In an effort to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) instead of diesel to power its data centers.
The cloud giant began using HVO in Jan. 2023 at its data center sites in Ireland and Sweden and eventually plans to use the power source to fuel all of its European locations.
HVO is a biofuel made from various vegetable oils and fats which contain triglycerides and fatty acids. The fuel is produced through hydrogenation and hydrocracking of rapeseed oil, waste from cooking oils, and animal fats.
- AWS claims that switching to HVO can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 90%.
- Neil Morris, the Director of Infrastructure Operations, Northern Europe, at AWS, stated that “transitioning to HVO is just one of the many ways we’re improving the sustainability of our data centers, decarbonizing our operations, and working towards Amazon’s company-wide goal to meet net-zero carbon by 2040.”
- There are some concerns regarding Amazon’s push for HVO. Swedish transportation company Einride cautions against the use of HVO, claiming that nearly 50% of the HVO used in Sweden consists of palm oil, whose production is linked to forced child labor and deforestation.
