Green computing

THE BUSINESS SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF JAMMU
REPORT ON - “GREEN COMPUTING”
Submitted To : SUBMITTED BY:
MS. FARAH CHOUDHARY RADHIKA GUPTA
ROLL NO – 32- Mba -14

Green computing :
Green computing, Green ICT as per IFG International Federation of Green ICT and IFG
Standard, green IT, or ICT sustainability, is the study and practice of environmentally
sustainable computing or IT. San Murugesan notes that this can include "designing,
manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems—such as
monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems — efficiently
and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment. Green computing, also called
green technology, is the environmentally responsible use of computers and related resources.
Such practices include the implementation of energy-efficient central processing units
(CPUs),servers and peripherals as well as reduced resource consumption and proper disposal of
electronic waste (e-waste).
The goals of green computing are similar to green chemistry: reduce the use of hazardous
materials, maximize energy efficiency during the product's lifetime, and promote the
recyclacility or biodegradability of defunct products and factory waste.
Many corporate IT departments have green computing initiatives to reduce the environmental
impact of their IT operations.
Techopedia explains Green Computing:
Green computing aims to attain economic viability and improve the way computing devices are
used. Green IT practices include the development of environmentally sustainable production
practices, energy efficient computers and improved disposal and recycling procedures.
To promote green computing concepts at all possible levels, the following four complementary
approaches are employed:
 Green use: Minimizing the electricity consumption of computers and their peripheral
devices and using them in an eco-friendly manner
 Green disposal: Re-purposing an existing computer or appropriately disposing of, or
recycling, unwanted electronic equipment

 Green design: Designing energy-efficient computers, servers, printers, projectors and
other digital devices
 Green manufacturing: Minimizing waste during the manufacturing of computers and
other subsystems to reduce the environmental impact of these activities
Government regulatory authorities also actively work to promote green computing concepts by
introducing several voluntary programs and regulations for their enforcement.
Average computer users can employ the following general tactics to make their computing usage
more green:
 Use the hibernate or sleep mode when away from a computer for extended periods
 Use flat-screen or LCD monitors, instead of conventional cathode ray tube (CRT)
monitors
 Buy energy efficient notebook computers, instead of desktop computers
 Activate the power management features for controlling energy consumption
 Make proper arrangements for safe electronic waste disposal
 Turn off computers at the end of each day
 Refill printer cartridges, rather than buying new ones
 Instead of purchasing a new computer, try refurbishing an existing device
Origin:
In 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched Energy Star, a voluntary labeling
program that is designed to promote and recognize energy-efficiency in monitors, climate control
equipment, and other technologies. This resulted in the widespread adoption of sleep
mode among consumer electronics. Concurrently, the Swedish organization TCO Development
launched the TCO Certification program to promote low magnetic and electrical emissions
from CRT-based computer displays; this program was later expanded to include criteria on
energy consumption, ergonomics, and the use of hazardous materials in construction.

Regulations & industry initiatives :
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published a survey
of over 90 government and industry initiatives on "Green ICTs", i.e. information and
communication technologies, the environment and climate change. The report concludes that
initiatives tend to concentrate on the greening ICTs themselves rather than on their actual
implementation to tackle global warming and environmental degradation. In general, only 20%
of initiatives have measurable targets, with government programs tending to include targets more
frequently than business associations.
Government:
Many governmental agencies have continued to implement standards and regulations that
encourage green computing. The Energy Star program was revised in October 2006 to include
stricter efficiency requirements for computer equipment, along with a tiered ranking system for
approved products.
By 2008, 26 US states established state-wide recycling programs for obsolete computers and
consumer electronics equipment. The statutes either impose an "advance recovery fee" for each
unit sold at retail or require the manufacturers to reclaim the equipment at disposal.
In 2010, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into legislation by
President Obama. The bill allocated over $90 billion to be invested in green initiatives
(renewable energy, smart grids, energy efficiency, etc.) In January 2010, the U.S. Energy
Department granted $47 million of the ARRA money towards projects that aim to improve the
energy efficiency of data centers. The projects provided research to optimize data center
hardware and software, improve power supply chain, and data center cooling technologies.
Industry:
 Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) is an effort to reduce the electric power
consumption of PCs in active and inactive states. The CSCI provides a catalog of green
products from its member organizations, and information for reducing PC power
consumption. It was started on 2007-06-12. The name stems from the World Wildlife Fund's
Climate Savers program, which was launched in 1999. The WWF is also a member of the
Computing Initiative.

