# How Data Centers Use Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Accounting

DevFeed: [How Data Centers Use Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Accounting](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/power-to-the-people-35185.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.jessfraz.com/post/power-to-the-people/>)

Published: 2020-02-26T15:09:26Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Jessie Frazelle](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/jessie-frazelle.md>)

Topics: [datacenter](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/datacenter.md>), [cloud-infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cloud-infrastructure.md>), [Cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cloud.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/data.md>), [amazon](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/amazon.md>), [Google](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/google.md>), [Microsoft](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/microsoft.md>), [Netflix](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/netflix.md>)

Tags: [amazon](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/amazon.md>), [cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cloud.md>), [data-center](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/data-center.md>), [data-centers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/data-centers.md>), [electricity-grid](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/electricity-grid.md>), [energy](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/energy.md>), [google](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/google.md>), [microsoft](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/microsoft.md>), [netflix](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/netflix.md>), [renewable-energy](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/renewable-energy.md>), [servers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/servers.md>)

## AI overview

The article explains how cloud services depend on large data centers and distinguishes carbon neutral, net zero, and carbon negative claims. It argues that renewable energy credits and avoidance offsets do not remove the carbon emitted by data centers, while net zero requires removing an equivalent amount of carbon.

## Source excerpt

When you upload photos to Instagram, back up your phone to "the cloud", send an email through GMail, or save a document in a storage application like Dropbox or Google Drive, your data is being saved in a data center. These data centers are airplane hangar-sized warehouses, packed to the brim with racks of servers and cooling mechanisms. Depending on the application you are using you are likely hitting one of Facebook's, Google's, Amazon's, or Microsoft's data centers. Aside from those major players, which we will call the "hyperscalers", many other companies run their own data centers or rent space from a colocation center to house their server racks. Most of the hyperscalers have made massive strides to get a "carbon neutral" footprint for their data centers. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have all pledged to decarbonize completely, however none has succeeded in completely ditching fossil fuels as of yet. If a company claims to be "carbon neutral" it means they are offsetting their use of fossil fuels with renewable energy credits, also known as RECs1. A REC represents one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity that is generated and delivered to the electricity grid from a renewable energy resource such as solar or wind power. Essentially by purchasing RECs, "carbon neutral" companies are giving back clean energy to prevent someone else from emitting carbon. Most companies become "carbon neutral" by investing in offsets that primarily avoid emissions, such as paying folks to not cut down trees or buying RECs. These offsets do not actually remove the carbon that they are emitting. A "net zero" company actually has to remove as much carbon as it emits. This is referred to as "net zero" since a company is still creating carbon emissions, however their emissions are equal to the amount of carbon removed. This differs from "carbon neutral" since a "carbon neutral" company takes a look at their carbon footprint and has to prevent enough other folks from emitting that much ca