greenpeace report and it company report cards
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Greenpeace has recently released a report on who is using clean energy that calculates the energy footprint of technology companies. The fiercest competition for green energy is among the giants, Apple, Google, and Facebook. Unfortunately, another giant, Amazon is not leading the race, but rather falling far behind companies of the same size. The Greenpeace report, “Clicking Clean: How Companies are Creating the Green Internet” shows that Amazon is using the most “dirty” energy like nuclear and coal to power their massive data centers. Amazon has a lot of content on the Internet that requires massive servers like the Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon is host to the infrastructure of Netflix (31 percent of America’s Internet traffic at peak times), Pinterest, Spotify, and Vine. Amazon is host to many sites and offers competitive rates for cloud-sharing, but their low monetary costs come a large price for the environment. In their report Greenpeace states the, “AWS continues to rapidly expand its global infrastructure without any apparent regard to environmental impact or access to renewable energy.” In their defense, a spokesperson for Amazon said, “we agree with Greenpeace that technology leaders should help safeguard the environment by implementing both efficient use and clean sources of energy. However, Greenpeace’s report, ‘Clicking Green,’ misses the mark by using false assumptions on AWS operations and inaccurate data on AWS energy consumption. We provided this feedback to Greenpeace prior to publishing their report.” However, Greenpeace measured the Clean Energy Index for Amazon at 15 percent and this was based on publically reported data. Additionally, they gave the AWS an “F” grade on transparency for not reporting data on energy or their environmental footprint. Even though Amazon received a poor grade, Apple and Facebook performed remarkably well in the report. Facebook had previously been criticized by Greenpeace but shaped up and is now taking great strides towards a clean energy footprint. Apple, Facebook, and Google are all taking steps to use renewable resources for the majority of their energy uses.TRANSCRIPT
