Green Computing

Green computing can be thought of as an environmentally conscious effort to make long-term computing sustainable by using energy efficient methods. The goals of green computing are similar to those of green chemistry, which try to minimize hazardous material use, maximize efficiency and enhance recyclability. Yet all this extra effort put into designs has a negative impact on system throughput. Therefore the question is posed, is the extra overhead involved in designing superior data centers, optimizing software algorithms, improving power management and recycling materials worth the benefits in the field of green computing? I believe they are as we are slowly running out of resources. Yet others take a stance that this will negatively affect system performance while computers are only a small percentage of the problem compared to vehicles which should be addressed first.
Generally, data centers have an energy density of 100 to 200 an equally sized office building. (U.S. Department of Energy, 2011) Although most datacenters have a small design window which prevents new ideas for being used in favor of proven methods, taking the time to select a more efficient design can help immensely with the long term operating cost. (U.S. Department of Energy, 2011) As IT loads account for around half the facilities energy consumption, choosing more expensive high efficiency machines will help reduce the necessary cooling and operating cost. (U.S. Department of Energy, 2011) Rack mounted servers are usually underutilized running around 20% of their working capacity yet consuming close to the full running energy. (U.S. Department of Energy, 2011) The Energy Star helps distinct regular servers from a high-efficiency machine; they will on average be 30% more efficient. (U.S. Department of Energy, 2011)
Power management which is referred to as Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is used by manufacturers to allow software to interface with the underlying hardware and