 The Green Electronics Council offers the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment
Tool (EPEAT) to assist in the purchase of "greener" computing systems. The Council
evaluates computing equipment on 51 criteria - 23 required and 28 optional - that measure a
product's efficiency and sustainability attributes. Products are rated Gold, Silver, or Bronze,
depending on how many optional criteria they meet. On 2007-01-24, President George W.
Bush issued Executive Order 13423, which requires all United States Federal agencies to use
EPEAT when purchasing computer systems.
 The Green Grid is a global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data
centers and business computing ecosystems. It was founded in February 2007 by several key
companies in the industry – AMD, APC, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Rackable
Systems, SprayCool (purchased in 2010 by Parker), Sun Microsystems and VMware. The
Green Grid has since grown to hundreds of members, including end-users and government
organizations, all focused on improving data center infrastructure efficiency (DCIE).
 The Green500 list rates supercomputers by energy efficiency (megaflops/watt, encouraging a
focus on efficiency rather than absolute performance.
 Green Comm Challenge is an organization that promotes the development of energy
conservation technology and practices in the field of Information and Communications
Technology (ICT).
 The Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) Energy specification augments
existing TPC benchmarks by allowing optional publications of energy metrics alongside
performance results.
 SPECpower is the first industry standard benchmark that measures power consumption in
relation to performance of satveer for server-class computers. Other benchmarks which
measure energy efficiency include SPECweb, SPECvirt and VMmark.
Why green computing ?
 As we are familiar that plastic is a hazardous material, but the electronic wastes (E-Waste
) is more hazardous than the plastic.
 The development and fabrication of an electronic device, we use different kind
of material such as arsenic, antimony, lead , cadmium etc.

 The U.S. generates more than 2 million tons of e-waste annually, and nearly 90 percent of
that ends up in landfills
 Disposal of such materials causes harm to the nature and environment that’s the main
reson of green computing estabilishment.
Sustainble steps by researchers:
“Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It moves from one form to another.” Here we present 7
pc concept that are:
Compaq EOS Sustainable Desktop: Designed by Cody Stonerock. Made from recycled
aluminum & biodegradable resins by HP PC has been made specially for the low cost desktop
market. There are no screws or fasteners in this system Monitor and other main components of
the system can easily be removed.So, as to ship them back to the company for repair or
replacement.Since none of the components are fixed, users can simply replace a broken
component, which reduces wastes and encourages recycling.It is low cost desktop
computer.Designed to feature fewer components and only offers basic computing power.
Igglu modular PC concept : It looks like a modern book rack. Though it is actually a PC,
updating it is as easy as replacing books in a shelf. The hard drives, optical drives, PCl drives,
graphics cards and the RAM are all located as ‘books’ on this ‘bookshelf’ PC. Whenever you
want to modernize or upgrade a component, simply take it off the ‘shelf’ and add the new one.
The old component is sent back to the company for recycling. The Igglu, thus, is an
improvement over the previous concept in the fact that, it can be upgraded into an advanced PC
also. The PC has been color coded for ease of replacements. It is also designed for maximum
energy efficiency and resource usage.
Bento’ solar-powered concept computing system: US-based product designer has come up
with the new concept for a computing system. What you see is the 15-inch OLED screen display
and docking space for a notebook, a smartphone and a tablet PC.Each of these are run by Liion
batteries which get recharged by solar power. The computing systems come integrated with solar
panels and a 1TB hard drive. Like the previous concept, it is built in the modular form and can

