Computing opens the door to a more efficient, circular economy but the energy required will generate more greenhouse gas emissions. We talk with Kirat Singh, CEO and co-founder of Beacon Platform Inc., a developer of cloud computing infrastructure for Wall Street and financial institutions. Beacon’s system is built in part to reduce the environmental impact of processing large amounts of financial data. As more companies shift their computing from private data centers to the cloud, there is an opportunity to introduce significant efficiencies based not only on how the cloud is powered but also the way computing jobs are managed, the networks used to move data between the cloud and customers, and other factors. Prior to founding Beacon, Kirat launched large data platforms at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs.
Kirat suggests that consumers who want to understand their bank’s environmental impact look first at its of financing of fossil fuel projects. The use of renewable energy in the cloud data center is the most important computing-related decision a bank can make. Computing is expected to consume up to 20% of all electricity generated by 2030. In the era of high-speed trading, banks use massive amounts of power to crunch data and identify opportunities to profit in the stock market — as much as half of a bank’s carbon footprint is generated by computing. We need to establish information technology design and operational practices that emphasize better environmental outcomes. You can learn more about Beacon Platform Inc. at beacon.io.
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