SCHMOOGLE: DECARBONIZATION STRATEGY
During my final semester in the GHG Accounting and Management course, my team earned the highest score for our in-depth GHG emissions analysis and reduction strategy for a large data company. Our approach combined renewable energy, energy efficiency measures, carbon credits, and RECs.
Course: ENVM 5083-001: GHG Accounting and Management
Instructor: Colette Crouse, Director of Carbon Services with Stok
Course Assistant: Sarah Harrison
Client: Schmoogle (not a real company)
Industry: IT
Case Summary
Schmoogle, a forward-thinking big data company managing over 250 petabytes of data, operates two hyperscale data centers and generates $163 million in annual revenue, representing 0.2% of the U.S. AI market. With ambitious goals to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% and capture 0.5% of the U.S. AI market by 2033, Schmoogle faces a significant challenge: powering exponential data growth sustainably. Our team estimated that meeting Schmoogle’s growth targets would require a 46% CAGR and at least 5 TWh of electricity—45 times its 2023 usage.
We found that Scope 2 emissions account for 79% of the company’s total carbon footprint, with 96% of those emissions coming from data center operations, making data center decarbonization our primary focus. To address this, we proposed a two-pronged decarbonization strategy:
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Improving energy efficiency in data centers, including adoption of custom energy-efficient chips, and cutting-edge cooling technologies used by industry leaders like Google, Amazon, and Apple.
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Expanding Schmoogle’s renewable energy portfolio through BtM (behind-the-meter) solar+storage on-site generation, and strategic site selection to align with decarbonizing grids.