be easily upgraded. The solar charging is an added advantage. The stored content can be
transferred by simply docking two storage units together.
Sustainable computer ‘Froot’ -The Froot was submitted as an entry by designer Paulina Carlos
for the DELL Regeneration Green Computing Technology Contest. This concept goes one more
notch above all the previous concepts examined till now. Bio degradable starch-based polymers
constitute the ‘main frame’ and can be recycled along with the electrical components that are
part of it. But here is the unique aspect; the Froot uses high-end laser and projecting technology
to beam a screen on the wall and a keyboard in front of you! The ‘light’ keyboard acts like a
normal keyboard and the screen can be projected on any material. Need for a separate screen and
keyboard is also eliminated while the ergonomics of the same are not.
EVO PC Concept - The first glance at this device will make you wonder as to how can this
ever be a PC. The PC here consists of two parts. The first is an EVO client module which sits on
the second part which is a docking unit for this module. The client has low processing power,
low memory and low RAM. The magic happens when it links to a remote EVA server via the
broadband internet through the base unit. The server does the actual computing and this accesses
to the EVO remote computing device, which comes at a fee to the customer, and also ensures
that you only need to have this compact and elegant EVO client. Needless to say, this little client
is completely recyclable and the company takes it back while providing a replacement.
Recyclable paper laptop -After we have witnessed the paper thin computers and paper light
computers, it is the turn to welcome the paper computer! The entire computer has been built of
recycled, thick paper. This is the creation of designer, Je Sung Park. Thus, the problem of e-
waste in now completely gone! Recycling the parts also is no issue, as they can be easily
removed and sent to the company. You only have the fear of tearing your laptop!
LOOP – Ecofriendly desktop computer - Our final entrant in this list has been inspired by
nature and is extremely nature friendly! The LOOP uses an imaginative ‘usage concept’ too
along with its ‘design concept’. We have come across the design concept before, where the PC is
made modular with components that you can upgrade.

Now, hear the fantastic usage concept; Dell has decided to rent out the components! Yes!
With the upgrades in the PC world arriving almost on a weekly basis, it does not make sense to
make regular purchases. Instead, you can hire the latest components from the parent company
and they take back the old components for recycling and reuse! The LOOP comes in warm tones
and a cool look. No screws go into the assembly and thus it can be assembled in about 30
seconds flat! It is compact and has a design borrowed from the cactus leaves. Overall, it is green
and will make your neighbors go ‘green’ too!
According to the U.S department of energy, “vampire energy loss” represents between 5
and 8 % of a single family home’s total electricity use per year. That equals one month electricity
bill. Taken across the US it adds up to 68 billion KW hours of electricity annually.
Approaches:
In a 2008 article San Murugesan defined green computing as "the study and practice of
designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems
— such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems —
efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment." Murugesan lays out
four paths along which he believes the environmental effects of computing should be
addressed: Green use, green disposal, green design, and green manufacturing. Green computing
can also develop solutions that offer benefits by "aligning all IT processes and practices with the
core principles of sustainability, which are to reduce, reuse, and recycle; and finding innovative
ways to use IT in business processes to deliver sustainability benefits across the enterprise and
beyond".
Modern IT systems rely upon a complicated mix of people, networks, and hardware; as such, a
green computing initiative must cover all of these areas as well. A solution may also need to
address end user satisfaction, management restructuring, regulatory compliance, and return on
investment (ROI). There are also considerable fiscal motivations for companies to take control of
their own power consumption; "of the power management tools available, one of the most
powerful may still be simple, plain, common sense."
Product longevity:

Gartner maintains that the PC manufacturing process accounts for 70% of the natural resources
used in the life cycle of a PC. More recently, Fujitsu released a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of
a desktop that show that manufacturing and end of life accounts for the majority of this laptop
ecological footprint. Therefore, the biggest contribution to green computing usually is to prolong
the equipment's lifetime. Another report from Gartner recommends to "Look for product
longevity, including upgradability and modularity." For instance, manufacturing a new PC
makes a far bigger ecological footprint than manufacturing a new RAM module to upgrade an
existing one.
Data center design:
Data center facilities are heavy consumers of energy, accounting for between 1.1% and 1.5% of
the world’s total energy use in 2010 [1]. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that data
center facilities consume up to 100 to 200 times more energy than standard office buildings
Energy efficient data center design should address all of the energy use aspects included in a data
center: from the IT equipment to the HVAC equipment to the actual location, configuration and
construction of the building.
The U.S. Department of Energy specifies five primary areas on which to focus energy efficient
data center design best practices:
 Information technology (IT) systems
 Environmental conditions
 Air management
 Cooling systems
 Electrical systems
Additional energy efficient design opportunities specified by the U.S. Department of Energy
include on-site electrical generation and recycling of waste heat.
Energy efficient data center design should help to better utilize a data center’s space, and
increase performance and efficiency.
Software and deployment optimization:
Algorithmic efficiency

