Decarbonizing operations and reducing electricity consumption is certainly a challenge for any business, especially in the industrial and manufacturing sector, however this may be a bit easier for IT companies that are already the largest contractor. of renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs), and which are also expected to account for 20% of all electricity consumption by 2030.
Giant tech companies are constantly seeking to reshape the energy sector and are now challenged to prove that their investments actually reduce emissions. In some countries, tech corporations are already seen as even more relevant and impactful in the role of investing in renewable energy, even more so than government and public sector subsidies.
IT data centers use about 1% of the world’s electricity, and that proportion has increased in recent years as large IT companies expand, in turn increasing their energy demand.
What actions are the tech giants taking and what can we learn from them? Here are a few of the actions taken by some of the leading technology companies with the largest share of renewable energy in 2020:
Amazon
According to the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, Amazon is the largest corporate clean energy buyer of all time in the US Its latest projects have brought the company’s signed commitments to a total of 10 GW of renewable output.
Five years short of its initial goal, the cloud computing and e-commerce giant is currently on track to power its infrastructure with 100% renewable energy by 2025.
Microsoft
Microsoft has been the most successful of the big IT companies in this space, and appears to be the best equipped to meet the data needs of industry through the energy transition.
The company has plans to be among the world’s leading green energy buyers, with a goal of using 100% renewable energy by 2025. With a $1 billion fund in place, they are also looking to become carbon negative and fully phase out all of its past carbon emissions from the atmosphere.
Google is said to have been 100% reliant on renewable energy since 2017, and is currently facing a goal of matching its consumption with renewable energy not just annually but hourly, making sure its carbon-free energy is enough to meet increased energy needs at times when it is in demand.
Facebook, now Meta, said it reached its goal of using 100% renewable energy to power its global operations and data centers by 2020, but as their energy use continues to grow (up 39% in 2020), they’ve had to boost new energy agreements as a consequence.
¿Y cómo benefician estos cambios al mercado laboral en general?
The wind and solar industries have created more than 450,000 jobs in the United States alone and more than 4 million worldwide. If we also take into account hydroelectric plants and biofuels, that number would skyrocket to more than 9 million.
According to IRENA, renewable energy accounted for an estimated 11.5 million jobs worldwide in 2019. In 2020, energy efficiency jobs fell more than 11 percent last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. , but despite the overall decline, in the US the sector employs nearly three times as many workers as in fossil fuel extraction and generation. This is a growing trend, and with clean energy investments on the rise globally, job opportunities in this sector are growing by leaps and bounds.
Even though Big Tech has been a dominant force in the clean energy market for a while, they are not actively participating in the energy transition opportunities presented, but they will certainly have to start offsetting their skyrocketing computer processing and data usage. considerably year after year.
Sources:
● https://www.power-technology.com/news/us-tech-giants-to-lead-renewable-energy-business-in-the-next-five-to-ten-years-poll/
● https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2021/05/24/big-tech-companies-look-to-clean-energy-to-slake-their-enormous-thirst/?sh=66797c8e5615
● https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-and-other-tech-giants-race-to-buy-up-renewable-energy-11624438894
● https://e2.org/reports/clean-jobs-america-2021/
