New Form of Green IT : Cloud Computing

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1 Available ONLINE VSRD-IJCSIT, Vol. 2 (3), 2012, R E S E A R C H C O M M U N II C A T II O N New Form of Green IT : Cloud Computing 1 P. Ashok Kumar* and 2 K. Ravali ABSTRACT We are passionate about advances in and widespread adoption of IT. Many experts in the IT industry are aware of the many benefits of cloud computing from a technical perspective, such as easy scaling and inexpensive storage options. But I'm willing to state it's the first real IT solution in several years that is truly better for the environment. However, IT has been contributing to environmental problems, which most people don t realize. There are many ways in which we can make IT environment friendly and chief among them are the efficient use of computing resources and reduction of environment impact due to power and cooling, this can be achieved by a concept called Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing offers us great opportunity to cut down tremendously on the energy costs. There is also growing evidence of the extent of energy and emissions that can be saved from cloud computing. We are moving towards using computing technologies in every aspect of our life which creates heavy energy demand. Recently there is an outcry to control the power consumption of computing resource of any industry and a new terminology is born called as Green computing. Green computing is conveyed as the study and practice of using available computing resources efficiently in a manner that their power consumption is optimized without compromising their working efficiency. Green computing terminology had surely created a stir among the computing technology designers and industries and many industries are moving towards greener IT infrastructure which is the need of the hour. Keywords : Cloud Computing, Green Computing, Green IT, Cloud, Energy Efficiency. 1. INTRODUCTION Green is the hot topic these days. Companies around the world are announcing ways to save energy and reduce costs by buying new hardware and services. Green computing is a rising trend that looks to establish itself as the preferred IT philosophy -- not because techies are tree-huggers, but because green solutions are affecting their bottom lines. Many businesses today are asking the questions: "What is green computing?" and "Why is green computing so important to society?'' 1 Assistant Professor, Department of MCA, Sree Vidyanikethan Institute of Management, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA. 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Information Technology, Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA. *Correspondence : polisettyashok@gmail.com

2 1.1. What is Green Computing? Today, the term green computing embodies the entire life cycle of technologies, including research, manufacturing, use, and disposal. Green IT takes a much more holistic approach than it once did, especially as companies are brainstorming solutions to cut costs and increase revenue. Green computing benefits the environment. The advantages to green computing are realized on both large and small scales. 2. HOW CLOUD COMPUTING IS A GREEN OPPORTUNITY Cloud Computing enables users to share resources and carry out tasks remotely. Rather than using your own local PCs or servers to do the work, you connect to a remote data centre, often provided by an IT services or software company. A report from cleantech market intelligence firm Pike Research found that the adoption of cloud computing will lead to a 38% reduction in worldwide data centre energy expenditure by 2020, compared to what would otherwise be used. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reached a similar conclusion, finding that large US companies that use cloud computing will be able to save $12.3bn in energy costs and 85.7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually by The energy savings are equivalent to 200 million barrels of oil enough to power 5.7 million cars for one year. Businesses striving for green IT should look to cloud computing to reduce their emissions and save money, by using cloud computing, businesses can save a lot of money on the amount of power used by computers compared to what it would be with much larger servers. Startup companies can also save a lot of money on utilities; they may have to be more spent on computer maintenance. A report issued last summer by the Carbon Disclosure Project, supported by AT&T, finds that a company that adopts cloud computing can reduce its energy consumption, lower its carbon emissions and decrease its capital expenditure on IT resources while improving operational efficiency Companies Towards Green It Using Cloud Technology Companies such as Dell and Wal-Mart are adopting initiatives that force their suppliers to adhere to environmentally sound practices. The new datacenter opened by IBM last week at their Research Triangle Park campus in North Carolina is opened. This datacenter could save 15% in the energy costs and they do this by increasing the efficiency of how the datacenter is operated. A study by Accenture, Microsoft and WSP Environment and Energy estimated that a company with about 100 people can reduce its energy output and consumption by about 90 percent by using cloud applications. Hewlett-Packard, to use the most recent example, just raised the curtain on its wind-cooled data center in Wynyard, England, and last year the Green Grid offered a number of tools to help companies find the best spots for free data center cooling IT s Environmental Impact IT affects our environment in several different ways. Each stage of a computer s life, from its production, throughout its use, and into its disposal, presents environmental problems. Manufacturing computers and their various electronic and non-electronic components consumes electricity, raw materials, chemicals, and water, Page 251 of 255