The efficiency of algorithms has an impact on the amount of computer resources required for any
given computing function and there are many efficiency trade-offs in writing programs.
Algorithm changes, such as switching from a slow (e.g. linear) search algorithm to a fast (e.g.
hashed or indexed) search algorithm can reduce resource usage for a given task from substantial
to close to zero. A study by a physicist at Harvard, estimated that the average Google search
released 7 grams of carbon dioxide (CO₂). However, Google disputes this figure, arguing instead
that a typical search produces only 0.2 grams of CO₂.
Resource allocation
Algorithms can also be used to route data to data centers where electricity is less expensive.
Researchers from MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and Akamai have tested an energy
allocation algorithm that successfully routes traffic to the location with the cheapest energy costs.
The researchers project up to a 40 percent savings on energy costs if their proposed algorithm
were to be deployed. However, this approach does not actually reduce the amount of energy
being used; it reduces only the cost to the company using it. Nonetheless, a similar strategy could
be used to direct traffic to rely on energy that is produced in a more environmentally friendly or
efficient way. A similar approach has also been used to cut energy usage by routing traffic away
from data centers experiencing warm weather; this allows computers to be shut down to avoid
using air conditioning.
Larger server centers are sometimes located where energy and land are inexpensive and readily
available. Local availability of renewable energy, climate that allows outside air to be used for
cooling, or locating them where the heat they produce may be used for other purposes could be
factors in green siting decisions.
Approaches to actually reduce the energy consumption of network devices by proper
network/device management techniques are surveyed in. The authors grouped the approaches
into 4 main strategies, namely
(i) Adaptive Link Rate (ALR)
(ii) Interface Proxying
(iii) Energy Aware Infrastructure
(iv) Energy Aware Applications.

Virtualizing
Computer virtualization refers to the abstraction of computer resources, such as the process of
running two or more logical computer systems on one set of physical hardware. The concept
originated with the IBM mainframe operating systems of the 1960s, but was commercialized
for x86-compatible computers only in the 1990s. With virtualization, a system administrator
could combine several physical systems into virtual machines on one single, powerful system,
thereby unplugging the original hardware and reducing power and cooling consumption.
Virtualization can assist in distributing work so that servers are either busy or put in a low-power
sleep state. Several commercial companies and open-source projects now offer software
packages to enable a transition to virtual computing. Intel Corporation andAMD have also built
proprietary virtualization enhancements to the x86 instruction set into each of their CPU product
lines, in order to facilitate virtual computing.
Terminal servers
Terminal servers have also been used in green computing. When using the system, users at a
terminal connect to a central server; all of the actual computing is done on the server, but the end
user experiences the operating system on the terminal. These can be combined with thin clients,
which use up to 1/8 the amount of energy of a normal workstation, resulting in a decrease of
energy costs and consumption. There has been an increase in using terminal services with thin
clients to create virtual labs. Examples of terminal server software include Terminal Services for
Windows and the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) for theLinux operating system.
Power management
The Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), an open industry standard, allows an
operating system to directly control the power-saving aspects of its underlying hardware. This
allows a system to automatically turn off components such as monitors and hard drives after set
periods of inactivity. In addition, a system may hibernate, when most components (including
the CPU and the system RAM) are turned off. ACPI is a successor to an earlier Intel-Microsoft
standard calledAdvanced Power Management, which allows a computer's BIOS to control power
management functions.

Some programs allow the user to manually adjust the voltages supplied to the CPU, which
reduces both the amount of heat produced and electricity consumed. This process is
called undervolting. Some CPUs can automatically undervolt the processor, depending on the
workload; this technology is called "SpeedStep" on Intel processors,
"PowerNow!"/"Cool'n'Quiet" on AMD
chips, LongHaul on VIA CPUs,and LongRun with Transmeta processors.
Data center power
Data centers, which have been criticized for their extraordinarily high energy demand, are a
primary focus for proponents of green computing. Data centers can potentially improve their
energy and space efficiency through techniques such as storage consolidation and virtualization.
Many organizations are starting to eliminate underutilized servers, which results in lower energy
usage. The U.S. federal government has set a minimum 10% reduction target for data center
energy usage by 2011.With the aid of a self-styled ultraefficient evaporative cooling technology,
Google Inc. has been able to reduce its energy consumption to 50% of that of the industry
average.
Operating systemsupport
The dominant desktop operating system, Microsoft Windows, has included limited PC power
management features since Windows 95. These initially provided for stand-by (suspend-to-
RAM) and a monitor low power state. Further iterations of Windows added hibernate (suspend-
to-disk) and support for the ACPI standard. Windows 2000 was the first NT-based operating
system to include power management. This required major changes to the underlying operating
system architecture and a new hardware driver model. Windows 2000 also introduced Group
Policy, a technology that allowed administrators to centrally configure most Windows features.
However, power management was not one of those features. This is probably because the power
management settings design relied upon a connected set of per-user and per-machine binary
registry values, effectively leaving it up to each user to configure their own power management
settings.
This approach, which is not compatible with Windows Group Policy, was repeated in Windows
XP. The reasons for this design decision by Microsoft are not known, and it has resulted in heavy
criticism. Microsoft significantly improved this in Windows Vista by redesigning the power

