Cloud computing refers to the practice in which a network of the host of the remote server on the web is used for storing, processing and management of the data instead of on a personal computer or a local server. It focuses on the resource sharing and leads to maximize the effectiveness of the same. The resources of the Cloud are shared by more than one user and are also allocated as per the demand arises.
Less energy is used by the Cloud computing as compared to the traditional methods which make it greener.
Many people in the IT Industry wants to know how cloud computing processes make business systems greener, so to answer this question, a case study was conducted by University of Applied Science, Upper Austria in which some great Scientists monitored the same and came to know that more than half of the carbon footprint is saved by a business by making use of the cloud computing solutions, particularly electronic invoicing.
This study reveals that the cloud delivers a two-point solution for really cutting down on traditional energy costs. Among these two points, first point solution is that business now moves the invoice and other processes from the paper to the digital platforms which lead to the reduction in cutting down more trees by the businesses as now they are not in the need of paper which ultimately leads to more greenery across the world. Second point focus on making systems more effective and efficient by redistributing the hardware of the server and other resources.
From last several years, Cloud systems have grown as per certain models. Among those models, one is in which multi-tenant systems offered by the cloud vendors which leads to the savings in the carbon footprint.
Instead of building the own server rooms and setup of the hardware, digital operations are outsourced by the company to the cloud. Vendor bears the energy costs incurred for the operations related to hardware and servers and the same structure is used by the vendor so as to serve more than one client. Security and accessibility to data are totally separate but the hardware may handle networking demands of the multiple firms at the same time.
The single client-server rooms with the specific environmental controls and power draws are really inefficient. In 2011, Harvard Business review prepared a report on the same issue and Andrew Wilson who is a writer reveals that in few cases, less than 4% of the energy of data center will be processed and the most important portion among it goes to the idle servers.
He also suggests that carbon footprints are also reduced by the cloud in parts by doing several things like streamlining of the data centers and flattening peak loads with some strategies like virtualization, different scaling systems which reveals that there is no risk of data cross-contamination.
ROB Bernard, chief environmental strategist of Microsoft offers a metaphor for the cloud services which are multi-tenant. All the server rooms and structures of hardware which would be set up at all the places are now sourced at a specific location. It shows that it is very simple and easy to cool the systems and overall they are very energy efficient.
Due to the cloud, companies can really save the massive energy and with this vendors are also used which are most dedicated to the energy efficient operations.
Environmental concerns are plugging into the business models by the cloud computing vendors and green cloud companies of today’s generation are sprouting up. For instance, GreenQloud, a data center service company at Seattle, Washington, in the United States offers a progressive stance on the use of energy. A press release of the company in 2013 shows that it has its plans to offer renewable-energy-powered data center operations for the future. With this, it also reveals how company selects the location for their data centers on the basis of the energy solutions which are sustainable and are available.
Cloud computing companies also offer services of private cloud for the individuals.
In all, if cloud computing is used continuously it can lead to more greenery.