Local IT firms use little renewable energy: Greenpeace

Korea’s major IT companies mostly do not use renewable energy despite increasing public calls for environment-friendly measures, a global civic group report showed Wednesday.

According to Greenpeace Korea, the country’s seven major Internet firms were found to have used less than 1 percent renewable energy for running their data centers. Most are supplied by electricity from fossil fuels or nuclear power.

IT corporate service provider SK C&C used only 1 percent solar power for their energy supply as of 2010, the largest amount in the local IT industry.

Korea’s leading mobile carrier KT came second with 0.44 percent geothermal and solar energy, followed by portal giant Naver with 0.006 percent solar energy use.

The energy usages of four other top IT companies ― LG CNS, LG Uplus, Samsung SDS and Daum Kakao ― were not revealed as they declined to provide their energy measures, thereby securing themselves with the least points in information transparency in Greenpeace Korea’s report.

Data centers ― facilities equipped to house computer, telecommunications and storage systems ― are known to spend a great amount of electricity. In 2013, the more than 100 data centers in Korea used 2.6 billion kilowatt-hours, which is equivalent to the amount of power that 12 million households use in a month.

“For Korea, with the fastest Internet speed and the best IT technology in the world, it is a matter of will to utilize the renewable energy. It’s not a choice but an essential move for the Korean IT industry to adopt the green energy in order not to get left behind in the global market,” said Gary Cook, the senior IT analyst at Greenpeace.

As of now, the electricity demand of the world’s IT sector accounts for 7 percent of total power consumption, with the figure produces rapidly, experts said emissions.

In 2011, the total cloud computing in the world used about 684 billion kwh, which would rank it as the sixth highest electricity consumer if it were compared alongside countries, according to Global e-Sustainability Initiative’s report. China topped the ranking, followed by the U.S., Japan and India. Google once noted that each of its Web searches performed requires 0.2 grams of carbon.

Unlike in Korea, global IT firms have been active in adopting pro-renewable energy.

In December 2011, Facebook pledged its commitment to be the first in the IT sector to be powered with 100 percent renewable energy. Its new data center in Iowa, opened last year, runs entirely on wind.

Other top IT giants such as Apple, Google and Amazon have also promised to supply their data centers with renewable energy, joining Facebook’s green move. In 2013, Apple adopted a 100 percent green energy policy in its manufacturing factories.

In Korea, Naver, which openly provided its energy information, vowed Wednesday to adopt the 100 percent renewable energy policy for its data center operations, becoming the first Korean company to make the green commitment.

Greenpeace Korea urged the IT sector to first unveil their energy usage information, as it is a basic step toward to building a “green Internet,” ahead of carrying out further measures.

“Revealing the information on power usage, electricity sources and carbon emission levels will allow the customers to acknowledge the value of brands and thereby stimulate the companies to go greener,” said an official from Greenpeace Korea.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)