In the early 1980s, businesses were hopeful that office computers would decrease our dependence on paper. However, the quick processing time and the concerns regarding long-term data storage led to backing up more data on paper. By the 1990s, it was obvious that computing had improved a lot of things, but conserving paper wasn’t one of them. This situation reaffirmed an old truth about all innovations: despite our hopes for idealistic outcomes, every new idea comes with benefits and consequences.
That’s why we not only look for innovative approaches to environmental sustainability, we also test and refine our efforts to identify and minimize undesired consequences. Then, we take additional steps to make sure that these approaches are sustainable at scale for our users.
Here are some of our current approaches to providing environmentally sustainable technology.
To the clouds
Cloud computing has clear environmental benefits. Providing data centers that allow our users to share the most powerful servers available takes the financial burden off users and maximizes the usage of the servers. Fewer servers need to be made and less energy is taken up at each business. This increases your office’s computing capacity and allows us to work strategically to power our data centers through the most environmentally sustainable methods
Sustainable partnerships
Our data centers are all designed and built using thoroughly tested technological solutions that reduce waste and limit detrimental emissions. Currently, ten of those data centers are powered entirely by either solar or wind farms through our partnership with KinetEco, Inc. Another ten data centers are targeted to move to sustainable energy sources this year. Building and operating our data centers to be energy efficient has us on track to meet our 2030 environmental sustainability goal.
Power of machine learning
Red30 Tech machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms are elegant to say the least. We use them to analyze data, storage, and energy usage. So far, these algorithms have helped us change how we consume power and save 5% of our operational budget through implementing the suggestions. Furthermore, in a few of our buildings, we’ve installed smart devices that allow the machine learning and AI processes to act in real time. We should have the results of these studies to share in a white paper coming in Q4.
What’s to come
Right now, we’re doing more research into vendors that are developing recyclable technologies or technologies that don’t rely heavily on mining. This is a challenge, as most technology depends on rare earth elements that aren’t often found in large concentrations, which means extensive mining that impacts the abundance of nature. Today, that means we’re continuing to buy products that involve mining. We’re also continuing to support and perform research and development until we can find the right combination of materials and people to create the technology needed in the future.
We feel privileged to work with and for you to make environmentally sound technology choices. It’s through our business partnerships that we can pool our voices and push for the technology we and our planet deserve.