management system to allow basic configuration by Group Policy. The support offered is limited
to a single per-computer policy. The most recent release, Windows 7 retains these limitations but
does include refinements for timer coalescing, processor power management, and display panel
brightness. The most significant change in Windows 7 is in the user experience. The prominence
of the default High Performance power plan has been reduced with the aim of encouraging users
to save power.
There is a significant market in third-party PC power management software offering features
beyond those present in the Windows operating system. available. Most products offer Active
Directory integration and per-user/per-machine settings with the more advanced offering
multiple power plans, scheduled power plans, anti-insomnia features and enterprise power usage
reporting. Notable vendors include 1E NightWatchman, Data Synergy PowerMAN (Software),
Faronics Power Save and Verdiem SURVEYOR.
Power supply
Desktop computer power supplies (PSUs) are in general 70–75% efficient, dissipating the
remaining energy as heat. A certification program called 80 Pluscertifies PSUs that are at least
80% efficient; typically these models are drop-in replacements for older, less efficient PSUs of
the same form factor. As of July 20, 2007, all new Energy Star 4.0-certified desktop PSUs must
be at least 80% efficient.
Storage
Smaller form factor (e.g., 2.5 inch) hard disk drives often consume less power per gigabyte than
physically larger drives. Unlike hard disk drives, solid-state drives store data in flash memory
or DRAM. With no moving parts, power consumption may be reduced somewhat for low-
capacity flash-based devices.
In a recent case study, Fusion-io, manufacturer of solid state storage devices, managed to reduce
the energy use and operating costs of MySpace data centers by 80% while increasing
performance speeds beyond that which had been attainable via multiple hard disk drives in Raid
0. In response, MySpace was able to retire several of their servers.
As hard drive prices have fallen, storage farms have tended to increase in capacity to make more
data available online. This includes archival and backup data that would formerly have been

saved on tape or other offline storage. The increase in online storage has increased power
consumption. Reducing the power consumed by large storage arrays, while still providing the
benefits of online storage, is a subject of ongoing research.
Video card
A fast GPU may be the largest power consumer in a computer.
Energy-efficient display options include:
 No video card - use a shared terminal, shared thin client, or desktop sharing software if
display required.
 Use motherboard video output - typically low 3D performance and low power.
 Select a GPU based on low idle power, average wattage, or performance per watt.
Display
CRT monitors typically use more power than LCD monitors. They also contain significant
amounts of lead. LCD monitors typically use a cold-cathode fluorescent bulbto provide light for
the display. Some newer displays use an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in place of the
fluorescent bulb, which reduces the amount of electricity used by the display. Fluorescent back-
lights also contain mercury, whereas LED back-lights do not.
Materials recycling
Recycling computing equipment can keep harmful materials such as lead, mercury, and
hexavalent chromium out of landfills, and can also replace equipment that otherwise would need
to be manufactured, saving further energy and emissions. Computer systems that have outlived
their particular function can be re-purposed, or donated to various charities and non-profit
organizations. However, many charities have recently imposed minimum system requirements
for donated equipment. Additionally, parts from outdated systems may be salvaged and recycled
through certain retail outlets and municipal or private recycling centers. Computing supplies,
such as printer cartridges, paper, and batteries may be recycled as well.
A drawback to many of these schemes is that computers gathered through recycling drives are
often shipped to developing countries where environmental standards are less strict than in North
America and Europe. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition estimates that 80% of the post-

