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Title: The Energy Efficiency Potential of Cloud-Based Software: A U.S. Case Study

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1171159· OSTI ID:1171159
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  1. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

The energy use of data centers is a topic that has received much attention, given that data centers currently account for 1-2% of global electricity use. However, cloud computing holds great potential to reduce data center energy demand moving forward, due to both large reductions in total servers through consolidation and large increases in facility efficiencies compared to traditional local data centers. However, analyzing the net energy implications of shifts to the cloud can be very difficult, because data center services can affect many different components of society’s economic and energy systems.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1171159
Report Number(s):
LBNL-6298E
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English