Green Computing Overview and Issues

Emissions directly released from sources that a company owns or controls, such as factories, vehicles, or vents.

Emissions generated as a result of a company's activities but released from sources not owned or controlled by the company, such as outsourced work or employee travel.

The practice of using fewer physical servers by running multiple virtual machines on a single server, reducing energy consumption and environmental impact.

Repurposing older equipment instead of discarding it, extending its lifespan and reducing waste.

The amount of energy consumed by a device or system, typically measured in watts.

Even when idle, a desktop computer consumes a significant amount of energy due to its components running in the background.

A large network switch with multiple ports, used to connect numerous devices in a data center.

An international agreement focused on minimizing the generation and toxicity of hazardous waste, especially e-waste.

The Basel Convention regulates the import and export of waste between countries. It requires detailed documentation and consent for waste movements, and prohibits trade with non-signatory countries.

The Basel Convention encourages countries to reduce waste generation, focusing on e-waste. This aims to prevent the creation of waste that needs to be transported internationally.

The European Union's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) sets rules for the collection, recycling, and recovery of electronic waste.

The WEEE Directive came into effect in 2003 and required EU member states to adopt it into national laws. Most members did so within a year.

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) limits the use of hazardous substances in electronic products made and sold in the European Union.

The EU's WEEE and RoHS directives aim to address e-waste from both ends: by reducing the use of harmful materials during production and by establishing a framework for recycling and collecting used electronics.

Increasing the size of the application buffer reduces the frequency of hard drive, DVD, or CD drive spinning, leading to lower power consumption.

Hard drives that are designed to consume less power by employing mechanisms such as head unloading and calculating minimum seek speed.

A storage system that uses hundreds or thousands of hard drives for near-line data storage. Only a small percentage of drives are active at any given time, minimizing power consumption and cooling needs.

MAID differs from RAID in that it provides a more cost-effective storage solution with higher storage capacity and lower redundancy, sacrificing speed for cost savings.

A large array of idle disks (MAID) is a system that employs hundreds or thousands of hard drives for near-line data storage, reducing power consumption and cooling costs. MAID differs from RAID in that it has increased storage capacity and is much less costly, thus saving power and the need for cooling. Although a MAID solution can be slow, data access can take a few milliseconds up to 10 seconds, it is much faster than tape drive, which can take 60 seconds or longer to access data.

MAID comes with some trade-offs, such as increased latency, lower throughput, and much lower redundancy. Although a MAID solution can be slow, data access can take a few milliseconds up to 10 seconds, it is much faster than tape drive, which can take 60 seconds or longer to access data.

China's restriction of hazardous substances in electronic products, similar to EU RoHS, but with specific differences in scope and requirements.

Products covered under China RoHS, but not by EU RoHS, e.g., car electronics, medical devices, some packaging materials.

An indicator denoting compliance with China RoHS. It signals the product meets acceptable levels of hazardous substances.

The duration a product can be used safely without exceeding permissible levels of hazardous substances.

Marking requirements for products containing hazardous substances under China RoHS - indicating presence and locations of these materials.

One of the required markings to disclose the presence of hazardous substances and their locations within a product.

The packaging materials of a product must also be disclosed, adhering to China RoHS regulations.

China RoHS bans specific hazardous substances like EU RoHS, but with differences in the regulations and marking requirements.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive aims to reduce the environmental impact of electronic waste by promoting reuse, recycling, and recovery of electronic equipment. It focuses on manufacturers' obligations to take back old devices and on promoting recycling and recovery of electronic equipment.

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive sets limits on the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. It emphasizes reducing the use of harmful substances like lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, and polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).

The Basel Action Network (BAN) is an international non-profit organization that advocates for safer and more environmentally sound management of hazardous substances, particularly e-waste, across the globe. It works to raise awareness about the environmental and health risks associated with improper e-waste disposal, and to promote policies and practices that reduce those risks.

Green Computing initiatives are focused on designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers and related devices in a way that minimizes environmental impact. These initiatives are all about reducing the use of energy, promoting sustainability, and reducing waste in the computing environment.

Minimizing power usage in computing devices is crucial to reduce electricity consumption and carbon footprint. It involves optimizing computing systems and processes to use less energy, and achieve significant cost and environmental savings

Data de-duplication is a technique used to optimize storage space by identifying and eliminating duplicate data copies. This reduces storage requirements, improves performance, and reduces energy consumption as less data is processed and stored.

Virtualization allows multiple operating systems and applications to run concurrently on a single physical computer. This reduces hardware requirements, decreases energy consumption, and improves efficiency by consolidating multiple physical systems into fewer virtual machines.

A method of cooling a datacenter using outside air when temperatures are low enough. It adjusts dampers to draw in cool air, eliminating or reducing the need for air conditioners, saving energy and costs.

Potential issues with using air-side economizers. These include contamination from outside air, potential pollution entering the datacenter, and changes in humidity levels.

A system that uses evaporative cooling from cooling towers to indirectly cool a datacenter when outdoor temperatures are below 55 degrees Fahrenheit for extended periods.

A typical setup for water-side economizers, incorporating a cooling tower, evaporative cooler, or dry cooler, to chill water and cool the datacenter.

The ability of a water-side economizer to significantly reduce or even eliminate the need for chiller operation, leading to cost savings and less energy consumption.

A type of cooling system designed for temporary cooling needs, often deployed in datacenters during periods of high heat load. It provides supplemental cooling to the main system.

A cooling technique employed by water-side economizers where fluid in the cooling system flows through a coil to reduce room temperature, eliminating the need for compressor operation.

A common feature of modern cooling systems, designed to cool a datacenter using a loop connected to a cooling tower, evaporative cooler, or dry cooler.