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HOME >> OPINIONS

Cloud computing is green computing

By John Basso

December 13, 2010 — (Page 1 of 3)
Many experts in the IT industry are aware of the many benefits of cloud computing from a technical perspective, such as easy scaling and inexpensive storage options. But I'm willing to state it's the first real IT solution in several years that is truly better for the environment.

The way we currently run the ever-increasing number of data centers isn't green! The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that data centers in the United States use 61 billion kilowatt-hours, or 1.5% of all electricity consumed, which is estimated to double within five years. Data centers are so power hungry that the preferred facility location is near some form of reliable electricity source, like hydro plants. Companies with large data centers actually fight for space closest to power-generation sources. Google alone is rumored to have over 1,000,000 servers, so just imagine what its electric bill looks like!

Critics may point to the fact that the IT industry is already developing technologies that are a sure bet to help data centers go green. New products include adaptive cooling or Energy Star-certified servers designed specifically to help data centers consume less power. These products are long overdue, and as an avid supporter of sustainability, I don’t want to discourage companies from implementing green solutions. However, I consider many of these products a reflection of a lack of urgency about the problem.

For example, many data centers’ main concern is energy consumption, but almost every name-brand server sold (with few exceptions) does not utilize high-efficiency power supplies. If manufacturers start moving to purchase more efficient power supplies and components, efficiency could be improved by maybe 10 or 20%. However, given the sheer number of data centers and computers in each data center, 10 or 20% isn’t going to make the type of improvements that are really needed to help the IT industry become sustainable for the long term.

So how can cloud computing offer the promise of less energy consumption? The main advantage has a lot less to do with the technology but rather with its implementation. Cloud systems by design are decoupled from physical hardware, which offers the advantage of near instantaneous creation and destruction of a server (a virtual server, actually). Companies no longer have to scale to their anticipated max load, but rather run exactly the right amount of hardware.

Related Search Term(s): cloud computing, green computing, cloud

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