Abstract – Technological developments and advancements are making a significant effect on our daily lives, be it in the industry, in arts, in science etc., However, the knowledge and skill dedicated by the human society towards these lifestyle improvements has indirectly contributed to an ecological threat that the world is facing today, called Global Warming. When we scrap the old to accept the new, greehouse gases like CO2, Methane and Nitrous Oxide are emitted in the process, contributing to Global Warming.
In today’s era, computers have become an integral part of our life to solve our various problems. Everyone uses computers for their own purpose without being aware of the harmful sideeffects, impacting the environment. The CO2 emissions produced through the heat generated by computers and its peripheral devices is increasing day by day. As the number of computer users increase around the world, the consumption of electricity also increases contributing to an increase in the carbon content in the atmosphere. Controlling the CO2 emissions is one of the first of many steps that we must take in order to combat global warming, which can be done by practicing Green Computing.
Green computing refers to an environmentally sustainable computing. It is the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment. In this paper, we discuss the various factors relating to the awareness of Green Computing. It also includes a questionnaire about the awareness of Green Computing. Comparative data has been collected before and after practicing Green Computing. We are promoting Green Computing in The Community College For Girls, Khamis mushyat, KSA, through seminars and are implementing the techniques as well. Also, propagating awareness to neighbors, friends and relatives. Green computing strategies help us to build a safe place for us to live in. Consequently, Green computing is the ultimate requirement to protect the environment and save energy.
Keywords -Green Computing ,Global Warming ,EPEAT ,Power Management.
I. INTRODUCTION
In the tremendous and vast universe, the Earth is the only planet known to support life. But, the way humans are living is tremendously destructive towards nature. The way we find our food, the way we make our clothing, the way we create and use devices almost everything that we are doing is detrimental to the health of the organism called Earth. As we all know, Global warming is one of the most talked about the danger to our Mother Earth. It is increasing day by day. There are a lot of causes for increasing the Global Warming. Today, scientists are worried that mankind's pollution of the atmosphere with extra greenhouse gases will result in global warming. During the last 100 years, the global average surface temperature has risen by about 0.6°C. It is projected to rise a further 2 to 3°C by the end of the 21st century. An ecological awareness must be raised in people so that all the necessary steps should be taken to save the Earth ultimately save the human life upon the earth.
II. GLOBAL WARMING – CAUSES AND IMPACTS
Global warming is the observed and projected increases in the average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans. Global warming is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. 72% of the totally emitted greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), 18% Methane and 9% Nitrous oxide (NOx). Carbon dioxide emissions are the most important cause of global warming. CO2 is inevitably created by burning fuels like e.g. oil, natural gas, diesel, organic-diesel, petrol, organic-petrol and ethanol; by deforestation; and CO2 produced by the heat generated by computer and its devices. The emissions of CO2 have been dramatically increased within the last 50 years and are still increasing by almost 3% each year. The carbon dioxide is released in to the atmosphere where it remains for 100 to 200 years. This leads to an increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere which in turn causes the average temperature on Earth to rise by about 30 – 5 0 C by the year 2100 and rise of sea levels by at least 25 meters (82 feet) by the year 2100. Also, hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger, floods and droughts will become more common, changes in Eco-system etc.,
III. METHODOLOGY
A. Green Computing
There is no use of just talking about the causes and impacts. It’s essential to think optimistically to take necessary action to reduce Global Warming. Reducing the CO2 emissions is one of the primary steps that we must take in order to combat global warming. These CO2 emissions can be reduced by practicing Green Computing. Green computing refers to an environmentally sustainable computing. It is the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment.
B. History of Green Computing
In 1992, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [2] launched “Energy Star”, a labeling program designed to promote and recognize energy-efficient products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions [30]. Device having Energy Star logo (Fig.1) uses 20-30% less energy than required by federal standards. Computers and monitors were the first labeled products. The term “Green Computing” was coined shortly after energy star began.
Figure 1. Logo: Energy Star
C. Purpose of Green Computing
We can’t live without Personal Computers (PC’s), so let’s learn how to live with them in a way that makes them friendlier to the environment. Currently, PC’s consume too much electricity and produce CO2 by the heat generate by it to be considered an Eco- Friendly solution by today’s standards.
The main purpose of Green computing are,
To inculcate social responsibility among public and create environmental awareness ;To lower the carbon footprints on the environment and human health; To minimize improper use of Power consumption and to improve energy management; Maximize energy efficiency during products’ life time; Promote reuse, refurbish and recyclability; To reduce the use of hazardous material so as to reduce pollution and toxicity; Curtail travel requirements for employees; Growing need for employing green products and the process leads to new business opportunities; Lessen the usage of paper and WEEE; Cultivate refurbishing for the next generation; A step needs for tomorrow’s future.
