Creating a cleaner cloud

GreenQloud is tapping Iceland's renewable resources. Photo credit Wikimedia.

The IT sector is notoriously gluttonous when it comes to energy use. But Icelandic startup GreenQloud is looking to offer a cleaner computing cloud fueled by renewable power.

The market for cloud computing services—or on-demand Internet-based services—is expected to be worth more than $150 billion by 2013, according to a 2009 report by Gartner, Inc. But there’s a downside to all that growth—skyrocketing energy requirements and associated greenhouse gas emissions.

GreenQloud is developing a computing cloud that it says will run off 100 percent geothermal and hydropower. Iceland’s abundant resources would make GreenQloud’s costs comparable to services running on conventional power sources, CEO and founder Eirikur Hrafnsson says.

But it’s also key that sustainable computing solutions have the same or better functionality as their conventional counterparts, which include companies such as Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), says Peter Ulander, chief marketing officer of Cloud.com. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s software allows users, like businesses and service providers, to create computing clouds, and is being used by GreenQloud to build and manage its cloud.

GreenQloud is targeting customers who are looking to decrease carbon emissions as part of their sustainability initiatives, as well as business looking to avoid current and future prices on carbon in Europe and the United States. Hrafnsson says the company could also provide savings for companies that currently pay to operate clouds in both Europe and the United States by offering a single processing center for international businesses. 

GreenQloud plans to roll out in beta at the end of 2010 and expects a full launch in early 2011. In the meantime, it’s looking to line up a diverse customer roster to test its product, focusing on European and U.S. customers, as well as international companies that want to serve both markets, Hrafnsson says.