Amazon wavering on commitment to renewable energy — Greenpeace report

THEY call them the “factories of the information age.” Data centres make it possible for millions of consumers to listen to music, shop - even edit critical documents on the fly. But those conveniences do not come without a cost.

A new report released on Wednesday by Greenpeace outlines the environmental costs of all that convenience. particularly in the Washington region - home to more data centres than anywhere else in the country.

The centre have been a huge boon for the Northern Virginia economy and for Loudoun County, in particular, home to the greatest number. County leaders brag that roughly 70 per cent of the world’s internet traffic moves through Loudoun alone.

But the report contends the centre’ operations pose environmental threats and could contribute to global warming. Data centre, with their 24/7 operations, are huge consumers of electricity in a state where the dominant utility, Dominion Energy, has been slow to embrace renewable energy, the report said.

“With the tremendous amount of energy needed to power data centre and their rapid growth, how we power this digital infrastructure is rapidly becoming critical in determining whether we will be able to stave off climate change in time to avoid planetary catastrophe,” the Greenpeace report said.

On average, data centre use enough electricity to power at least 5,000 homes, according to Dominion.