IV. APPROACHES TO GREEN COMPUTING
Many of today’s computer users are beginning to rely on both hardware and energy saving to drive their computer system towards cooling. It is possible to make cool for one computer system. But it is hard to balance to achieve the same for each and every computer worldwide. According to research, if 8 hours of usage of a computer for 5 days a week needs 562 Kilowatts but if the computer is left on all the time without proper power saver modes, this can lead to 1600 Kilowatts. For large institution, say a university, the power bill for just computers alone hits to $2 million per year, then imagine how much carbon-dioxide has been emitted to the atmosphere! The US produces 22 billion pounds of electronics annually. The computer/electronics sector in the US consumes roughly equivalent of 150 billion kwh of electricity. That annual energy output has a carbon footprint of about a volume of 2 trillion cubic feet of atmospheric CO2 produced which further contributing to Global Warming and Climatic Change.
TABLE I. ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN WATTS
Component Energy consumption
(On Mode) Energy consumption (Off Mode)
Desktop PC 180 83.3
15-17” Monitor 50 – 60 7.8
Laser Printer 481 4.5
CPU 120 85
CRT 124 74.5
Every mystery has a way out with different aspects and different approaches. They are Power Management, EPEAT, Virtualization, Materials Recycling.
A. Power Management
The Advance Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), an open industry standard, allows an operating system to directly control the power saving aspects of its underlying hardware. This allows a system to automatically turn off components such as monitors and hard drives after set periods of inactivity. The ACPI has this facility.
B. EPEAT
EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) is a method for consumer’s to evaluate the effect of a product on the environment. It is a comprehensive global environmental rating system that helps purchasers to identify greener computers and other electronics. EPEAT provides guidance on performance criteria for the design of new products and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to gain market visibility and recognition for their efforts in reducing the environmental impact of their products.
C. Virtualization
Virtualization is duplicating hardware with software. Computer virtualization is the process of running two or more logical computer systems in one set of physical hardware. Advantages are,
No PC Maintenance; No individual software updates; No hard drive crashes; Costs less; Uses less energy which ultimately saving and protecting the natural resources.
Figure 2. Virtualization
D. Material Recycling
Each year 130 million cell phones are retired. Between 1997 and 2004 it is estimated that 315 million computers become obsolete. Users in China and India will require the creation of new computers. Then think about the old equipment? What to do? Obviously, it leads to dispose of. This waste is called E-Waste. E-Waste is due to the improper practice of disposing of computer and its components. 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste are generated worldwide each year. The US alone, every year, more than 4.6 million tons of e-waste is generated. E-Waste has a number of indirect contributions on the environment. These inappropriate disposal methods for electronic waste fail to reclaim valuable materials or manage the toxic materials safely. In effect, our soil, water and air are easily contaminated. Becoming aware of the effects of e-Waste is the first step in arresting this problem. July, 2015 (NBC NEWS) A recent United Nations study found the U.S. is the world’s biggest producer of electronic waste, more than one million tons ahead of China. By 2017, the volume of discarded e-products worldwide is expected to be 33 per cent higher than in 2012 and weigh the equivalent of eight of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. So it is our responsibility to manage it in a proper way. E-Waste management includes manufacturing, processing techniques, recycling and consumer awareness efforts. By practicing 3R’s (Reuse, Refurbish and Recycle) protects the environment from harmful emissions.
1) Reuse: Instead of disposing of electronic devices like computer, donate computer components to people who may not have or have lesser quality computers. Donate to Schools, churches, libraries, non-profit organizations and lower income families. Many organizations provide information on donating computers to reuse.
2) Refurbish: Rather than discarding your computer when the next generation is released, just get a new CPU, memory chips and upgrade rather than replace.
3) Recycling: If it is inevitable to reuse or refurbish then there is a better option of Recycling. If companies can recycle the plastics and other components, this can greatly reduce waste and toxins which affect the environment.
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF GREENCOMPUTING TECHNIQUES
Organizations all over the world are beginning to understand their corporate social responsibility towards the environment. Most companies now believe in conserving energy, power and using environmentally friendly products that help in reducing their carbon footprint. In fact, in many organizations, the need for green computing is put at the top of the agenda. Nowadays, it is imperative for all sized organizations to implement aspects of green computing in their daily workings.
1. Switching to Greener Products
A. Solar Computing: Powering PCs with the Sun : Part of VIA Green Computing Initiative, VIA Solar Computing seeks to overcome the challenges of power infrastructure deficiencies and to define clean energy solutions. VIA combines advanced cost-effective solar panel technology from leading solar product innovators, Motech, with the power efficiency of VIA processor platforms to develop complete solar-powered computing solutions that are less polluting, more affordable, more reliable and more flexible for a wide variety of new markets, applications and environments. By utilizing the power efficiency products, one can reduce the CO2 emissions [29]. There are many products available which promote Green computing such as Chipsets, Processor Solar charger Laptop bags etc.,
Fig 3(a) VIA Green Product
Fig 3(b) Solar charger Laptop bag
B. The Zonbu Computer
It is a new, very energy efficient PC. The Zonbu consumes just one-third of the power of a typical light bulb. The device runs the Linux operating system using a 1.2 gigahertz Fig 4. Zonbu Computer
processor and 512 Mega of RAM. [32].
