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As technology evolves, businesses explore new horizons to leverage cloud computing to capture more statistics and data to stay ahead. There is no doubt that cloud computing is a technological advancement that offers ample room to expand many industries that are embarking on a digital transformation journey.
The cloud application software market will reach a CAGR of 4.8% $168.6 billion by 2025. However, when discussing the environmental benefits of relying on the cloud, the list is rather broad, as the primary motivation for relying on the cloud is to facilitate business operations and security.
Related: Managing Green and Sustainable Energy Solutions in a Data-Intensive Century
Yes, green cloud is another buzzword that depicts the potential environmental benefits cloud services provide to society. Green Cloud depicts methods and practices that leverage technological advancements such as cloud computing and other IT resources to achieve environmental benefits by reducing carbon footprints.
Let’s dive into the various aspects of the green cloud, and how businesses can best play the role of adopting these practices to shape the future of a sustainable global IT landscape.
So, how does Green Cloud work? Various cloud service providers are gradually integrating multiple strategies to achieve a greener and sustainable cloud data center. The main goal of these efforts is to increase efficiency in the following areas:
energy management
One of the important aspects of green cloud computing is the renewable energy that powers data centers around the world. However, it is not currently possible to power an entire data center from renewable energy, but most of the time, at least 50% of the energy is solar or wind.
In addition to that, the energy is stored in the battery pack and used on days when sufficient energy cannot be produced in real time. As more and more renewable energy is used to operate and maintain large data centers, this can help significantly reduce carbon footprints.
Related: Reduce your carbon footprint by switching to clean energy
Cloud facilities
Harnessing renewable energy is not just a goal of green cloud computing; appropriate energy efficiency measures are also important.
Cloud service providers emphasize locating data centers on the sea floor, underground, or in cold climates. Providers can save resources and energy by cooling their servers. In addition, many cloud service providers are also working to harness the excess heat generated within the data center in a number of ways.
Additionally, service providers can employ innovative technologies to monitor and optimize overall energy consumption and use valuable insights to modify floor layouts for maximum air circulation.
smart infrastructure
Many cloud providers are now optimizing and deploying hardware and software infrastructure that consumes less energy and ultimately minimizes their carbon footprint.
Deploying hardware that minimizes power consumption, including Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS), helps ensure optimal usage and resource allocation to maximize power savings.
Related: Building a sustainable future through infrastructure choices
Workflow Management
Cloud providers can utilize a variety of strategies to optimize workflows at different levels, including modifying applications, shifting workloads, and optimizing storage to further help reduce energy consumption.
Additionally, valuable data insights can be used to design optimized workflows, saving time, effort and resources.
Environmental impact of green clouds
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Minimize your carbon footprint: One of the biggest challenges facing the world today is a high carbon footprint. With the concept of green cloud computing, businesses can finally contribute to minimising their carbon footprint and ensure they build a sustainable future.
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Low power consumption: When we talk about utilizing green cloud computing processes, we can save resources and a lot of electricity that would otherwise be wasted.
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cut costs: Cloud providers can minimize spending on maintaining data centers by taking advantage of ways to optimize cooling costs and reduce the total number of resources. This helps save a lot of money in the long run.
- Quick update: When we’re talking data center hardware and software updates, providers can ensure they can quickly implement changes related to data center optimization and save valuable time.
The concept of green cloud computing is no longer a luxury; it is fast becoming an absolute necessity for a sustainable future for future generations.
Cloud providers should understand the endless possibilities and benefits of incorporating innovative green cloud computing, which helps them save time, energy and resources, and ultimately helps lay the foundation for a greener future.
