Abhishek Agarwal et al.

, International Journal of Advanced Research in Innovative Discoveries in Engineering and

Applications[IJARIDEA]
Vol.1, Issue 1,27 October 2016, pg. 12-15

Enterprise-level Green ICT

Using virtualization to balance energy economics
Abhishek Agarwal1, Kriti Doneria 2
1,2

Galgotias University Plot no. 7,opposite BIC

Gautam Buddha Nagar,U.P. India
1
doneriakriti@gmail.com
2
gyp.nirmaan@gmail.com

Abstract The computing industry has been a significant contributor to global warming ever since its
inception. Performance maximization per unit has cost remained the prime focus of academic and industrial
research alike, ignoring environmental impacts in the process if any. However, the infamous global energy
crisis has inevitably pushed power and energy management up the priority list of computing design and
management activities for purely economic reasons today. Green IT lays emphasis on including the
dimensions of environmental sustainability, the offsets of energy efficiency, and the
total
cost
of
disposal
and
recycling. A green computing initiative must be adaptive and flexible enough to be
able to address problems that keep on increasing in size and complexity with time. Cloud computing concepts
can invariably be applied to reduce e-waste generation. The service oriented architecture lends itself to
incorporating green computing as a process rather than a product. Re-usability, extensibility and flexibility
are some of the key characteristics which are inherent to the cloud and directly help address the vertical
specific challenges to reducing energy consumption in the long run.
Keywords Cloud computing, Electronic waste, Green Information Technology, Service oriented architecture.
I. INTRODUCTION

This Green IT, or ICT sustainability, is the study and practice of environmentally
sustainable computing or IT[1]. This includes manufacturing, designing, usage and disposal
of computing subsystems such as display, printing, storage and networking hardware
effectively with minimal environmental impact.[2] Cloud computing is a technique for
enabling over the network access to a shared pool of modular computing resources.
Today, Moving companies to cloud is helping to contain potentially exponential growth of
cross-vertical duplicate data centers.
Rather than looking at the combination of two existing technologies as an answer, it makes
much more sense to describe challenges in terms of questions the hybrid model is capable of
addressing. Some questions include, but not limited to: Can Cloud computing be an efficient driver for Green information communication
technology?
Is Cloud computing here to stay?
Is the overhead of 'virtualizing' worth it?
Is Green computing a sustainable phenomenon to begin with?
Can we actually build models to harness the prowess, without considerable tradeoffs?
II. THE 'DIRT' AND DEARTH OF ENERGY IN I.T. INDUSTRY

According to a study, the utilization of an on-premise data centre is not more than 6% on
an average day.[3] This under- utilization is driven by dedicated server/task methodology that
consolidates a powerful server for a single functionality. Additionally, Future-ready
businesses often buy servers that are more powerful than needed. Most servers sit idle after
the usual eight to ten hours of working day. System administrators, afraid of accidents
simply leave about 30% servers up and running, doing no useful work at all.
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2016, IJARIDEA All Rights Reserved

Abhishek Agarwal et al., International Journal of Advanced Research in Innovative Discoveries in Engineering and
Applications[IJARIDEA]
Vol.1, Issue 1,27 October 2016, pg. 12-15

Further,
Nearly 40 million servers were predicted to be operational by 2011, up from 19 million in
2001[4],ever decreasing costs leading to indiscriminate proliferation.
Theoretically, only 3.6million servers operating at 75% efficiency would have been enough
to meet the computing needs worldwide.
Google is said to operate more than a million servers across thirty six data centers around
the globe. Microsoft's new data center near Chicago spans across 500,000 square feet and
holds 400,000 servers and counting. The Smart 2020 report by the Climate Group estimates
energy consumption of these and other cloud data centers to be 330 billion kilowatt hours per
year.
III. VIRTUALIZATION- THE SILVER LINING

All Virtualization in its essence refers to creation of a software equivalent of hardware.