consumer e-waste collected for recycling is shipped abroad to countries such
as China and Pakistan.
In 2011, the collection rate of e-waste is still very low, even in the most ecology-responsible
countries like France. In this country, e-waste collection is still at a 14% annual rate between
electronic equipment sold and e-waste collected for 2006 to 2009.
The recycling of old computers raises an important privacy issue. The old storage devices still
hold private information, such as emails, passwords, and credit card numbers, which can be
recovered simply by someone's using software available freely on the Internet. Deletion of a file
does not actually remove the file from the hard drive. Before recycling a computer, users should
remove the hard drive, or hard drives if there is more than one, and physically destroy it or store
it somewhere safe. There are some authorized hardware recycling companies to whom the
computer may be given for recycling, and they typically sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Telecommuting
Teleconferencing and telepresence technologies are often implemented in green computing
initiatives. The advantages are many; increased worker satisfaction, reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions related to travel, and increased profit margins as a result of lower overhead costs for
office space, heat, lighting, etc. The savings are significant; the average annual energy
consumption for U.S. office buildings is over 23 kilowatt hours per square foot, with heat, air
conditioning and lighting accounting for 70% of all energy consumed. Other related initiatives,
such as hotelling, reduce the square footage per employee as workers reserve space only when
they need it. Many types of jobs, such as sales, consulting, and field service, integrate well with
this technique.
Voice over IP (VoIP) reduces the telephony wiring infrastructure by sharing the existing
Ethernet copper. VoIP and phone extension mobility also made hot deskingmore practical.
Telecommunication network devices energy indices
The ICT energy consumption, in the USA and worldwide, has been estimated respectively at
9.4% and 5.3% of the total electricity produced. The energy consumption of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) is today significant even when compared with other
industries. Recently some study tried to identify the key energy indices that allow a relevant

comparison between different devices (network elements). This analysis was focus on how to
optimise device and network consumption for carrier telecommunication by itself. The target
was to allow an immediate perception of the relationship between the network technology and
the environmental impact. This studies are at the start and the gap to fill in this sector is still huge
and further research will be necessary.
Supercomputers
The inaugural Green500 list was announced on November 15, 2007 at SC|07. As a complement
to the TOP500, the unveiling of the Green500 ushered in a new era where supercomputers can be
compared by performance-per-watt.
The TSUBAME-KFC-GSIC Center by Tokyo Institute of Technology, Made in Japan is today
with a great advantage to the second, the Top 1 Supercomputer in the World with 4,503.17
MFLOPS/W and 27.78 Total Power (kW)
DesktopVirtualization and Eco-Friendly Computing :
We can't live without PCs, so let’s learn how to live with them in a way that makes them
friendlier to the environment. Currently, PC’s consume far too much electricity and generate too
much e-waste to be considered an Eco-friendly solution by today’s standards. With a typical PC
taking approximately 110 watts to run, and with well over 1 billion of them on the planet, it’s
easy to understand what the Silicon Valley Toxics Commission is saying about e-waste is being
the fastest growing part of the waste stream.
Google’s GreenComputing: Efficiencyat Scale
Introduction
It’s common to hear about new data centers being built, and it may seem as if the energy used by
“the cloud” is a growing problem. However, services provided by the cloud can be remarkably
efficient. In many cases, data centers hosting cloud services are more efficient than the in-house
office servers they replace. These efficiency gains come from maximizing server utilization,
using high-efficiency facilities and making power usage efficiency a priority for hardware and
software developers.
Powering an Email System

