See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/276266707

Green Computing: - Emerging Issue in IT

Research · May 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1729.4248

CITATIONS READS

4 31,783

1 author:

Ahamed Shibly
South Eastern University of Sri Lanka
81 PUBLICATIONS 142 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Ahamed Shibly on 13 May 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Green Computing: - Emerging Issue in IT

Abstract

FHA.Shibly, Lecturer (Prob.) in IT, Faculty of Islamic Studies & Arabic Language,
SEUSL

During recent years, attention in ‗Green Computing‘ has moved research into energy-
saving techniques for home computers to enterprise systems' Client and Server
machines. It is needed to find a way to handle computers and its devices for save the
environment and society from such E-hazards. This study provides a brief account of
Green Computing. The emphasis of this study is on current trends in Green
Computing; challenges in the field of Green Computing and the future trends of
Green Computing. Since, it is a qualitative research; the researcher used Individual
interviews and Observations to collect relevant information to fulfill this research. IT
industry is putting efforts in all its sectors to achieve Green computing. Equipment
recycling, reduction of paper usage, virtualization, cloud computing, power
management, Green manufacturing are the key initiatives towards Green computing.

Keywords :- Green Computing, Energy, Computer and IT

Introduction

A green computer or green IT system is one where the entire process from design,
manufacture, use, and disposal involves as little environmental impact as possible. In
other words, a green initiative is taken in consideration of all facets of a computer‘s
life, from design to disposal.

In the design aspect, a green computer is created to perform without a negative

environmental impact. Such design includes everything from materials and
components to how the computer uses its power supply. Nowadays, most computers
are built with a sleep or hibernate mode that allows them to power down when not in
use and, therefore, save on energy impact.

A green computer will also take into account how it impacts the environment during
its life. One way to make a green computer reduce its usage impact is to extend its
longevity. The longer the computer lasts, the less impact it will have on the
environment because disposal, normally the most significant green influence of the
computer‘s cycle, will be delayed for a longer period of time. To increase a
computer‘s longevity, we suggest looking toward upgrades and modularity. For
example, building a new computer from scratch produces a greater environmental
effect than building a new RAM module for replacement in computing equipment.

computer virtualization is helping to make large strides in green

computing technology. Through the phenomenon of virtualization, it is now possible
to operate two or more computers on the physical hardware of a single computer. In
this manner, you could create the ultimate green computer; one that exists logically,
but not physically. The logical units use all the material components of the physical
computer, but are devoid of physical structure themselves. This means that the
environmental impact of logical computers is virtually eliminated. The ideal green
computer, therefore, may lie in virtual green computing.

Terminal servers can also be used to create a greener computer. When using a
terminal server, you are connected to a central terminal where all the computing is
done. The operating system is experienced by the end user on the terminal. These
terminals can be matched up to thin clients who depend on the server to do most of
their computing. This type of green computing setup typically consumes as little as
one eighth of the energy of a conventional workstation.

Problem

According to a report from the United Nations University, it takes about 1.8 tons of
chemicals, fossil fuels and water to produce a typical desktop computer -- and world-
wide over one billion PCs have been sold. A December 2006 Computer Weekly
article on green computing also reported a Carbon Trust estimate that office
equipment currently accounts for around 15 per cent of total UK energy use. This
figure is expected to rise to about 30 per cent by 2020, with computer equipment to
account for about two-thirds of this energy consumption. In April 2007, a Gartner
Press Release also estimated that the global information and communications
technology (ICT) industry accounts for about 2 per cent of global carbon dioxide
emissions, or roughly the same as aviation.

Personal computer power use is ripe for making environmental savings. The Climate
Savers Computing Initiative estimates that the average desktop PC wastes over half of
the power delivered to it. Estimates from other sources concur. Intel, for example,
estimate that a typical business desktop could reap a 60 per cent energy saving by
implementing what they term "aggressive power management".

According to these issues, the environment is being affected by e-wastes and as a

result human life is in quite trouble.

Many of the components found in popular computers are not only harmful to the
environment, but also potentially harmful to humans. So it is needed to find a way
to handle computers and its devices for save the environment and society from such
E-hazards.