Types of virtualization include full virtualization, para virtualization, storage virtualization,
network virtualization, application virtualization and platform virtualization to name a few.
Coupled with the 'cloud', there virtual instances can be deployed and used remotely via
internet through thin clients. While this may seem trivial at first, it has huge short and long
term payoffs in terms of business revenues and savings.
In practice, Virtualized servers operate more closely to their on-paper maximum. On
demand self service is an important feature of this paradigm. Cloud service providers
automatically power down servers and resources that arent currently used or demanded. A
broad shift to cloud computing could, theoretically, result in nearly 20-fold reduction in the
number of servers required to meet current as well as future computation demands.
Public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud and community clouds are differentiations that
arise out of scope, needs demands of the industry, simply because one size doesnt fit all.
While Public and community clouds are more cost efficient, some businesses are unable or
unwilling to leverage the public cloud resources offered by Microsoft, Google and others.
However, these companies use virtualization in their own data centers. These private
clouds offer many of the same economic and environmental benefits while allowing full
control to these enterprises. HP set an example by consolidating 85 data centers staffed by
19,000 people to six cloud data centers with half the manpower.
Businesses benefit from virtualization in the following ways:
a. The cloud setup saves small and medium scale business from making large
investments upfront. Software, applications and services can be packaged and
integrated by the distributors according to customized requirements.
b.

When virtualization is used, it greatly reduces the cost of IT staff required to run and
maintain the data center. This adds to the savings of the organization.

c.

In Data center, electricity and cooling equipment consume copious amounts of energy.
By migrating to the cloud (partially or even fully), these requirements are to be
borne by the third party and not the organization itself.

d.

By using thin clients and policies like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), companies
can cut down their expenses even further.

e.

Cloud orchestration and monitoring is an ongoing process which lets managers look at
real time statistics, helping formulate better business strategy decisions to set long
term goals.
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2016, IJARIDEA All Rights Reserved

Abhishek Agarwal et al., International Journal of Advanced Research in Innovative Discoveries in Engineering and
Applications[IJARIDEA]
Vol.1, Issue 1,27 October 2016, pg. 12-15

IV. CLOUD FOR GREENER LANDSCAPES

The underlying architectural shift driving cloud computing is homologous to the factories
during industrial revolution. Prior to Henry Fords assembly-line mass production of cars,
cars were assembled individually by craftsmen in dedicated stalls. The advent paved way for
an era of mass-produced and affordable vehicles. The continued iteration and refinement of
the assembly line process led Ford to build the worlds first factories. A resource is typically
shared as a service over the network, thereby increasing its utilization and reach at the same
base cost. Assembled and pre packaged services can be used and demanded as needed,
scaling up and down is only a matter of hours owing to virtualization.
Apart from this, many leading cloud service providers are turning to renewable energy
sources to power their resource centers. The positive network effect shall enable a steady rise
in this trend as years go by. Many more latent benefits shall become obvious in the future.
Given the sample space of applications of cloud utility computing, green computing,
cognitive computing, etc are just some spheres where virtualization plays its part.
Manufacturing computing hardware, right from CPU to embedded systems to Internet of
Things, is a taxing process in terms of negative environmental impact. By maximizing the
utilization and extending the life of components, life cycle optimality is maintained. Disposal
of electronic wastes is a challenge. The pace at which technology changes is pretty swift.
Whats new today would be old tomorrow. Call it a by- product of consumerism, but too
often the buyers do not realize the long term consequences of their choices. Lithium, Mercury,
Lead, Arsenic and other heavy metals contaminate the landfills post disposal, adversely
affecting the ecosystem. Having virtual instances shall greatly reduce the amount of hardware
required, making the disposal less painstaking in the long run. Lesser number of data center
can directly be equated with a reduced Carbon footprint and Greenhouse emission. Thus
server and network virtualization are definitely greener than its traditional counterparts.
V. CONCLUSION

The objective at hand isnt just development, but that of sustainable development i.e.
meeting the needs of the current generations without affecting the ability of future
generations to do the same. Hardware solutions to the problem of power consumption are
limited; hence it becomes increasingly crucial to develop tailor made solutions to potential
challenges when we still have time in hand. Cloud computing is the most energy-efficient
method at hand that addresses the complexities of ever-accelerating demand for computation
and data storage. Policy decisions that encourage the consumption of renewable energy
sources shall be a win-win situation for cloud service providers as well as users and shall
establish cloud computing as green computing in the decades to come.
[1]

[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]

[7]

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2016, IJARIDEA All Rights Reserved

Abhishek Agarwal et al., International Journal of Advanced Research in Innovative Discoveries in Engineering and
Applications[IJARIDEA]
Vol.1, Issue 1,27 October 2016, pg. 12-15

[8] S. Darby. The effectiveness of feedback on energy consumption. A Review for DEFRA of the Literature
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[9] Comparative study between Green Cloud Computing and Mobile Cloud Computing Monica B. Harjani*,
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2016, IJARIDEA All Rights Reserved