When a user checks their email, energy is consumed in three places:
1. The client: The PC, laptop, phone or other device directly accessing email is called the client.
It’s using electricity as it fetches and displays email.
2. The network: Wireless routers, network switches and all the intervening networking
equipment between the client and the email server use electricity. In a small office, a wireless
router may be the only network
device involved. In a larger enterprise, networking equipment could involve dozens of devices
spanning continents.
3. The server: The computer or group of computers receiving, sending and storing email is
called the email server. This machine or group of machines is constantly on and consuming
electricity. Although switching from a locally hosted email system to a cloud-based email system
can affect the energy usage of all three, it primarily affects the server level energy usage. Servers
in locally hosted email systems are often underutilized and installed in facilities that aren’t
optimized for energy efficiency. Servers in cloud-based email systems are located in large,
efficient data centers which can provision more servers as needed. A cloud-based email system
saves considerable amounts of per-user energy costs once provisioning email servers, providing
redundancy, and cooling costs are taken into account
Provisioning Email Servers:
An email server is a computer that sends outgoing messages to the external network and stores
incoming messages until a user downloads or deletes them. Servers can be very large, powerful
machines for handling many simultaneous users or smaller machines for handling only a few.
The small organization is at a distinct disadvantage, having to purchase a server that can host 300
users when it only needs capacity for 50. An organization can’t purchase and power half a server
if that’s all they need.
Moreover, the energy consumption of a fully-utilized server is not much higher than a partly-
utilized one.
Redundancy and Reliability:
A modern day business relies on email servers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
and endeavors to make them as reliable as possible.
Depending on the size and type of the organization, this could mean:
• Additional backup email servers

• Redundant email storage, like networked hard drives or other
storage technology
• Backup networking links
• Co-locating email servers in multiple separate physical locations “N” shorthand is sometimes
used to describe the number of redundant servers needed for an organization’s email. If “N”
number of servers are need to handle an organization’s users, “N+1” redundancy means there is
one spare server on hand. If a company requires two servers to host all of their email, then they
have a third on hand in case one fails. “2N” redundancy would mean having one spare for every
required server. Redundancy means more reliability and more energy use. Modeling modest
redundancy requirements for a small, medium and large business provides an estimated number
of servers each business will need for their email system. The disadvantages faced by small and
medium businesses are magnified once redundancy requirements are added. The larger the
organization, the more efficiently servers can be provisioned.
Computer Housing and Cooling:
The energy email servers consume directly is only one component of the energy used to store
and deliver email. Additional energy is required to house and cool the servers. A server located
under a desk or in an office networking closet makes use of the same air conditioning system as
people in the office. This can be very inefficient, since the room temperature and ventilation are
set up for personal comfort, not for server efficiency. It is not uncommon for such a system to
use an additional 1.5 W of extra energy overhead for every 1 W of computer load. The data
center industry uses the measurement “PUE,” or power usage effectiveness, to calculate the
energy costs of housing and cooling servers. PUE measures how much overhead energy is
required to house and cool the computers inside a building relative to the amount the computers
consume themselves6. For the example above, the email server in the networking closet has a
PUE of 2.5. That’s 2.5 watts of power total for each watt of computing power.
Medium and large data centers are typically a bit better—and can be much better. This is because
they are designed with powering and cooling IT equipment in mind rather than keeping humans
comfortable. The average PUE of a typical data center today is about 1.87, but for a larger
organization with time to make significant measurements and improvements, it can be lower.
Once again, small setups underperform, with both larger per-user energy costs and carbon
footprints. When cooling and housing costs are taken into account, the total power per user for a
large organization can be 1/20th that of a small business.
Cloud Advantages

So far, our that large organizations hold an advantage over smaller organizations: they can
provision resources more efficiently and they can operate those computers in more efficient
facilities. Cloud providers take advantage of this efficiency in scale by providing servers for
millions of users—maximizing the utilization of machines while cutting down on the total
number of servers required. The result is fewer machines and less energy over all.
For example, Google has developed Gmail for Google Apps, a cloud-based email service used
by over 4 million organizations, small and large. Gmail is constantly improving as we integrate
new efficiency improvements, develop ways of streamlining our operations, and, of course,
increase capabilities.
Software developers, hardware designers and data center technicians have a unified goal of
optimizing Google services to use as few resources as possible. This is quite distinct from the
usual software and server model, where software developers from one company have to develop
an email server that will work on wide range of hardware developed by other companies. At
Google, we can optimize across boundaries that are not accessible in a traditional software or
hardware development environment.
Our size, focus, and ability to optimize across barriers translates into a series of distinct
advantages for our servers hosting cloud-based email, including:
• Custom, high-efficiency servers: Our servers are specifically designed to host cloud-based
services with only the components that are necessary for them to perform—nothing more or less.
• Custom, high-efficiency power supplies: Many servers today use power supplies that have
efficiencies in the mid-80% range. That means for every 100 Watts the computer needs, almost
20 Watts are converted directly to heat. Google’s are more than 90% efficient, wasting less
energy.
• Custom-built software: From top to bottom, Google infrastructure is designed to deliver our
innovative web services. Our software is designed to perform with maximum efficiency on the
servers we develop without bloated additional features.
Optimizing the entire process of storing, hosting and serving email means that Gmail requires
less than 250 mw per users.
Carbon Costs
Since 2007, Google has been a carbon neutral company, utilizing energy efficient improvements,
green power and carbon offsets to bring our footprint down to zero. Users of Gmail also enjoy
this benefit of zero carbon emission email. However, to form an accurate comparison of cloud-
based versus locally hosted services, we calculated our per-user carbon emissions before offsets.
Using the EPA US average emissions intensity for locally hosted email servers, and using