3 and generates hazardous waste. All these directly or indirectly increase carbon dioxide emissions and impact the environment. The total electrical energy consumption by servers, computers, monitors, data communications equipment, and cooling systems for data centers is steadily increasing. This increase in energy consumption results in increased greenhouse gas emissions. Each PC in use generates about a ton of carbon dioxide every year. Computer components contain toxic materials. Increasingly, consumers discard a large number of old computers, monitors, and other electronic equipment two to three years after purchase, and most of this ends up in landfills, polluting the earth and contaminating water. The increased number of computers and their use, along with their frequent replacements, make the environmental impact of IT a major concern. 3. NEEED OF GREEN COMPUTING Green Computing has become an innovative way on how technology and ecology converge together. With the recent years many industries and companies have turned their attention in realizing how going 'green' can benefit public relations, reduced costs, and lowering global emissions from industrial manufacturing. Though the term green computing covers a vast range of methods, from energy saving techniques, to the study of materials used in our lives, it all fundamentally breaks down to finding ways to not damage or consume all of earth's natural resources. Ultimately green computing focuses on ways in reducing overall environmental impact, its main purpose is to find and promote new ways of reducing pollution, discovering alternative technologies, and creating more recyclable products Benefits of Greening IT Green Computing Offers More Than Just Saving the Planet. Adopting green IT practices offers businesses and individuals financial and other benefits. Corporate and institutional buyers are asking their suppliers to take measures to green up their products and their manufacturing processes. Reduced energy usage from green computing techniques translates into lower carbon dioxide emissions, stemming from a reduction in the fossil fuel used in power plants and transportation. Conserving resources means less energy is required to produce, use, and dispose of products. Saving energy and resources saves money. Page 252 of 255

4 Green computing even includes changing government policy to encourage recycling and lowering energy use by individuals and businesses. Reduce the risk existing in the laptops such as chemical known to cause cancer, nerve damage and immune reactions in humans % 73% 56% 55% 47% 25 0 Fig. 1 : Reasons And Benefits For Using Green IT Practices 4. GREEN COMPUTING PRACTICES 4.1. Green-Cloud Computing Cloud computing may be able to save energy and money for your business. In those times when you do need additional computing power, if you have a cloud computing solution set up, you can draw on the additional computing power and resources you need just when you need them. You won't be paying the energy costs for running servers and the associated costs the rest of the time. Cloud resources are in this case a reserve that you can allocate without the need to pay for the resource sitting idle in one fixed location. So you see, cloud computing may allow for you to make your IT infrastructure far more green than it is currently Green Computing Approaches Green Use: Reduce the energy consumption of computers and other information systems and use them in an environmentally sound manner. Green Disposal: Refurbish and reuse old computers and properly recycle unwanted computers and other electronic equipment. Green Design: Design energy efficient and environmentally sound components, computers, servers, and cooling equipment. Green Manufacturing: Manufacture electronic components, computers, and other associated subsystems with minimal or no impact on the environment. Green Purchasing: Green Purchasing is a most important purchasing method now-a-days. Customers of every Category are being encouraged for green purchasing. Each and every IT company and individuals are moving Page 253 of 255

