Green Computing

Abstract: Green Computing or Green IT refers to the hibernate state of the computer and mal practices of
study and the efficient use of eco friendly computing. using electronic equipments has a great impact in
According to San Murugesan Green Computing is “The this energy wastage. It is estimated that out of $250
study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using,
billion per year spent on powering computers
and disposing of computers, servers, and associated
worldwide only about 15% of that power is spent
subsystems -such as monitors, printers, storage devices,
computing. The rest is wasted idling.
and networking and communications systems - efficiently
and effectively with minimal or no impact on the Therefore, Green Computing is introduced in order
environment”. Green Computing reduces the use of to maximize the energy efficiency and increase the
hazardous materials, maximize energy efficiency during recyclability of products and the factory waste.
the product's lifetime, and promote recyclability or Green Computing is focusing on creating
biodegradability of defunct products and factory waste. technologies that help to preserve nature and
This study will focus on the history of Green computing,
minimize the bad effects of the technological
key Concepts of it, modern approach to Green
development. [2, 15, 16, 18]
Computing, benefits and future trends.
In this review paper, as the second topic an
overview of the Green Paper is given. Next the
1. Introduction details regarding Eco friendly computing is given.
As IT has become a major component in social History, Industry Initiatives and Green approaches
infrastructure, it plays a vital role in human’s life. are described there. Then Green practices at home
Computing is a fast growing area which consumes environment is described under the topic “go green
energy a lot. A computer which performs well at home”. After that, small introduction of green
consumes lots of energy. It takes a lot of energy to business practices is given. Further details on that
create, package and retrieve data. With the topic will be discussed in final paper. As the sixth
development of the technologies, people tend to topic future directions of Green IT are given.
depend on these technologies more and more. It Finally, discussion and my identifications are
will lead us to many problems as energy is a non included.
renewable resource. It will soon cost more to power
a computer in future, than buying a new one today.
2. Overview
Therefore we have to find methods, where we can
Green Computing is an echo friendly approach to
minimize the wastage of energy while utilizing
the modern computing environment. It discusses
existing resources efficiently.
about the ways of using computers in
Since computer plays a major role in our lives,
environmental friendly way. The main focus of
demand for the energy, cost and wastage also
Green computing is reducing the environmental
increase dramatically. According to the Climate
impact of industrial processes and innovative
Saving Computing Initiative, the half of the power
technologies caused by the Earth’s growing
input to our PC is wasted without even reaching to
population and the ways of utilizing computer
the processor, memory, disk or any other
resources efficiently. It talks about serving social
component. Further, they have identified that added
needs in a way which reduce the damage happen to
heat of the computer systems, inactive sleep and
1
the nature. Mainly this is talking about creating systems. Their mission says that by 2010, they
recyclable products, reducing pollution, providing expect to reduce the total CO2 emission of the
alternatives to certain technological areas and etc. It computer systems by 54 million tons per year. This
is a concept which is already used in the IT will save $5.5 billion in energy costs. [2]
environment. Researchers have found that most of
the computers are not used for most of the time, but 2. Green Electronics council
they are left running and many personal computers Green Electronics Foundation is focusing on
are left on unnecessarily. It leads to the high special issues regarding the electronics and
wastage of energy. These kinds of issues are also sustainability. It was founded in 2005. They have
considered in Green Computing. It also talks about designed an Electronic Product Environment
proper disposal of electronic waste. [1, 9, 16] Assessment Tool to assist Green Computer
systems. [14]
3. Eco Friendly Computing
Green Computing is also known as Green IT. 3. Green Computing Impact Organization,
Environmental sustainability, Energy efficiency, Inc
and the cost of disposal and recycling also includes This is a non profit organization designed to make
in Green IT. or assisting the end users of the computers to be
responsible for the environment. This is achieved

3.1 History through the collaborative membership programs

and the initiatives which brings all the businesses
The Energy Star program commenced by the U.S.
together and promote sustainable business
Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 was the
practices. [6]
first voluntary labelling program designed to
promote and recognize energy efficiency. It is
basically designed to promote and recognize energy 4. Green Grid
efficiency in monitors, climate control equipments Green Grid is a consortium of IT companies and
and other technologies. The term Green professionals who seeks improvements in energy
Computing immerged shortly after this Energy Star efficiency of data centres and business eco systems.
Program. The first function launched as a result of Their mission is to develop and promote energy
the Green Computing researches was the sleep efficiency for data centres and eco systems through
mode function of computer monitor. Defining meaningful, user-centric models and
metrics, Promoting the adoption of energy efficient
3.2 Industry Initiatives standards, processes, measurement methods and
1. Climate Savers Computing Initiative technologies and Developing standards,
Climate savers Computing Initiative is a non-profit measurement methods, processes and new
group of eco-conscious consumers, businesses and technologies to improve performance against the
conservation organizations started by Google and defined metrics. It was found in February 2007 by
Intel in 2007. Their aim is to promote development, several key companies in the industry namely
deployment and adaption of smarter technologies in AMD, APC, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft,
order to increase the efficiency of power delivery Rackable Systems, SprayCool, Sun Microsystems
and reduce the energy wastage of the computer and VMware. [12]
2
 false beliefs regarding the computer usage. For an
3.3 Approaches to Green Computing instance, people belief that when turning off a
In order to gain the environmental sustainability computer and turning on it back uses more energy
and efficient use of energy through computing than it leaving on. But the actual energy
there are four main paths to be taken. consumption of the computer when it boots up, is
far less than the energy it uses when left on for

