It?s part of an ongoing environmental debate ? is the IT industry doing enough to reduce the world?s energy consumption?
Consider these: Case 1 ? Mumbai consumes 2300 MW of power. Case 2 ? Google has about 4,50,000 servers and each server consumes roughly 20KW that is about 90,000 MW. If one applies green computing and saves even 5% of this, it would be about 450 MW. It is more than enough to power a small city in India.
For though, smart and intelligent work counts above everything else and that technology plays a dominant part in our lives, automation cannot happen at the cost of nature. A balance has to be maintained between automation and environmental resources, say experts.
In 2002-2003, Greenpeace conducted a study by which they listed the companies that were producing e-wastes like mercury, lead chromium and cadmium, alongside harmful brominated flame retardents (BFR) too.
Ramapati Kumar, campaigner, Greenpeace, says: ?Statistics show that the e-waste generated today is as high as 40,000 tonnes every year in India and 50 million tonnes in the world.? It is harmful to recover the metals from the cables as the waste contains BFR. Thus, the target is to eliminate the harmful elements from the electronic gadgets as they are causing cancer, kidney and bone diseases.
This has led to the manufacturing of products that are green, meaning disposing the gadgets will be easy and harmless. Moreover, the companies are to bear the responsibility of recycling the products after the lifespan of the gadgets expires.
With global warming and an increasing percentage of CO2 in the air becoming a matter of grave concern today, the leading manufacturers of computers are trying to manufacture ?green? computers that reduce harmful emissions.
But, what is green computing? ?Green computing is a concept and not a product,? says Diptarup Chakraborti, principal analyst, Gartner Research Services. ?It is the right way of using power for manufacturing, selling, packaging and every other level of industrial development. It is in need as global warming has increased the energy consumption level by two to three percentages,? adds Chakraborti.
Thus, green computing is the environmentally responsible way of using computers and related resources. Such practices include the implementation of energy-efficient CPUs, servers and peripherals, as well as reduced resource consumption and proper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste). According to iYogi, computer support services, more than 30 billion kilowatt hours of energy are wasted in the United States alone, as many people simply forget to shut down their computers when they aren?t using them. ?The carbon dioxide emission from just 15 computers is equivalent in energy terms to the gas consumption by one car. If the existing 6,60,000,000 PCs in the US alone are shut down when not in use, we can save 30 billion kilowatt-hours,? says Uday Challu, CEO, iYogi.
These studies have led companies to produce products that are eco-friendly. Says Ravinder Zutshi, deputy MD, Samsung India: ?We follow environmentally-friendly business practices and also urge our suppliers to do the same.? All components supplied to the Samsung India factory need to be certified by SGS (which provides inspection, testing, and certification and verification services to ensure that products, services and systems meet quality, safety and performance) as per Restriction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS) guidelines. Keeping these in mind, HP has produced computer accessories that are not only environmentally sound throughout their life cycles, but meet the needs of customers to increase efficiencies and reduce costs.
Today an IT manager would prefer purchasing hardware that has been Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) approved so that maintenance is low, the hardware?s life is extended, and recycling the computer is easy once it is no longer necessary.
Today the LCD monitors of each and every brand include advanced power management features that comply with the US Environmental Protection Agency?s Energy Star requirements and have EPEAT silver status. The notebooks are equipped with illumi-lite displays. The backlight eliminates the amount of hazardous materials used and thinner, lighter and more energy efficient regular displays are obtained.
Moreover, according to experts, the products today are 90% recyclable by weight thus providing a way to reduce the environmental impact of workstation computing. Power consumption is also reduced with the help of energy efficient internal designs. Power supplies minimise wasted energy from heat output and help in reducing the cooling costs.
At iYogi, a Green PC toolbar has been designed for people who may not be aware of high power consumption rate or not motivated to browse through various folders to manage it.
Global green is an attempt to make the otherwise obvious settings more usable, says Challu. ?The number of old people who are using computers are growing by the day. They are not as technology-savvy as the younger generation. It will be particularly helpful for them.? This helps to visually monitor the energy consumption by the computer and the resultant saving by using the settings after installation of the Global Green utility.
Beyond your workstation, the fundamental applies to every quarter. At TCS Innovation Labs-TRDDC, engineers have developed several types of eco-cements from industrial wastes. Then, there are also low-cost water filters that can run on rice husk ash and is inexpensive to build and maintain. But first, mindsets must change. After all, green computing requires one to accept how we as a user should improve our way of energy consumption.
