Green computing refers to environmentally sustainable computing practices that conserve energy and resources. Computing harms the environment through high energy usage in data centers, hazardous materials in electronics, and large amounts of electronic waste. Approaches to green computing include virtualization, power management, recycling, extending product longevity, and algorithm efficiency. Examples of green computing implementations are search engines like Blackle that save energy through interface design, low power computers like the Fit PC, and cloud-based systems like Zonbu that reduce hardware needs. Transitioning to green computing brings benefits for sustainability and cost savings.

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2. Contents
• Introduction
• What is Green Computing
• Why Go For Green Computing
• How Computing Harm Environment
• Road to Green Computing
• Approaches to Green Computing
• Simple Tasks to Go Green
• Industrial Implementation
• Conclusion
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3. What is Green Computing?
 Green computing or green IT, refers to environmentally
sustainable computing or IT.
 It is “the study and practice of Designing, Manufacturing,
Using, and Disposing of computers, servers, and associated
subsystems efficiently and effectively with minimal or no
impact on the environment.”
 Green computing is the environmentally responsible and eco-
friendly use of computers and their resources.
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4. Why Go For Green Computing
 Today, the main problem of the world is Global warming.
 The atmosphere is becoming hot & is causing many
problems to living organisms
 Tons of Electronic Waste
 Limited Resources
 Computers also play a major role in polluting the world.
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5. How Computing Harm Environment
 Increase in power consumtion and space utilization
for data centres.
 2007-$4.5 billion of electricity
 2011-$7.4 billion of electricity( i.e. 25 power plants)
it will double the CO2 output ( 62 million metric
tons) by electronic appliances.
 Desktop requires 85 watts just in idle Mode.
 Left on 24 hrs/day-1,500 pounds of CO2 per year.
 A tree absorbs between 3 to 15 pounds of CO2 each
year. (up to 500 trees)
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6. How Computing Harm Environment
 According to reports from the German Federal
Environment Office, devices consume around 17
billion (kWh) in a year in standby mode.
 The CO2 dissipated from ‘sleeping’ devices = 1/7th the
CO2 emitted by an automobile.
 Manufacturers do not provide a proper shut-off button
in devices.
 Windows Vista’s default shut down mode is a deep
sleep mode that requires power.
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7.  Hazardous materials present inside computers.
 These are:
 Lead (disrupt brain neurotransmitters)
 Mercury (neurological damage)
 Cadmium (damage your kidneys)
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How Computing Harm Environment

8. Chemical Elements Used: Lead
 Used in soldering of printed circuit boards and other
components
 Also used in glass for CRTs
 It is estimated that between 1997 and 2004, 1.2 billion
tons of lead was used in computer components
 The problem:
 Lead can cause damage to the central and peripheral
nervous systems, blood system, kidneys, endocrine
system and cause negative effects on child brain
development.
 Lead accumulates in the environment and has toxic
effects on plants, animals and microorganisms.

9. Chemical Elements Used: Mercury
 Mercury is used in
 Batteries, switches, housing, printed circuit boards
 Mercury is found in medical equipment, data
transmission equipment, telecommunications
equipment and cell phones as well
 If is estimated that 22% of the yearly use of mercury is
in electrical and electronic equipment
 The problem
 Mercury spreads out in water transforming into
Methylmercury which easily accumulates in living
organisms.
 Methylmercury can cause chronic brain damage.

10. Chemical Elements Used: Cadmium
 Cadmium is used in resistors for chips, infrared detectors
and in semiconductors (like: older CRTs)
 Estimated that between 1997 and 2004, 2 million
pounds of cadmium was used in computer components
 The problem:
 Cadmium is classified as toxic, these compounds
accumulate in the human body, particularly the
kidneys
 Cadmium is absorbed through respiration.
 Cadmium has a half life of 30 years so that cadmium
can poison a human body slowly through out the
human’s life.