1. Green Use - Using the computers and more than three minutes. Further the use of

other related products in an efficient notebook computers rather than using personal

manner where the energy consumption is computers will also save energy. Moreover, people

minimized. think that screen savers do save energy. But the fact

2. Green Disposal - Reusing old computers, is that they are designed to increase the lifetime of

properly disposing and recycling other monochrome monitors. The screen savers will save

unwanted products. energy if they actually turn off the screen or turn
off the backlight of the laptops. By letting the users
3. Green Design - Designing energy efficient
get to know about these facts will change their
and environmentally friendly computers
habits and it will lead to power utilization.
and accessories.
When it comes to organizational level, many
4. Green Manufacturing - Manufacturing
organizations have undertaken various kinds of
computers and other related equipments in
activities as an approach to this Green IT.
a way that they have a minimal effect to
the environment. • Telecommuting

• Virtualization
These four steps can be further spanned in to • VoIP
number of activities and areas. Organizations have allowed their workers to work
• Efficient use of energy while being at home. This will help to reduce fuel

• Power saving emission at transportation. They are given all the

necessary facilities to work. This is known as
• Server virtualization
telecommuting. Virtualization refers to the
• Environmental sustainable designing
consolidation of servers. It allows to two or more
• Responsible disposal and recycle
logical computer systems to run in one physical
• Risk mitigation hardware. This leads minimum power consumption
• Use of renewable energy sources and maximum cooling. VoIP or Voice over Internet

• Eco- labelling Protocol is a technology of voice transmission over

internet or other packet switched networks. It
• Use of Green methodologies and
reduces the telephone wiring infrastructure and is
assessment tools.
low cost. It is method of reducing metallic waste.
[5, 8, 9, 18]
As an initial step to the Green Computing the work
habits of the individual computer users have to be
changed. Most of the energy wastages regarding 4. Go Green at home

the personal computer usage happen because of the

3
Computers play a major role in our day today life. • Print less as possible. Save in to disks
Apart from the computers, various kinds of instead of printing.
electronic items are used in our homes. Therefore • Plan to do your computer related activities
the demand for the energy, the cost as well as the at a time which you can do them at once.
wastage, also increases dramatically. According to Keep it off at other times.
the Climate Saving Computing Initiative, half of
• Use a small monitor. A 14 inch monitor
the energy consumes by the PC is wasted as heat.
consumes 40% less power than 17 inch
This causes to higher electricity bills and higher
monitor.
emission of greenhouse gasses. They also declare
• Give up screen savers. They don’t save the
that by using the power management features of the
energy of the screens.
computer, half a ton of CO2 and more than $60 of
• Use ink jet printers. Though they are bit
the energy cost can be saved per year. A typical
slower than laser printers, they consume
desktop computer may require approximately
80% to 90% less energy.
200W of electric power. It requires 85W power to
be idle, with the monitor off. Further one computer
• Choose dark backgrounds in the display.
Bright colour displays consume more
left on 24 hours a day will cost $115 to $160 and it
power.
will dump 1500 pounds of CO2 to the atmosphere
per year. [1, 2, 3] • Reduce the light level of the room when
you are using the computer.
[9, 10, 13]
4.1 Green Computing Tips
• Power down the computer if the inactive
time period is extending.
5. Green business practices
Organizations all over the world now understand
• Use LCD monitors rather than CRT
their corporate social responsibility towards the
monitors.
environment. Most of the companies are now using
• If you are going away from computer for a
environmental friendly products to preserve energy
short time period turn off the monitor.
and power. Green IT isn’t just about energy
• Adjust the power management of the
efficiencies but also about operational efficiencies
computer to turn off the hard drive and
that can improve the organization. In most of the
stand by the system after a certain amount
organizations, Green IT is practiced because of the
of time period.
explicit business drivers such as cost and the
• Unplug all the unnecessary equipments
availability of the energy, cost of the equipments,
from the computer. (additional fans and
cost of the data centres, business process
drivers, additional CD ROMs)
optimization and performance and efficiency.
• Switch off cable modems and Wi-Fi When focusing on business optimization, few areas
access points when they are not used. can be targeted which energy demand can be
• Use laptops. They use less power than a reduced and growth can be increased with the help
desktop computer. of IT. [7]
• Choose Intel or VIA processors. They use • Server and storage utilization and
less power than AMD processors. consolidation
4
 • Server, storage, and application Desktop manufactures will reuse or recycle all the
virtualization parts of the computers without a single waste. Also

