Report: Salesforce.com's systems emit 95 percent less carbon

According to a recent WSP Environment & Energy study, customers using Salesforce.com's cloud computing services emit 95 percent less carbon than on-premise systems.

Furthermore, WSP's study found scalable, multitenant cloud platforms are, on average, 64 percent more carbon-efficient than private clouds. Private clouds typically are a managed IT service, provided by third-party servers, and do not offer multitenancy.

"Our analysis shows that cloud computing platforms, like Salesforce.com's, are substantially more energy- and carbon-efficient than either on-premise systems or third-party data centers," WSP wrote in its report. "Cloud computing will play a crucial role in the sustainability of IT."

According to Jonathan Koomey, a consulting professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, WSP's study proves the use of public cloud computing offers significant energy and environmental advantages.

The Salesforce.com platform currently has roughly 270,000 members and offers 92,300 applications.

As more companies continue to adopt green technology and realize the environmental benefits of cloud computing, the managed IT service's market could grow even further. IDC already predicts the public cloud will be worth $29.5 billion by 2015.