Green computing is a new trend, where companies try to achieve the necessary business growth without harming the environment. It benefits the environment as companies take care for disposal of electronic waste in an effective way so that the environment is not affected. In today’s world, people do take note of the importance of green technologies and the ways in which it helps the planet. Consumers thus associate companies with green track record with a better brand value.
What exactly is Green Computing?
It is the study and practice of using the electronic resources in an efficient manner. By this practice, the adverse effects of electronics on the environment can be minimized. It promotes efficient manufacturing, use and disposal of electronic components. The following are some of the goals:
• Energy efficiency maximization
• Emphasize on recycling
• Reduction of hazardous materials
Why is electronic waste important?
One of the major problems faced in today’s world is the increase in the amount of electronic wastes. Electronic wastes constitute more than 70% of all the hazardous wastes. The manufacture of certain computer parts involves the usage of large number of toxic materials, harmful chemicals, heavy metals, plastics which cannot be easily burnt. Such materials, when burnt, can easily pollute the ground water and also the environment.
Use of technology:
Green computing is the need of the hour. It promotes use of all possible measures to save energy and improving the lives of electronic components.
By using some of these techniques, energy can be efficiently used.
Coding and Algorithms: Proper coding and usage of best algorithms would reduce the load on computer servers, thus reducing energy consumption. To minimize the load on the server, coding should be done in a way so that optimum use of cache and validation functions. Algorithms which are smartly written using only few lines of code can also help in using the servers efficiently.
Thin Terminal Devices: In this approach, most of the computing is done on the servers. The devices which are used for connecting to servers are very thin, using only one-eighth of the total power used in normal desktops.
Power Management: It involves setting the pre-set time in computers and their components like the hard disks, RAM’s etc. After the pre-determined time, the computer is turned off when not in use.