Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager

Cloud computing can conserve IT budgets, let IT departments focus their time on core projects and equip employees with powerful tools, fostering competitive advantages and healthier businesses. But you might be surprised to learn that switching to Google Apps can help keep our planet healthier, too.

Here's why: a very large, well-tuned network of computers is more efficient per unit of computing output than a single computer, or even a traditional corporate server room. Think of cloud computing as carpooling for computing power.

With Google Apps, energy savings come from highly efficient servers that make use of nearly 85% of the energy pulled from the wall, wasting less than half of what's typically lost in power conversion phases. Energy savings are also achieved through complex infrastructure projects like advanced cooling systems that are only cost-effective at the largest of scales.

Here's how Google's infrastructure stacks up against typical data centers:



And there's more to this story. Google has had a goal of being carbon neutral for 2007 and beyond. We use renewable energy like electricity from the solar panels at our Mountain View campus, and we invest in viable carbon offset projects to keep our net carbon footprint – including our data centers – at zero. We also reuse or recycle nearly 100% of materials from retired server hardware.

So when you use Google Apps, the computing you do is not only energy efficient, but also less wasteful. If you believe sustainability is important as we do, or if your company has environmental mandates, we invite you to learn more about Google's Commitment to Sustainable Computing.