Cloud Computing Sustainability

Cloud Computing Sustainability

1. Green Cloud Computing: a literature review

   • A report published by GeSI estimates an increase in the share of total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from ICTs from 1.3% of global emissions in 2002 to 2.3% in 2020.
   • Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Northwestern University created the Cloud Energy and Emissions Research Model (CLEER). Their model calculates the energy savings from transferring local network software and computing into the server farms (the cloud). The results estimate that the primary energy footprint of email, productivity software and Customer Relationship Management software might be reduced by as much as 87% if all business users in the US shifted to cloud computing.
   • For the environment, the advantages of cloud computing are: better strategies for energy efficiency, and reduced equipment requirements and lower CO2 emissions, with, consequently, less e-waste
   • Green data centers—where energy efficiency is maximized and CO2 emissions and e-waste are minimized, not only for ICT equipment, but for all environmental aspects (building, lightning, cooling, etc.)—are the basis for actual and future green cloud computing.
     • Green computing is not limited to the energy consumption of computer devices. It includes the energy consumption of networks or cooling equipment, but also other environmental issues, such as CO2 emissions, (e-)waste management, and consumption of natural resources.
   • Energy consumption in cloud computing. A study, undertaken in 2011 by an independent company on several multinational companies that had been using cloud computing for at least two years, estimates that the energy saving for US companies would be more than $12 billion per year. The annual carbon reduction is estimated, in the same study, at 85.7 million metric tons—equivalent of 50% of CO2 emissions.
   • Some of the open problems are: the dynamic allocation of resources and energy, the reduction of execution costs and time of the tasks, and the reduction of energy consumption. Another non-technical issue is the cost of green cloud computing. These costs are transferred from the cloud providers to the cloud customers, and providers will increase the price of services. The use of renewable energy is a non-technical issue. The intermittency of this energy is a challenge for cloud computing providers and disrupts the conventional methods for planning operations in the cloud.

2. Green cloud computing adoption challenges and practices: a client’s perspective-based empirical investigation

   • Frequently mentioned positive challenges include: “lack of green and sustainable infrastructures for the provision of reliable and cheaper services” (55%), “high cost” (52%), and “lack of efficient provision of resources and services” (52%).
   • Further analysis shows that “lack of cybersecurity” and “complexity in comprehending cloud system” are the high risks for large-sized organizations.
   • Survey included a question regarding the companies' concern about green computing. Most participant companies expressed concern about green computing, with only 47.1% of organizations indicating that they do not care about it.

3. Energy-efficiency and sustainability in new generation cloud computing...

   • The success of Cloud computing has created a new global energy challenge, as it comes at the cost of vast energy usage.
     • Currently, data centres hosting Cloud services world-wide consume more energy than most countries. Globally, by 2025, they are projected to consume 20% of global electricity and emit up to 5.5% of the world's carbon emissions.

4. The greenhouse gas abatement potential of enterprise cloud computing