Green computing

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Green computing is the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently. The primary objective of such a program is to account for the triple bottom line, an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational (and societal) success. The goals are similar to green chemistry; reduce the use of hazardous materials, maximize energy efficiency during the product's lifetime, and promote recyclability or biodegradability of defunct products and factory waste.

Modern IT systems rely upon a complicated mix of people, networks and hardware; as such, a green computing initiative must be systemic in nature, and address increasingly sophisticated problems. Elements of such as solution may be comprised of items such as end user satisfaction, management restructuring, regulatory compliance, disposal of electronic waste, telecommuting, virtualization of server resources, energy use, thin client solutions, and return on investment (ROI).

Contents 1 Origins 2 Regulations and industry initiatives 2.1 Government 2.2 Industry 3 Approaches to green computing 3.1 Virtualization 3.2 Power management 3.3 Low performance computers 3.4 More efficient components 3.4.1 Power supply 3.4.2 Storage 3.4.3 Display 3.5 Materials recycling 3.6 Telecommuting 4 See also 5 References 6 External links 6.1 How-to articles 6.2 Organizations 6.3 Software

[edit] Origins

In 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched Energy Star, a voluntary labeling program which 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. The term "green computing" was probably coined shortly after the Energy Star program began; there are several USENET posts dating back to 1992 which use the term in this manner.^[1] 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.^[2]

[edit] Regulations and industry initiatives

[edit] 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.^[3][4] The European Union's directives 2002/95/EC (RoHS), on the reduction of hazardous substances, and 2002/96/EC (WEEE) on waste electrical and electronic equipment required the substitution of heavy metals and flame retardants like PBBs and PBDEs in all electronic equipment put on the market starting on July 1, 2006. The directives placed responsibility on manufacturers for the gathering and recycling of old equipment (the Producer Responsibility model).^{[citation needed]}

There are currently 26 US States that have established state-wide recycling programs for obsolete computers and consumer electronics equipment^[5]. The statutes either impose a fee for each unit sold at retail (Advance Recovery Fee model), or require the manufacturers to reclaim the equipment at disposal (Producer Responsibility model).

In 2008, a report published in the UK by the Department for Communities and Local Government, quantified that the potential carbon savings from increasing the usage of online public service delivery were significantly in excess of the negative impact of extra IT server capacity.^[6]

[edit] Industry

• The Green Electronics Council offers the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) to assist in the purchase of "green" computing systems. The Council evaluates computing equipment on 28 criteria that measure a product's efficiency and sustainability attributes. 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.^[7][8]

• 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, 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 efficiency.

• Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) is an effort to reduce the electric power consumption of PCs in active and inactive states.^[9] 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.^[10] The WWF is also a member of the Computing Initiative.^[9]

[edit] Approaches to green computing

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[edit] Virtualization

Main article: x86 virtualization

See also: Comparison of virtual machines

Computer virtualization is the process of running two or more logical computer systems on one set of physical hardware. The concept originated with the 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. Several commercial companies and open-source projects now offer software packages to 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 virtualized computing.

[edit] Power management

Main article: 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, where most components (including the CPU and the system RAM) are turned off. ACPI is a successor to an earlier Intel-Microsoft standard called Advanced Power Management, which allows a computer's BIOS to control power management functions.^{[citation needed]}

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.

[edit] Low performance computers

See also: Minimalism (computing)

As of 2007, several personal computer vendors (e.g., Everex, Linutop, Systemax, Zonbu and OLPC) ship dedicated low-power PCs. These systems provide minimal hardware peripherals and low performance processors, which makes them impractical for applications that require a lot of processing power such as computer gaming and video production^{[citation needed]}. A low-power PCs is usually much smaller than traditional desktop.^{[citation needed]} The limited capacity for upgrades, low performance and proprietary may lead to shorter lifespans and greater difficulty in repair.^{[citation needed]}

Older laptops may provide similar performance with low power consumption.^{[citation needed]} Reusing second-hand laptops may be an even more energy and material efficient alternative to such systems.^{[citation needed]}

Routers, such as those compatible with the Linksys WRT54G, may be adapted for use in low power applications using replacement firmware.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] More efficient components

See also: performance per watt

[edit] Power supply

Desktop computer power supplies (PSUs) are generally 70–75% efficient^[11], dissipating the remaining energy as heat. An industry initiative called 80 PLUS certifies PSUs that are at least 80% efficient; typically these models are drop-in replacements for older, less efficient PSUs of the same form factor.^[12] As of July 20, 2007, all new Energy Star 4.0-certified desktop PSUs must be at least 80% efficient.^[13]

[edit] Storage

Smaller form factor (e.g. 2.5 inch) hard disk drives often consume less power than physically larger drives.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[14][15][16] Even at modest sizes, DRAM based SSDs may use more power than hard disks, (e.g., 4GB i-RAM uses more power and space than laptop drives). Flash based drives are generally slower for writing than hard disks.^[16] Flash based solid state drives generally allow far fewer write cycles than hard drives.^{[citation needed]} Smaller storage capacity per dollar may further limit their usable lifetime.^{[citation needed]} Shorter lifetimes may make SSDs less energy and material efficient in some applications.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Display

LCD monitors typically use a cold-cathode fluorescent bulb to 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.^[17]

[edit] Materials recycling

Main articles: Electronic waste and computer recycling

Computer systems that have outlived their particular function can be repurposed, or donated to various charities and non-profit organizations^[18]. However, many charities have recently imposed minimum system requirements for donated equipment.^[19] Additionally, parts from outdated systems may be salvaged and recycled through certain retail outlets^[20][21] and municipal or private recycling centers.

Recycling computing equipment can keep harmful materials such as lead, mercury, and hexavalent chromium out of landfills, but often computers gathered through recycling drives are shipped to developing countries where environmental standards are less strict than in North America and Europe^[22]. 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, India, and Pakistan.^[23]

Computing supplies, such as printer cartridges, paper, and batteries may be recycled as well.^[24]

[edit] 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. ^[25] 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 -- sales, consulting, field service -- integrate well with this technique.

Voice over IP (VoIP) reduces the telephony wiring infrastructure by sharing the existing Ethernet copper (a toxic metal). VoIP and phone extension mobility also made Hot desking and more practical.

[edit] See also

• Standby power and the One Watt Initiative
• CPU power dissipation
• Computer appliance
• Thin client, Diskless node, Fat client
• Green energy

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] How-to articles

• Sun Eco Initiative - Sun Microsystems
• Build a Green Datacenter - Microsoft TechNet
• Energy efficiency for the enterprise - Hewlett Packard Company
• Green Computing Guide - University of Colorado, Boulder

[edit] Organizations

• Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)
• ENERGY STAR (U.S. EPA)
• The European RoHS-WEEE directive

[edit] Software

• LocalCooling - a free power management tool for Microsoft Windows from Uniblue Labs that allows users to optimize their PC's energy usage.
• SusiClimate - a free Mac OS X application which calculates the PC's current CO₂ emissions in realtime.
• PowerTOP - a free utility for Linux which measures a PC's power consumption.

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