Data centers guzzle down 2% of the electric grid’s capacity and run up $2 billion worth of monthly utility bills. Furthermore, it’s estimated that by 2020, CO2 emissions from data centers will top the emissions by the airline industry.  How do we get the cloud under control?

One solution might be improving the efficiency in how data centers draw electricity in from the grid.  A recent post from GE Reports takes a look at how 99% of this electricity could be pulled in more efficiently by bypassing ‘filters’ when they’re not absolutely necessary.

If all data centers (‘the cloud’) did this, we’d be able to save 4,000 megawatts of electricity worth more than $3 billion per year.