C. Fit –PC
It is the size of a paperback and absolutely silent, yet fit enough to run Windows XP or Linux. It is designed to fit where a standard
PC is too bulky, noisy and power hungry. Fit-PC draws only 5 Watts, consuming in a day less power Fig 5. Fit-PC
than a traditional PC consumes in 1 hour.
D. The ultra portable and Asus Eee PC
The "ultra-portable" class of personal computers is characterized by a small size, fairly low power CPU, compact screen, less weight, low cost, built-in Wi-Fi and uses flash memory for storage and uses less power than a standard form factor laptop which ultimately emits less CO2.
The Asus Eee PC is one example of an ultraportable. Fig 6. Asus Eee PC
Asus is the first company to receive the Carbon Footprint Certificate (PAS 2050) for a notebook from the Carbon Trust, the UK’s leading authority on carbon reduction. In 2008, Asus become world’s first to receive both EU Flower and Czech Eco Label award for computers.
E. Sunray thin client
A Sun Ray Thin client consumes far less electricity than conventional desktops. A Sun Ray on a desktop consumes 4 to 8 watts of Fig 7. Thin client
power because most of the heavy computations are performed by a server. These are particularly well suited for cost-sensitive environments such as call centers, education, healthcare, service providers, and finance.
2. Practicing Greener Techniques: Ways to reduce energy consumption; reduce CO2 emissions to reduce Global Warming.
• Turn off the computer when not in use, even just for an hour. You can reduce energy use by 810 kWh/year.
• Use power saver mode (Sleep mode, Hibernate mode).
Fig 8. Sleep mode, Hibernate mode
• Turn off the monitor, printer and all peripherals when not in use.
• Don’t use Screen saver as it consumes more power.
• Use hardware/Software with the Energy Star label.
• Plug your computer it to surge protector with a master control outlet.
• Choose dark backgrounds for your screen display-bright color consumes more power.
• Use flat screen monitors instead of CRT’s.
• Use LED or CFL bulbs instead of incandescent lights.
• Greener FireFox Surfing–This FireFox add-on takes out a small proportion of the revenue generated from ads displayed on web pages of online environment-oriented projects and diverts it towards eco-causes.
• Being Green with Google & Yahoo – many of the green entrepreneurs have started to include Google Search within their sites to ensure that a steady flow of funds for green causes is generated from the shared advertising revenues.
• Greener Browsing – Blackle: Switch from Google to
Blackle. Blackle is an energy saving search engine powered by Google search. It has
a dark background
which consumes less
energy.If a computer
screen is white it
consumes 74 watts Fig 9. Blackle
whereas Black consumes 59 watts. By switching from
Google to Blackle, Earth would save 750 MW / year.
• Paper and Printing Techniques: Trees play a huge role in the carbon cycle. They convert the CO2 in the air to oxygen, through the process of photosynthesis. Four million trees cut down each year just for paper use and the amount of carbon dioxide is rising. With more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, more of the sun's radiation is being reflected back to earth, instead of space, and this is causing our average temperature to rise. In this way, deforestation is a major issue when it comes to global warming. 1 ton of office paper uses 24 trees; 1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper; 1 ream
uses 6% of a tree; 1 ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees. So keeping in mind,
• Reduce excess printing / photocopying
• Avoid unwanted printing / photocopying
• Take double-sided printing / photocopying
Fig10.Double-sided Print Option
• Use projector instead of giving handouts in the meeting room.
• Encourage reduction of paper generation through e-mail.
• Reduce Margins settings so that your printer uses less paper.
VI. CASE STUDY AND QUESTIONNAIRE
As a global citizen, we have responsibilities to our mother Earth. Our first role towards nature is to raise awareness to reduce carbon footprint which contributes Global Warming by practicing Green Computing among students, friends and neighbors.
We take an oath that for every semester, we have to raise awareness of Green Practice by delivering a special lecture. This semester, we started raising awareness with our 4th level students of King Khalid University. Before we started our lecture about the awareness of Green Computing Techniques, we collected basic information from the students about awareness and Green Computing practice and after a month of our special lecture, again we collected the same information from the same students. We found an optimistic comparative result which encourages us to step forward.
The following chart shows the Comparison between before and after practicing Green Computing.
As a faculty of Computer Science, We have the responsibility to aware the students about the importance of practicing Green Computing along with the concept of 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle).Though the sample size may not be adequate but as we propagated, so do the students then thousands of students unite together towards nature conservation; One day our efforts will be a drastic step to protect our Mother Earth from destruction.
VII. CONCLUSION
Little changes make a big difference. Awareness about the techniques of Green Computing, use of energy efficient products and 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) will reduce the harmful impacts of CO2 emissions. As detailed above, proactive steps for a green computing merely takes a little effort, yet the lowered energy consumption typically translates into immediate savings and controls Global Warming. We expect everyone to make a promise personally for the 4th “R” viz. “Respect”; Respect our Mother Earth which ultimately leads us to save the planet. The paper concludes with a take home message that, “Practice Green Computing to initiate Global Cooling”.