Objectives of the study

In recent years focus of enterprises and technology firms has been shifted towards
Green Computing rapidly. Green Computing discusses the options to support critical
computing needs in sustainable manner by reducing strains on resources and
environment. One of the main objectives of this study is to find out current trends on
green computing, its implications, and the challenges for implementing green
computing. This paper is organized as follows: next, section 2 reviews current trends
in the field of Green Computing; section 3 will explore the challenges of Green
Computing; section 4 will discuss the future trends towards Green Computing; and
finally this study summarized the issues related to Green Computing and concludes.

Current Trends on Green Computing

Current trends of Green Computing are towards efficient utilization of resources.

Energy is considered as the main resource and the carbon footprints are considered
the major threads to environment. Therefore, the emphasis is to reduce the energy
utilization & carbon footprints and increase the performance of Computing. There are
several areas where researchers are putting lots of efforts to achieve desired results:

A. Energy Consumption

Organizations are realizing that the source and amount of their energy consumption
significantly contributes to Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emissions. In response to this
finding, organizations are currently using the following equation:

Reduced energy consumption = Reduced greenhouse gas

 emissions =

Reduced operational costs for the data center

It means adopting fewer and more energy efficient systems while refactoring
application environments to make optimal use of physical resources is the best
architectural model. According to Environmental Protection Agency in around 30% to
40% of personal computers are kept 'ON' after office hours and during the weekend
and even around 90% of those computers are idle.

B. E-Waste Recycling

Based on the Gartner estimations over 133,000 PCs are discarded by U.S. homes and
businesses every day and less than 10 percent of all electronics are currently recycled.
Majority of countries around the world require electronic companies to finance and
manage recycling programs for their products especially under-developed Countries.
Green Computing must take the product life cycle into consideration; from production
to operation to recycling. E-Waste is a manageable piece of the waste stream and
recycling e-Waste is easy to adopt. Recycling computing equipment such as lead and
mercury enables to replace equipment that otherwise would have been manufactured.
The reuse of such equipments allows saving energy and reducing impact on
environment, which can be due to electronic wastes [2].

C. Data Center Consolidation & Optimization

Currently much of the emphasis of Green Computing area is on Data Centers, as the
Data Centers are known for their energy hunger and wasteful energy consumptions.
United State Department of Energy (DoE) reported in its study in 2006 that United
States data centers consumed 1.5% of all electricity and their demand is increasing by
12% per year and cost $7.4 billion per year by 2011. According to DoE's current
report in July 2011 Data Centers are consuming 3% of all US electricity and this
consumption will double by 2015 [3]. With the purpose of reducing energy
consumption in Data Centers it is worthwhile to concentrate on following [4]:

 Information Systems – efficient and right set information systems for business
needs are a key in building Green Data Centers. As per green computing best
practices efficient servers, storage devices, networking equipments and power
supply selection play a key role in design of information systems.

 Cooling Systems – it is suggested by the researcher s that at the initial stage of

design process for data center cooling systems, it is significant to consider
both current and future requirements and design the cooling system in such a
way so it is expandable as needs for cooling dictates.

 Standardized environment for equipment is must for Data Center Air

Management and Cooling System.

 Consider initial and future loads, when designing & selecting data center
electrical system equipment.

D.Virtualization

One of the main trends of Green Computing is virtualization of computer resources.

Abstraction of computer resources, such as the running two or more logical computer
systems on one set of physical hardware is called virtualization. Virtualization is a
trend of Green computing it offers virtualization software as well as management
software for virtualized environments [5]. One of the best ways to go towards green
and save enough space, enough resources, and the environment is by streamlining
efficiency with virtualization. This form of Green Computing will lead to Server
consolidation and enhance computer security [6]. Virtualization runs fewer systems at
higher levels of utilization. Virtualization allows full utilization of computer resources
and benefits in:
 · Reduction of total amount of hardware;

· Power off Idle Virtual Server to save resources and energy; and

· Reduction in total space, air and rent requirements ultimately reduces the cost

E. IT Products and eco-labeling

Another approach to promote Green Computing and save environment is to introduce

policies all around the World, so that, companies design products to receive the eco-
label [7]. There are several organizations in the world which support ―eco-label‖ IT
products. These organizations provi de certificates to IT products based on factors
including design for recycling, recycling system, noise energy consumption etc.