Google’s own calculated emissions intensity for its operations, the annual carbon footprint of a
Gmail user is about 1/80th that of a small business with locally hosted email servers.
Energy use of PC :
 CPU uses 120 watts of energy
 CRT uses 150 watts of energy ---8hours of usage, 5 days a week= 562Kw.
 Energy used comes from Electrical current to run the CPU, motherboard ,memory
etc, Monitors, Printers .
How to save energ y while working on the internet?
Blackle is the website powered by Google custom search which aims to save the energy
consumed by the pc while working on the internet. If a computer screen is:
 White, it consumes 74W of energy
 Black , it consumes 59W of energy.
Thus most of the companies have switched from Google to Blackle.
Advantages of green computing:
 Reduces the amount of pollutants in the surroundings.
 It reduces the amount of heat produced from the electronic devices.
 It encourages the use of renewable resources.
 It promotes effective utilization of natural resources.
 It reduces the risk existing in PC’s due to chemicals that cause nerve damage in humans.
Disadvantagesofgreencomputing:
 Green computing could actually be quite costly. The greenest modern computers today
are Mac books which are expensive enough.
 Green computers may be considerably underpowered.

 Not fascinating for children.
 Rapid technology change
Education & Certification:
Green computing programs
Degree and postgraduate programs that provide training in a range of information technology
concentrations along with sustainable strategies in an effort to educate students how to build and
maintain systems while reducing its negative impact on the environment. The Australian
National University (ANU) offers "ICT Sustainability" as part of its information technology and
engineering masters programs. Athabasca University offer a similar course "Green ICT
Strategies", adapted from the ANU course notes by Tom Worthington. In the UK, Leeds
Metropolitan University offers an MSc Green Computing program in both full and part-time
access modes.
Green computing certifications
Some certifications demonstrate that an individual has specific green computing knowledge,
including:
 Green Computing Initiative - GCI offers the Certified Green Computing User Specialist
(CGCUS), Certified Green Computing Architect (CGCA) and Certified Green Computing
Professional (CGCP) certifications.
 CompTIA Strata Green IT is designed for IT managers to show that they have good
knowledge of green IT practices and methods and why it is important to incorporate them
into an organization.
 Information Systems Examination Board (ISEB) Foundation Certificate in Green IT is
appropriate for showing an overall understanding and awareness of green computing and
where its implementation can be beneficial.
 Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) Singapore Certified Green IT
Professional is an industry endorsed professional level certification offered with SiTF
authorized training partners. Certification requires completion of a four day instructor-led
core course, plus a one day elective from an authorized vendor.

 Australian Computer Society (ACS) The ACS offers a certificate for "Green Technology
Strategies" as part of the Computer Professional Education Program (CPEP). Award of a
certificate requires completion of a 12 week e-learning course designed by Tom
Worthington, with written assignments.
IFG International Federation of Green ICT and IFG Standard IFG promote two basic green
program, first program is IFG standard towards Green business and Green Gov. Second program
designed for professional Green IT certification by IFG.
Conclusion:
Adopting Green Computing Strategies make sense not only from an ethical, or moral
stand-point, but from a commercial stand-point. There are many business benefits
achievable through the implementation of a green computing strategy such as cost
savings, resilience, disaster recovery, business continuity planning and of course public
relations. Green computing is the utmost requirement to protect environment and save
energy along with operational expenses in today's increasingly competitive world.
Adopting a holistic approach to greening IT is our responsibility towards creating a more
sustainable environment.
Biblography:
 http://www.techopedia.com/definition/14753/green-computing
 http://www.ncomputing.com/company/green-computing
 http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/green-computing
 google- green-computing

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