| Consumption of energy sources has a negative | | | | for computing usage and improves productivity. |
| reaction on the environment. Datacenters, PCs, | | | | Through these services, firms can check their energy |
| printers and other IT gadgets use a large amount of | | | | expenditures and bring their costs down. |
| power and consequently cooling energy is needed to | | | | Grid computing: It is a cost effective way to acquire |
| counteract the power usage, which will be an endless | | | | computer resources. The apps can combine |
| circle of energy waste and also increased expenses. | | | | geographically dispersed resources to process a large |
| Green IT via Green computing | | | | amount of data, without consuming large amounts of |
| Green computing is the technology where | | | | energy. |
| organizations adopt environmentally responsible use | | | | Service Oriented Architecture (SAO): It consolidates |
| of computers and other related resources like central | | | | business processes, combining business management |
| processing units (CPUs), servers and peripherals. | | | | services. Various firms adopt SOA to lower their |
| Further, to maximize energy efficiency and | | | | costs and increase efficiency via speed and security |
| sustainable development, the firms implement use of | | | | for web applications. |
| non-toxic materials, or making investments in future | | | | Bad Eco-Design |
| green concepts such as alternative materials. Green | | | | Recently, an effort to save energy bills with |
| practices include the implementation of | | | | controlling carbon dioxide emissions to save the entire |
| energy-efficient consumption of resources and | | | | planet was introduced, called USB Eco Button, but |
| proper disposal of e-waste. | | | | fails on both accounts. |
| In 1992, the green-computing movement was started | | | | The device is a USB-powered plastic button that can |
| with the Energy Star program so that the IT industry | | | | be used on any Windows based machine, except |
| can pick up various environmentally sustainable | | | | those running Windows 7. It puts the machine into a |
| practices. With the reduction of IT costs in mind, | | | | low-power energy saving mode. The USB Eco Button |
| various companies wants to change their older | | | | has software that monitors users’ PC power |
| machines especially datacenters because they | | | | usage and also records how much CO2 the Eco |
| consume more energy. Hence, various companies can | | | | Button has saved. |
| minimize energy waste and carbon footprinting, | | | | However, various analysts said that the Eco Button is |
| various Green Computing Solutions can be | | | | largely unnecessary, since such low-power modes can |
| incorporated like: | | | | be applied through software-only fixes. Therefore, |
| Server Consolidation: Companies can consolidate their | | | | the material and energy used to manufacture it, the |
| server usage, which reduces the amount of servers | | | | Eco Button could be doing more harm than good. |
| needed by optimizing the available capacity, thus | | | | Further, the price tag of $14 for such device could |
| saving energy resources. | | | | be more painful for the buyer. |
| | | | Recent Trends |
| Virtualization: Virtualization is the technology, which | | | | Various companies like HP, Wipro, IBM, HCL etc are |
| allows companies’ business application to be | | | | pioneer in using and adopting green initiatives. |
| managed by independent host’s hardware. It | | | | Recently, Microsoft and Samsung Electronics had |
| allows companies of all sizes to cut costs, improve IT | | | | joined hands to promote the green IT benefits by |
| services and manage risk. | | | | combining Samsung's memory chips with Microsoft's |
| On-Demand Computing: By adopting this solution, | | | | new operating system, Windows 7. Samsung said |
| companies can demand computing resources like CPU, | | | | that with 4GB RAM and Windows 7, users will found |
| applications bandwidth and storage on-demand basis | | | | an increase in performance as compared to typical |
| that decrease the amount of wasted energy. | | | | 2GB based system, while using less power due to |
| Utility computing: It is a type of service that works | | | | more efficient 40nm DDR3 DRAM. |
| on pay-as-per-usage basis. It provides flexible plans | | | | |