5 towards green purchasing these days. One of the ways is purchasing electronic products having labels such as EPA Energy Star (US), TCO 95 (Sweden), and Blue Angel (Germany). This is also encouraging companies to manufacture greener products and product which consumes less power, and creates less harm to environment. Different strategies are being followed by different companies in different countries to manufacture their product s green. This paper focuses on the use of cloud technology and need for going green which could contribute a greater extent to environment. Green Computing and purchasing has a great effect on environment and it is a very great tool for environmental issues to be solved. GREEN DESIGN OF IT SYSTEMS GREEN USE OF IT SYSTEMS GREEN IT GREEN DISPOSAL OF IT SYSTEMS GREEN MANUFACTURING OF IT SYSTEMS GREEN PURCHASE OF IT SYSTEMS Fig. 2 : Green Computing Approaches 4.3. Green Computing Practices Reduce energy consumption by PCs, Enable power management features, Greening data centers, Turning off the system when not in use, Using screensavers, Avoid maintaining E-waste in the form of CD s, DVD s, Players, I-pods at home, Try to hand over your old PC s, Mobile phones and other electronic goods to recycling units, Use energy saving light bulbs or LED lights, Using thin-client computers Designing Green Computers Green computer design aims to reduce the environmental impact of computers by adopting new technologies and using new techniques and materials while balancing environmental compatibility with economic viability and performance. Green design is quickly becoming a necessary business practice. Many computer manufacturers are in the process of making green PCs using nontoxic materials that consume less electrical power and are easily reassembled. These new computers are highly upgradable, thereby extending their useful lifetime. The move from single-core to dual- and quad-core processors saves power while increasing processing performance. This contrasts the old method of improving performance of microprocessors by increasing the frequency of the chip s operation, Page 254 of 255

6 which hugely increases power consumption and heat generation. A 15-percent reduction in frequency could save up to 50-percent power consumption. Manufacturers now apply power-reduction techniques commonly used for laptops, such as screens that darken the backlight and light-en the display palette as well as flash memory caches for hard disks, desktops, and servers. Companies have launched new tools, standards, and product registration to assist customers in assessing the environmental at-tributes of PCs, notebooks, servers, and other hardware. Recently, Dell, Apple, and other computer vendors announced their environmental strategy designed to make their computers green for the long term. Apple has said it will reduce or eliminate toxic chemicals present in its new products and more aggressively recycles its old products. 5. CONCLUSION Efforts to green up data centers and cut consumption especially at the larger cloud and social networking facilities are the right things to do. Imparting cloud practices in computing leads the world to previous days where only 5 computers are really running in this world which in turn turns you Green. Go Green, Green IT. GREEN IS GREENER WHEN GREETED BY GREEN THECNOLOGY. 6. REFERENCES [1] K.Ravali, P. Ashok Kumar, Techno-Pollution, IJERA November 2011 Vol. 1, Issue 4, (Article in Journal). [2] K.Ravali, P.Ashok Kumar, Technology A Latest Pollutant, National Conference (NITA-2K11) on Information Technology & its Applications, S.V University, Tirupati, November,2011. (Article in a Conference Proceedings) [3] San Murugesan, Harnessing Green IT: Principles and Practices. [4] Arthur, Charles, "Keeping an Eye Out for Sonic the Hedgehog", Newrbytes March 4, pnew [5] Chris Arnold article Computer Energy Waste a Major Cause of Pollution. [6] Zamir P. Shalita Ph.D. a book on Keep Healthy with Pollution, Computer and Cellphone [7] TIME Magazine - An article, Computer Pollution [8] Parichay Chakraborty, Debnath Bhattacharyya, Sattarova Nargiza Y, and Sovan Bedajna1, Green computing: Practice of Efficient and Eco-Friendly Computing Resources. (Article in Journal). [9] Green_computing_Sun_helping_partners_offer_eco_friendly_services_.php. [10] [11] S. Murugesan, Going Green with IT: Your Respon -sibility toward Environmental Sustainability, Cutter Business IT Strategies Executive Report, vol. 10, no. 8, [12] S. Pritchard, IT Going Green: Forces Pulling in Dif -ferent Directions, Financial Times, 30 May Page 255 of 255