint continues to undergo massive growth in an attempt to catch up with Amazon, but has not kept pace with Apple and Google in terms of its supply of renewable electricity. • Data center operators committed to renewable energy goals will need to redouble their efforts to work together to push policymakers for changes that allow them to procure renewable energy, overcoming the resistance of monopoly utilities.
  • 8. 88 Energy Transparency Natural Gas Coal Nuclear A F A B A B C B C D C A C C D B C Renewable Energy Commitment & Siting Policy C C A D A B D B C F B B B D F B D Energy Efficiency & Mitigation A D A B A B B B C D B C A C D B C Renewable Energy Deployment & Advocacy C D A C B A C C C D C C B D F D D Company Scorecard Colocation Companies 24% 23% 100% 10% 49% 46% 22% 24% 39% 17% 25% 23% 73% 18% 6% 15% 18% 21% 0% 51% 10% 15% 26% 27% 19% 18% 21% 20% 6% 30% 25% 29% 27% 27% 0 29% 25% 21% 41% 30% 30% 50% 33% 25% 11% 28% 32% 29% 27% 26% 0 9% 14% 13% 11% 17% 10% 11% 21% 26% 8% 20% 34% 20% 15% (a) Clean Energy Index and Coal Intensity are calculated based on estimates of power demand for evaluated facilities. See Appendix III: Facilities Table. (b) Akamai’s energy consumption is spread across 1,300 data centers around the world, making individual tracking difficult. Regional demand and renewable energy data are from CDP data and information provided by company. (c) Greenpeace provided AWS with facility power demand estimates to review. AWS responded that the estimates were not correct, but did not provide alternative data. Using conservative calculations based on public records, Greenpeace has used the best information available to derive power demand. See Appendix II: Methodology, for more information. Greenpeace invites AWS to provide more accurate data for its facility power demands. Clean Energy Index
  • 9. 9 EvoSwitch data center uses green energy to power the system. This energy efficient data center hosts providers, public institutions and private corporations. ©Frankvanbiemen/EvoSwitch/Greenpeace
  • 10. 03 10 01 Supercomputer with cables and lamps. ©Dreamstime
  • 11. Greenpeace USA 11 01 Clicking Clean A Guide to Building the Green Internet Section one Cloud Power: Streaming Video on the Rise Cloud Power: Streaming Video on the Rise From the now omnipresent fields of streaming music and video, to the nascent “Internet of Things,” our online world continues to transform our offline lives with ever increasing speed. Internet data is now growing at 20% per year.6 Big data’s massive growth is expected to continue with the emergence of cheap smartphones: nearly 80% of the planet’s adult population will be connected to the internet by 2020, and the total number of devices connected to the internet will be roughly twice the global population by 2018. Internet traffic from mobile devices increased 69% in 2014 alone with the rapid increase of video streaming to mobile devices, and mobile traffic will exceed what is delivered over wired connections by 2018. The primary engine behind all of this growth is consumer traffic, which represents more than 80% of internet traffic currently, and is expected to maintain this high share through 2018.7 By far and away, the biggest driver of that consumer internet data is online video. Consumers bought nearly 100 million internet connected TVs in 2014, and the steady increase of video-enabled mobile devices has dramatically changed how and where we watch TV and movies. YouTube, Netflix, Hulu and other video streaming services that have suddenly become a regular staple in our daily lives already make up more than 60% of consumer internet traffic, and that number is expected to grow to 76% by 2018.8 76% 16% 8% File sharing Web/Email Video Expected internet consumer traffic: 20187 Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2013–2018.
  • 12. 12 Greenpeace USA 12 Section one Clicking Clean A Guide to Building the Green Internet 29% 34% 21% 16% Devices Networks Data Centers Manufacturing Devices Data Centers 20% 47%15% 18% 29% 34% 21% 16% Devices Networks Data Centers Manufacturing Devices Networks Data Centers Manufacturing 20% 47%15% 18% Main components of electricity consumption for the IT sector, 2012. From “Emerging Trends in Electricity Consumption for Consumer ICT” Main components of electricity consumption for the IT sector, 2017 estimate. From “Emerging Trends in Electricity Consumption for Consumer ICT” Percentage of global electricity consumption due to CE-ICT for best/expected/worst case scenarios. From “Emerging Trends in Electricity Consumption for Consumer ICT” Global electricity consumption in TWh/yr for best/expected/ worse case scenarios. From “Emerging Trends in Electricity Consumption for Consumer ICT” Electricity demand growth of the ICT sector Main components of electricity consumption for the ICT sector 2012 2017 12.0% 11.0% 10.0% 9.0% 8.0% 7.0% 6.0% 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Worst Case Expected Case Best Case 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Worst Case Expected Case Best Case
  • 13. 13 Greenpeace USA Clicking Clean A Guide to Building the Green Internet Section one While there may be some significant environmental and carbon benefits from moving much of our lives online, this explosive growth in our digital lives requires massive amounts of electricity, particularly for the data centers that serve as the factories of the digital economy. International Data Corporation predicts that the total number of data centers is expected to decline slightly by 2017, as more businesses shut down their smaller data centers and shift to the cloud, and larger data centers tend to be significantly more efficient. However, the shift by consumers to smart phones and tablets that depend on constant access to the cloud will increase the overall energy required to deliver these services, outweighing any efficiency gains realized by shifting to the cloud. The number of larger data centers is expected to increase dramatically, with mega data centers accounting for more than 70% of data center construction in 2018.9 Good data on the energy demand of data centers and the other infrastructure behind our digital world has been few and far between. Despite significant improvements in transparency from some companies since 2012, estimates of the energy demand of our growing number of electronic devices and the online world to which they are connected have varied widely in their methodology and scope. Recent studies estimate that the collective electricity consumption of our devices, data centers, and networks will jump from 7.4% of global electricity consumption in 2012 to between 7% and 12% by 2017.10
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