A sustainable compass to navigate the cost of innovation
While technology is rapidly evolving, increasingly serious environmental issues are emerging beneath the surface. Data centers and cloud services are now consuming more energy than entire cities, and global companies are making the eco-friendly transformation of IT infrastructure and the achievement of carbon neutrality core strategic priorities. In the previous content, we explored the concept and necessity of Green IT, as well as the diverse strategies that global leaders are currently putting into practice.
We have moved beyond merely advocating for sustainability—now, with the explosive growth of generative AI, Green IT has become an essential standard that must be implemented first. In this content, we will examine the actual environmental impact of generative AI, discuss where your organization should begin to put Green IT into practice, and provide practical, actionable methods that can be applied immediately in your workplace.
🌍Why is IT declaring itself eco-friendly now?
Technological innovation has always opened up new possibilities. In recent years, the rise of generative AI has further accelerated digital transformation across industries. AI that can generate diverse types of data—such as text, images, and voice—is driving remarkable changes in areas like business automation, creative content production, and customer experience innovation.
However, behind these innovations lies another reality we must confront: the massive energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with these technologies. In fact, MIT Technology Review has reported that training large-scale AI models like GPT-4 is estimated to consume around 50 GWh of electricity—an amount comparable to the annual power usage of a medium-sized city. Some studies also suggest that generating a single image with an AI model can use up to 100 times more electricity than a standard web search. As the use of generative AI increases, so do companies’ cloud costs and carbon emissions.
Generative AI, while a symbol of innovation, also brings significant environmental burdens. As the adoption of AI continues to grow, resulting in soaring power consumption and carbon emissions, energy efficiency and carbon tracking features must now be considered alongside technological advancement.
In response, companies are not only enhancing their competitiveness by adopting AI, but also strengthening their environmental responsibility. Global tech leaders are implementing systems to improve energy efficiency and enable real-time monitoring of carbon emissions associated with AI usage. Cloud service providers are racing to launch various carbon dashboards and eco-friendly data center solutions to support businesses in their sustainability efforts.
🌍The Cost of Innovation: Practical Strategies to Lessen Environmental Impact
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• Adopt Cloud Carbon Analysis Tools:
By implementing tools such as the AWS Carbon Footprint Dashboard, Azure Emissions Impact Dashboard,
or Google Cloud Carbon Sense Suite, organizations can easily monitor the carbon emissions of their internal IT resources.
• Eliminate and Reallocate Inefficient Workloads:
Identify and terminate or consolidate unused long-term resources. Reallocate compute-intensive tasks to evening
or low-power hours. Reduce electricity consumption and carbon emissions by clearing unnecessary resources
and workloads, and by moving operations to periods of lower energy demand
• Incorporate a GreenOps Approach:
Alongside FinOps (cost optimization), more companies are introducing carbon optimization processes
and setting carbon efficiency KPIs for developers. GreenOps is a management approach for optimizing IT operations
to minimize both energy use and carbon emissions—prioritizing not only financial costs, but environmental sustainability as well.
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🌍Eco-friendliness is no longer just a 'strategy'-it is a 'standard'
Green IT is not merely technology for the environment; it has become a fundamental framework shaping brand trust, investment decisions, and the ethical standards of technology. Now is the time to assess how “green” your company’s cloud, servers, code, and tools really are!
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