Green Computing Complete Analysis

Green Computing Complete Analysis

• Green computing, or sustainable computing, is the practice of maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing environmental impact in the ways computer chips, systems and software are designed and used.
• Also called green information technology, green IT or sustainable IT, green computing spans concerns across the supply chain, from the raw materials used to make computers to how systems get recycled.
• In their working lives, green computers must deliver the most work for the least energy, typically measured by performance per watt.

Why Is Green Computing Important?

• Green computing is a significant tool to combat climate change, the existential threat of our time.
• Global temperatures have risen about 1.2°C over the last century. As a result, ice caps are melting, causing sea levels to rise about 20 centimeters and increasing the number and severity of extreme weather events.
• The rising use of electricity is one of the causes of global warming. Data centers represent a small fraction of total electricity use, about 1% or 200 terawatt-hours per year, but they’re a growing factor that demands attention.
• Powerful, energy-efficient computers are part of the solution. They’re advancing science and our quality of life, including the ways we understand and respond to climate change.

What Are the Elements of Green Computing?

• Engineers know green computing is a holistic discipline.
• “Energy efficiency is a full-stack issue, from the software down to the chips,” said Sachin Idgunji, co-chair of the power working group for the industry’s MLPerf AI benchmark and a distinguished engineer working on performance analysis at NVIDIA.

What’s the History of Green Computing?

• Green computing hit the public spotlight in 1992, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched Energy Star, a program for identifying consumer electronics that met standards in energy efficiency.
• The Energy Star logo is now used across more than three dozen product groups.
• A 2017 report found nearly 100 government and industry programs across 22 countries promoting what it called green ICTs, sustainable information and communication technologies.
• One such organization, the Green Electronics Council, provides the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, a registry of systems and their energy-efficiency levels.
• The council claims it’s saved nearly 400 million megawatt-hours of electricity through use of 1.5 billion green products it’s recommended to date.
• Work on green computing continues across the industry at every level.
• For example, some large data centers use liquid-cooling while others locate data centers where they can use cool ambient air. Schneider Electric recently released a whitepaper recommending 23 metrics for determining the sustainability level of data centers.