Environment

BSR’s Vision for the Future of Internet Power: 100 Percent Renewable Energy

Jul 23, 2015 10:00 AM ET
Campaign: Business in a Climate-Compatible World

This week, HP, a cofounder of BSR’s Future of Internet Power initiative, joined a growing list of technology companies that are making bold commitments to renewable energy. Following work with BSR to evaluate renewable-power options in Texas, the company has commissioned a massive new project: Over the next 12 years, the company will purchase 112 megawatts from a wind farm developed by SunEdison. HP will use that energy to power its internal IT operations globally.

Founded in 2012, the Future of Internet Power, which comprises the world’s most influential internet companies—including  Adobe, Autodesk, eBay, Etsy, Facebook, HP, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and Symantec—is aiming to power the internet with 100 percent renewables. We are doing this by providing a place for internet companies to collaborate with peers, suppliers, utilities, and power developers to accelerate the deployment of renewables.

To date, at least 15 companies have committed to 100 percent renewable energy, including Apple, Autodesk, Amazon, BT, Digital Realty, Equinix, Facebook, Google, Infosys, IO, Microsoft, Rackspace, Salesforce, SAP, and Switch. BSR aims to inspire at least five more companies to make these commitments in our next year of work.

We are also working to ensure that these commitments become a reality. By 2020, our group hopes to see more than 100 U.S. information and communications technology (ICT) companies generate more than half of their electricity from renewable sources—an aspiration that is linked to an ambitious scenario for renewables published in a recent report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Now in its third year, the Future of Internet Power’s current focus is on creating new tools for companies choosing renewables when making siting decisions, encouraging suppliers of industrial data center services (co-location providers, or “co-los”) and operations to procure renewables, and creating new models for shared investment in renewables among internet company peers and their suppliers.

The Future of Internet Power has played a foundational role in helping the ICT sector make aggressive but achievable commitments to use renewable energy to power data centers, co-los, and operations. We look forward to seeing more companies commit to 100 percent renewables for their data centers.  

For more information, join BSR’s Ryan Schuchard and NREL’s Jenny Heeter in a webinar focused on renewable energy in the ICT sector. The webinar takes place at 2 p.m. EDT July 28. Register now.