CHALLENGES

According to researchers in the past the focus was on computing efficiency and cost
associated to IT equipments and infrastructure services were considered low cost and
available. Now infrastructure is becoming the bottleneck in IT environments and the
reason for this shift is due to growing computing needs, energy cost and global
warming. This shift is a great challenge for IT industry. Therefore now researchers are
focusing on the cooling system, power and data center space. At one extreme it is the
processing power that is important to business and on the other extreme it is the drive,
challenge of environment friendly system, and infrastructure limitations [9]. Green
Computing challenges are not only for IT equipments users but also for the IT
equipments Vendors. Several major vendors have made considerable progress in this
area, for example, Hewlett-Packard recently unveiled what it calls ―the greenest
computer ever‖—the HP rp5700 de sktop PC. The HP rp5700 exceeds U.S. Energy
Star 4.0 standards, and has an expected life of at least five years, and 90% of its
materials are recyclable [3]. Dell is speeding up its programs to reduce hazardous
substances in its computers, and its new Dell OptiPlex desktops are 50% more
energy-efficient than similar systems manufactured in 2005, credit goes to more
energy-efficient processors, new power management features, and other related
factors [3]. IBM is working on technology to develop cheaper and more efficient solar
cells plus many other solutions from IBM to support sustainable IT. According to
researchers of Green Computing following are few prominent challenges that Green
computing is facing today [9]:

 Equipment power density / Power and cooling capacities;

 Increase in energy requirements for Data Centers and growing energy cost;

 Control on increasing requirements of heat removing equipment, which

increases because of increase in total power consumption by IT equipments;

 Equipment Life cycle management – Cradle to Grave; and

 Disposal of Electronic Wastes

FUTURE TRENDS

As discussed earlier the reason for shift is because of growth in computing needs,
energy cost and global warming and this shift is great challenge for IT industry. The
future of Green Computing is going to be based on efficiency, rather than reduction in
consumption [10].

The primarily focus of Green IT is in the organization‘s self interest in energy cost
reduction, at Data Centers and at desktops, and the result of which is the
corresponding reduction in carbon generation. The secondary focus of Green IT needs
to focus beyond energy use in the Data Center and the focus should be on innovation
and improving alignment with overall corporate social responsibility efforts. This
secondary focus will demand the development of Green Computing strategies. The
idea of sustainability addresses the subject of business value creation while ensuring
that long-term environmental resources are not impacted. There are few efforts, which
all enterprises are supposed to take care of [2]:

A. Certifications

There are several organizations providing certificates to green technology. Vendors

are based on their product quality, material, life of the product and recycling
capabilities. In future such certifications together with recommendations and
government regulations will put more pressure on vendors to use green technology
and reduce impact on environment.

B. Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing has recently received significant attention [11], as a promising

approach for delivering Information and Communication Technology services by
improving the utilization of Data Center resources. In principle, cloud computing is
energy-efficient technology for ICT [12] provided that it‘s potential for significant
energy savings that have so far focused on only hardware aspects, can be fully
explored with respect to system operation and networking aspects also. Cloud
Computing results in better resource utilization, which is good for the sustainability
movement for green technology.

E. Leveraging Unused Computer Resource

One of the exiting areas where Green Computing can grow is the share and use
efficiently the unused resources on idle computers. Leveraging the unused computing
power of modern machines to create an environmentally proficient substitute to
traditional desktop computing is cost effective option. This makes it possible to
reduce CO2 emissions by up to 15 tons per year per system and reduce electronic
waste by up to 80% [14].

F. Data Compression

In enterprise, huge amount of data that is stored is someway or other duplicated

information. Information System backups are true example of such duplicated data.
Intelligent compression techniques can be used to compress the data and eliminate
duplicates help in cutting the data storage requirements.

G.Applications

Green Computing is a diverse field and due to its nature and priority from all fields
of life Green Computing has applications in every sector of computing as the goal is
to save the environment and ultimately the life. The current main applications of
Green Computing are covering following computing sectors [15]:

· Equipment design;

· Equipment recycling;

· Data Center optimization and consolidation;

· Virtualization;

· Paper free environment;

· Application Architecture; and

· Power Management
Findings & Conclusion

Whilst the performance and the breadth of application of computers is increasing, so

too is our awareness of the cost and scarcity of the energy required to power them, as
well as the materials needed to make them in the first place. However, because
computing developments can enable individuals and businesses to adopt greener
lifestyles and workstyles, in terms of the environmental debate computing is definitely
both part of the problem and part of the solution.

