| Pub. Date | : June' 2021 |
|---|---|
| Product Name | : The IUP Journal of Case Folio |
| Product Type | : Article |
| Product Code | : IJCF40621 |
| Author Name | : Koti Vinod Babu and Namratha V Prasad |
| Availability | : YES |
| Subject/Domain | : Management |
| Download Format | : PDF Format |
| No. of Pages | : 22 |
The case discusses the ef forts made by leading cloud service provider Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon), to adopt green computing practices in its operations. The case starts out by going into the reasons for the high level of carbon emissions attributed to the data centers of many cloud platforms that include a rapid addition of capacity and usage of power from dirty energy sources. The case then provides an overview of the green computing practices undertaken by AWS through power purchase agreements with producers of renewable energy and usage of equipment to boost energy efficiency at its data centers. Though different Information Technology (IT) companies have taken up many activities to reduce their carbon footprint, it is believed that each one of them, including AWS, has a long way to go to become completely green. While Jef f Bezos (Bezos), Founder and CEO of Amazon, was confident that the green computing measures deployed by AWS were contributing to environmental sustainability to a high extent, non-governmental environmental organizations such as Greenpeace begged to dif fer. Can Bezos continue showcasing the current green computing measures of AWS to stave of f pressure from not only Greenpeace, but also his employees in the long term? Or will he be forced to do more?
In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, investing in renewable energy is a critical step toward addressing our carbon footprint1 globally.2
- Kara Hurst, Vice-President of Sustainability
at Amazon.com, Inc. in March 2020
On March 12, 2020, US-based multinational technology company Amazon.com, Inc., (Amazon)3 announced four new renewable energy projects in Australia, Spain, Sweden, and the US that would power the data centers of Amazon's subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS). These projects were also expected to support Amazon's commitment