• Technology and information life cycle networking all the several old computers into one

strategies processing unit enabling it to access by several

• Energy measurement and management small computers is another way of reusing them.
• Green Computing will lead electronic
waste by up to 80%.
6. Future Directions of Green IT
[4, 11, 13, 17]
• Turns 1 computer into 10 - Discover
Station.
Userful Inc. (www.userful.com) which is a
7. Discussion
Canadian Company has come up with a solution Green Computing is a practice of using computer

which uses the unused computing power of modern equipments efficiently. Main consideration of the

PC’s. There multiple users can work on one green products and the services is people, planet

computer connecting up to 10 monitors, mice and and profit. There are many things that can be done

keyboards. to reduce the amount of power the computers use.

Also there are many facts that we have to consider
• energy efficient and toxic free
when buying computers. Most of the companies
technologies
practice these green policies in order to maximize
CRT monitors which emit toxic radiation are now
the profit through the efficiency of the
eliminated by most of the manufactures. It has
organization. Green IT is not all about energy
replaced with LCD monitors. But it is not
efficiency but operational efficiency of the
completely free of toxic materials. Therefore new
organization. That is known as business Green
energy efficient and cost effective technologies like
practice. As individuals Green methods also can be
OLED could be able to replace those LCD
practiced in our home environment. Computers can
monitors. E-link and IMOD are another monitor
be used in a way which energy is optimized and the
related technologies that can be used in future.
resources are utilized.
• Energy efficiency
Through this review paper green practices in home
The future nano computer chip will be three or four
environment are discussed. Through the final
times smaller in size and remarkably faster than the
paper, green business practices, green products and
existing chips. Another idea is controlling the
other few facts regarding green computing will be
power needed for the computer to work with key
discussed.
strokes, mouse movements etc.
• Carbon Free Computing
8. Identifications
The aim of the VIA is to offer world’s first carbon
Environmentally responsible computing is not only
free computer. These carbon free computers emit
buying eco friendly equipments. But the need has
greenhouse gasses instead of carbon. the move
to be considered. Only the equipments which suits
towards the carbon free computing also leads to
to your requirements has to be bought. Now several
solar power computing.
methods has implemented regarding the energy
• Recycling
efficiency of the computers. Therefore adaption for
those implications is preferred not only the
5
environmental implications. Most of the time [13] Understanding Green Computing- Definition
wastage occurs because of the carelessness or the Terms
unawareness of the people. Therefore we have to http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-
be aware of these green computing techniques in computing/articles/62742.aspx
order to utilize the computer resources efficiently [14] Welcome to EPAT- http://www.epeat.net/
and maximize their energy usage. [15] What is “Green Computing” – whitepaper
http://www.sncllc.com/docs/whitepaper/green
computing.pdf
[16] What is Green Computing? – Definition from
References
WhatIs.com
[1] Benefits of eco friendly Computing –
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/sDefinit
Schneider electric
ion/0,,sid80_gci1246959,00.html
http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SLAT-
[17] What is in the future for green PCs?
7DCQ5J_R0_EN.pdf
http://greenlivingideas.com/topics/technology/
[2] Climate Savers Computing -
whats-in-the-future-for-green-pcs
http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/
[18] Wikipedia – Green Computing
[3] Foundation of Green IT [e-book] Marti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_computing
Poniewski [Downloaded 14 July 2010]
[4] Green Computing
http://thefutureofthings.com/articles/1003/gree
n-computing.html
[5] Green Computing- Green wiki
http://green.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Computing
[6] Green Computing Impact Organization, Inc
http://www.greencio-
communityofpractice.org/
[7] Green IT for dummies [e- book] Carol
Baroudi [Downloaded 14 July 2010]
[8] Green IT | Welcome
http://www.greenit.net/index.html
[9] REF Green Computing
http://www.ecoseed.org/en/general-
reference/green-reference/green-computing
[10] Solutions for Green IT- whitepaper
http://www.sncllc.com/docs/whitepaper/green
computing.pdf
[11] Future of Green IT – articles
http://www.computeruser.com/articles/the-
future-of-green-computing.html
[12] The Green Grid
http://www.thegreengrid.org/
6