Case Study: Google achieves cleaner, carbon-aware computing with Electricity Maps

Google data centers shift their computations to cleaner times and locations

Google, a major technology company, aimed to align its data center electricity consumption with locally sourced clean energy every hour of every day, a goal known as 24/7 carbon-free energy. Its primary challenge was gaining the foresight to know how the carbon intensity of each local grid would change in advance, which was necessary to systematically shift compute demand to cleaner times and locations at scale. To address this, Google turned to vendor Electricity Maps.

The solution implemented used Electricity Maps' hourly carbon intensity forecasts, which were integrated into Google's carbon-intelligent computing platform. This allowed Google to automatically shift flexible workloads to times and geographic locations where the grid was cleanest. As a result, Google reduced emissions per compute cycle, made better use of existing clean energy on the grid, and made significant progress toward its 24/7 carbon-free energy goal without compromising operational performance or reliability.

Google

Savannah Goodman

Data and Software Climate Solutions Lead