Go Green with Green Computing

Introduction

Green Computing has become an innovative way on how technology and ecology converge together.

Green Computing definitions

It is the study and practice of environmentally sustainable computing.

It can include designing ,manufacturing ,using, and disposing of computers, servers and associated subsystems efficiently and with minimal or no impact on the environment.

With the recent years many industries and companies have turned their attention in realizing how going 'green' can benefit public relations, and lowering global emissions from industrial manufacturing.

About 60 to 70 % energy is consumed by computers which are not in use but still turned ON and that consumed energy is the main reason of CO2 emission.

Ultimately green computing focuses on ways in reducing overall environmental impact and promote new ways of reducing pollution, discovering alternative technologies for creating more recyclable products

Need Of Green Computing

Most of the computer energy is often wasteful. This is because we leave the Computer ON even when it is not in use.

Defects in Manufacturing techniques, packaging, disposal of computers and components cause environmental pollution.

Information Technology energy demand is growing 12 times faster than the overall demand for energy.

Data center emits over 150 metric tons of CO2 per year, and the volume is increasing rapidly.

Computing power consumption of companies has reached a critical point. For example, an Ecommerce business with 100,000 servers can easily spend up to $20 million a year on server power. Add another $10 million for a/c cooling and it tops $30 million a year in power alone.

In order to reduce these effects the IT companies and other organizations should move on to the green computing.

Approaches And Application Practices

Power Management And Energy Efficiency

The biggest issue related to power management is the Data centre's which are heavy consumers of energy, accounting between 1.1% and 1.5% of the worlds total energy used in 2010.

The use of virtualization in energy efficient databases will increase performance and efficiency and reduce the power as well as the costs.

Virtualization

Virtualization is the process of running two or more logical computer systems on one set of physical hardware.

In virtualization, a system administrator could combine several physical systems into virtual machines on one single, powerful system.

Several commercial companies and open-source projects enable a transition to virtual computing, Intel Corporation and AMD have also built proprietary virtualization enhancements to the x86 instruction set into each of their CPU product lines, in order to facilitate virtual computing.

Choice Of Eco Friendly Hardware And Efficient Software

PCs & peripherals, network & devices accounted for 830 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or 2 percent of the total world carbon footprint in 2007.

All these peripherals can be reused.

Hard disks, printers and other internal parts can be recycled in a judicious manner and can be reused again to avoid the land fillings and improper disposal that are otherwise going to greatest upcoming trouble on the planet earth.

Eliminating The Vampire Load

The phantom loads or the vampire loads suck up a shocking amount of energy.

The solution to the phantom load problem is to pull plug from the wall when the electrical device is not in use, by using switchable power strip.

More sophisticated power strip devices sometimes called as the smart strips are available that can automatically power off any devices plugged into the strip when computer is in stand by mode.

Solar Computing

Solar cells fit power-efficient silicon, platform, and enable the company to develop fully solar-powered devices that are non polluting, silent, and highly reliable.

Solar cells require very little maintenance throughout their lifetime, and once initial installation costs are covered, they provide energy at virtually no cost.

Worldwide production of solar cells has increased rapidly over the last few years.

Recycle

Computers have toxin metals and pollutants that can emit harmful emissions into the environment. Never discard computers in a landfill.

Recycle them instead through manufacturer programs such as HP's Planet Partners recycling service, Or donate still-working computers to a non-profit agency.

Turn Off Monitors & Hard disk

By turning off monitor we can save half the energy that is used by the system. So turn off the monitor when download in progress or when it is in idle for some minutes.

Use LED, LCD monitors instead of CRTs it will reduce a lot of power.

We can automate through this option. Turn of monitor, after it is idle for 10 minutes

Turning off hard disk allows us to turn off hard disks if it is idle. We can automate this set the turn off time to 30 minutes or to some other value depending upon our usage.

Advantages of green computing

Reduced energy usage from green computing techniques translates into lower carbon dioxide emissions, stemming from a reduction in the fossil fuel used in power plants and transportation.

Conserving resources means less energy is required to produce, use, and dispose of products. 

Green computing even includes changing government policy to encourage recycling and lowering energy use by individuals and businesses. 

Reduce the risk existing in the laptops such as chemical known to cause cancer, nerve damage and immune reactions in humans. 

Efficiency & Improved Performance.

Saving energy and resources saves money.

Environmental Sustainability throughout the entire IT lifecycle, making it greener by addressing by addressing key areas including:

1.Green use.

2.Green disposal.

3. Green design.

4.Green manufacturing.

Future Of Green Computing

Technology is ever-changing and expanding which encourages people to use computers as well as accessories that are environmentally-friendly and that cause little or no harm to the environment during their usage or when they are disposed off.

Recyclable Paper Laptop

This concept laptop is crafted from papers that have been recycled or pulp materials that are essentially packed in layers.

Consumers are keep looking for newer and latest models of computer and junk the old machines by dropping them into landfills. This further adds to the e-waste items.

By purchasing the Recyclable paper laptop, we would not have to worry about repairing it as well as it is comparatively easier than the traditional laptops.

Besides, the damaged parts of these laptops can be easily replaced with newer ones and then sent across for recycling.

IMEC Laptop

This unique laptop can be easily powered using just two solar cells and encourages people to understand the importance of solar energy or alternative energy.

This prototype laptop has been designed by industrial designer Jan Leyssens and runs completely on solar energy.

Solar Laptop Concept

The solar laptop concept is invented by the designer Nikola Knezevic and is perfect for safeguarding the environment as well as minimizing our electric bill.

The top half portion of the laptop is attached to a solar panel that is capable of extracting the maximum amount of sun’s rays when it is folded out.

Even when the laptop is closed; the solar panel can still attract sun’s rays so that the energy can be used for charging the battery of our laptop.

This is an ideal solution for professionals and surveyors who work outdoors most of the time.

Igglu Modular PC Concept

The Igglu Modular PC concept helps in minimizing ewaste and allows for easy upgrading and customization of the system.

The makers of this system have devised a service model, whereby the users can simply remove the damaged component and place a new one using their online accounts.

This system incorporates color coded and hot swappable modules for optical drives, hard drive, graphic cards, RAMS and PCI drives.

Users can easily replace these modules and send them back to the company for recycling.

Conclusion

It is evident that the climate will increase highly by the impact of the companies and organizations.

Through modern technology, we can adopt greener IT processes which not only have an efficient and economic benefit to an organization, but will also fulfill the brief for the corporate and social responsibilities.

Many governments worldwide have initiated energy management programs, such as Energy Star, an international standard for energy-efficient electronic equipment that was created by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and has now been adopted by several other countries.

Now we have future of Green computing research .benefits of green computing  is that we can save energy, pollution and any type of wastage in IT and environment.