Through more environmentally aware usage (such as more effective power

management and shut-down during periods of inactivity), and by adopting current
lower power technologies, computers can already be made significantly more energy
efficient. Indeed, just as we now look back and wonder why automobiles a decade or
two ago used to guzzle so much petrol, in a decade's time we will no doubt be
staggered that a typical desktop PC used to happily sit around drawing 100-200W of
power every hour night and day, and when accomplishing no more than displaying a
screensaver.

The computing industry is more prepared and far more competent than almost any
other industry when it comes to facing and responding to rapid change.
Environmentally it is not a good thing that most PCs -- especially in companies --
have typically entered a landfill after only a few years in service. However, this reality
does at least mean that a widespread mindset already exits for both adapting to and
paying money for new computer hardware on a regular basis. Hence, whereas it took
decades to get more energy efficient cars on the roads, it will hopefully only take a
matter of years to reach a state of affairs where most computers are using far less
power than they needlessly waste today.
Product Longevity

As per Gartner and Fujitsu reports on product life cycle it is obvious that the
product durability and/or longevity are one of the best approaches towards achieving
Green Computing objectives [13]. Long life of product will allow more utilization of
products and it will put a control on unnecessary manufacturing of products. It is
obvious that government regulations will push the products vendors to make more
efforts to increase the product life.

Technology is not a passive observer, but it is an active contributor in achieving the

goals of Green Computing. IT industry is putting efforts in all its sectors to achieve
Green computing. Equipment recycling, reduction of paper usage, virtualization,
cloud computing, power management, Green manufacturing are the key initiatives
towards Green computing. Current challenges to achieve Green Computing are
enormous and the impact is on computing performance. Efforts of Governments and
Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) are also appreciate-able. Government
regulations are pushing Vendors to act green; behave green; do green; go green; think
green; use green and no doubt to reduce energy consumptions as well. All these
efforts are still in limited areas and currently efforts are mainly to reduce energy
consumption, e-Waste but the future of Green Computing will be depending on
efficiency and Green products. Future work in Green Computing discipline will also
rely on research work in academics since this is an emerging discipline and there is
much more need to be done. There is need for more research in this discipline
especially within academic sector.
References :-

[ 1 ] Baroudi, Hill, Reinhold, and Senxian (2009) Green IT for Dummies.

[ 2 ] Climate Savers Computing Initiative (2010) Retrieved

http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org

[ 3 ] Energy Star Program (2010) Retrieved from http://www.energystar.gov/

[ 4 ] http://www.theglobalwarmingstatistics.org/globalwarming-

[ 5 ] Microsoft: Green IT taking the first step (2010) Retrieved from

http://www.microsoft.com/environment/our_commitment/articles/green_guide.aspx

[ 6 ] Recycle-it America (2010) Retrieved from http://www.recycleitamerica.com/

[ 7 ] San Murugesan, ―Harnessing Green IT: Principles and Practices,‖ IEEE IT

Professional, January-February 2008, pp 24-33.

[ 8 ] The Green Grid (2010) Retrieved from

http://www.uh.edu/infotech/news/story.php?story_id=1
30

[ 9 ] Ryan, John C. & Durning, Alan T. Stuff: The SecretLives of Everyday Things.
1997

[10] www.ijetae.com/files/Volume3Issue1/IJETAE_0113_56.pdf

[11] Tariq Rahim Soomro, Hasan Wahba, Perspectives of Cloud Computing: An

Overview, 14th International Business Information Management Association
 (IBIMA) Conference on Global Business Transformation through Innovation and
Knowledge Management, Istanbul, Turkey 23-
24 June 2010, http://www.ibima.org/TR2010/papers/soo.html

[12] Andreas Berl, Erol Gelenbe, Marco Di Girolamo, Giovanni Giuliani, The
Computer Journal, 2009, Volume 53, Issue 7, pp. 1045-1051,
DOI:10.1093/comjnl/bxp080,
http://comjnl.oxfordjournals.org/content/53/7/1045.short?rss=1

[13] Green computing, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_computing, Retrieved

December 2011

[14] Userful, Userful is the Green Solution: reduce CO@ emissions and electronic
waste, 2011, http://www2.userful.com/green-pcs

[15] Pirate, AuthorStream, Green Computing,

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/piratebhai-727374-greencomputing/,
Retrieved December 2011

View publication stats