Amazon to Run Cloud on Renewable Energy

Amazon is dipping its toe into renewable energy, revealing a "long-term commitment" to make its cloud-based Amazon Web Services 100 percent green.

One of the largest cloud providers in the industry, AWS promises customers—the likes of Netflix, Spotify, and Pinterest—reduced carbon footprints and less environmental waste.

"Amazon Web Services' new commitment to power its operations with 100 percent renewable energy represents a potential breakthrough toward building a green Internet," Greenpeace senior IT campaigner Gary Cook said in a statement.

"With the world's largest public cloud apparently joining Apple, Google, Facebook, and others in committing to power with 100 percent renewable energy, the race to build a green Internet may be gaining a crucial new competitor," he continued.

The e-retail giant is still in the early stages, however. In the meantime, Cook suggested that Amazon publish details on its current energy and greenhouse gas footprint, as well as regular updates as those numbers change.

Amazon also has the opportunity to lead the effort against dirty utility providers in Virginia, he said, where a number of AWS servers receive only 2 percent of their electricity from renewable sources.

AWS already provides users with three 100 percent carbon-neutral regions: Oregon, Frankfurt, and the U.S. government.

The company actually failed Greenpeace's April 2014 Clicking Clean test, earning three Fs and a D for its lack of renewable sources of energy. And it still has a long way to go to catch up with rivals Apple, Google, and Facebook—all of which passed the test.

Google, in fact, this week announced that it inked its eighth renewable energy deal to power a Netherlands-based data center via electricity from a wind farm.