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Natural Awakenings National

Storm Clouds: Data Centers Leave Bigfoot Carbon Footprints

Giant data centers, known as “clouds,” that store and transmit data, photos, emails, songs and streaming videos every day, have become one of the fastest-growing consumers of worldwide electricity. Now, a Greenpeace International report details the truth about how much coal is burned to operate and maintain this virtual, online cloud of electronic data transmission worldwide.

Every day, tons of asthma-inducing, climate-destroying coal pollution is emitted into the air just to keep the Internet going. The good news is that tech industry leaders such as Facebook and Google are starting to quit the coal habit; Apple’s new North Carolina data center will run in part on renewable, biogaspowered fuel cells and a large array of solar panels.

A Greenpeace initiative is working to persuade Microsoft, Amazon and others to likewise disassociate their brands from the specter of poisoned air currently damaging the climate.


Take action at Tinyurl.com/dirtycloud.

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