11. Road to Green Computing
 Green Use
 Green Disposal
 Green Design
 Green Manufacturing
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12. Green Manufacturing
 Bamboo : is becoming increasingly popular for making casings for
computers and peripherals.
 Recyclable plastics : Computers are constructed from recyclable plastics
i.e. recyclable polycarbonate resin.
 Eco-friendly flame retardant : There are flame retardant silicone
compounds available that are flame retardant and completely non-toxic.
 Inventory management : Reducing the quantity of both hazardous
materials used in the process and the amount of excess raw materials.
 Volume reduction : Removes hazardous portion of waste from non
hazardous portion.
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13. Green Products
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14. Approaches to Green Computing
 Virtualization
 Power Management
 Storage
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15. Approaches to Green Computing
Virtualization:
It includes Server virtualization, Desktop
virtualization & Storage consolidation.
E.g.: Our typical computer used up to a 250
watt power supply; but “thin client” uses a 4.8
watt power supply.
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Thin Client

16. Approaches to Green Computing
Power management:
Prolong battery life.
Reduce cooling requirements.
Reduce operating costs for energy and cooling.
Lower power consumption.
Following the ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power
Interface), an open industry standard.
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17. IT Equipment Recycling:
 If you can extend the working life of your IT
products, you reduce the environmental
consequences of mining, manufacture, packaging,
shipping and disposal.
 Many organizations, including some
manufacturers themselves, are willing to take
equipment back and recycle the components into
new products.
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Approaches to Green Computing

18. Approaches to Green Computing
Product Longevity:
Gartner, Inc. research result says that the PC
manufacturing process accounts for 70 % of the
natural resources used in the life cycle of a PC.
 Another report from Gartner, Inc. recommends
us to go for upgradability and modularity instead
of buying new PCs or subsystems.
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19. Operating System Support:
Windows 7 includes refinements for more efficient use
of operating system by providing timers, processor
power management, and display panel brightness
facilities.
Linux Os utilizing less resources than other Os, and
also have a better power management facility.
Terminal servers:
Terminals can be combined with thin clients, which
use up to 1/8 the amount of energy of a normal
workstation.
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Approaches to Green Computing

20. Algorithmic efficiency:
The Efficiency of algorithms can be described by
the amount of Resources it consumes.
Algorithms are the base of any computing system
or electronic device, each and every computer chip
has a certain algorithm that allows it to complete
its function.
Even though these chips are small, they use a lot
of power.
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Approaches to Green Computing

21. Simple Tasks to Go Green
Some Basic Steps:
 Buy and use a low power desktop or a laptop
computer (40-90 watts) rather a higher power desktop
(e.g. 300 watts).
 Thin clients can use only 4 to 8 watts of power at the
desktop as the processing is done by a server.
 Buy hardware from manufacturers that have a
hardware recycling scheme, and recycle your old
computer equipment rather than sending it to landfill.
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22. Simple Tasks to Go Green
 Turn your computer and monitor off when you
are not using it.
 Enable hibernation using the power
management settings. Standby does not save as
much power.
 Replace your CRT screen with an LCD screen.
 Save Your Paper! Use e-documents more
frequently.
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23. Industrial Implementation
 Blackle (Uses: 59 watt): Search Engine powered by Google. Black Google
Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year.
 Fit-PC (compact, quiet and green): It is a range of state-of-the-art miniature fan
less PCs that are extremely small, very low power and have more features than
any other PC in their category. Power Consumption: 6W.
 Zonbu Computer (Power: 20W): Zonbu's hybrid OS combines a robust, yet
easy-to-use, linux-based desktop environment with a complementary suite of
cloud-based services including:
 remote access from any browser
 data synchronization and automatic backups
 online storage that grows with you
 the ability to edit and share documents and files on the fly.
 Consumes one third of the power of a typical light bulb.
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Blackle Search Engine
Fit PC
Zonbu Computer

25. Special Fact about Blackle
 Take at look at Google, who gets about 200 million queries a day.
 Let's assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that
means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on
some desktops.
 Assuming that users run Blackle in full screen mode, the shift to a
black background [on a CRT monitor!] will save a total of 15 (74-
59) watts.
 That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or
about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year.
 Now take into account that about 25 percent of the monitors in the
world are CRTs, and at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, that's $75,000, a
goodly amount of energy and dollars for changing a few color
codes.
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26. Conclusion
 Green computing is not about going out and
designing biodegradable packaging for products.
 Now the time has come to think about the
efficiently use computers and the resources which
are non renewable.
 It opens a new window for the new entrepreneur
for harvesting with E-Waste materials and scrap
computers.
 The greenest computer will not miraculously fall
from the sky one day, it’ll be the product of year
of improvements.
 The beauty of pursuing a green IT/ Computing
strategy is its multifaceted benefits.
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