Thursday, April 19, 2012

Greenpeace Targets Amazon, Microsoft Power Usage In Protest

Greenpeace does not like the cloud services from Amazon and Microsoft--or at least, Amazon and Microsoft's choice of power sources for their cloud computing services--saying that those cloud services are using "dirty and dangerous" coal and nuclear energy to power their cloud services. In a protest today in downtown Seattle, Greenpeace hung a banner reading "Amazon, Microsoft: How Clean is Your Cloud?" at a building being built for Amazon.com at Boren Avenue and Thomas Street in the South Lake Union area. Greenpeace said in a statement that Amazon and Microsoft are "falling behind" such companies as Google, Facebook, and Yahoo in adopting green, renewable energy to power their data centers. The firm said it has compiled a report which finds that both Amazon and Microsoft power a majority of their cloud infrastructure with coal and nuclear power, and--unlike other companies--hasn't done anything to encourage renewable energy usage in their operations.