(24)What is green computing? List down best practices of green computing

Answer:
  • Green Computing or Green IT refers to the study and practice of environmentally sustainable computing or IT.
  • In other words, it is the study and practice of establishing/ using computers and IT resources in a more efficient and environmentally friendly and responsible way. 
  • Green computing practices include the implementation of energy-efficient Central Processing Units (CPUs), servers and peripherals as well as reduced resource consumption and proper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste).
 

Green Computing Best Practices:

Some steps for Green IT include the following:

(1)Develop a sustainable Green Computing plan:
  • Involvement of stakeholders for planning of green computing activities.
  • Encourage the IT community for to consider green computing practices and guidelines.
  • Communicate at regular interval about green IT best practices.
  • Best practices with respect to power usage, reduction of paper consumption, recommendations for new equipment and recycling old machines to be incorporated  in organizational policies and plans; and
Use cloud computing for efficient use of resources.

(2)Recycle:
  • Disposal of e-waste as per regulations.
  • Discard used or unwanted electronic equipment in a environment friendly manner. 
  • Manufacturers must offer recycling options when products become unusable; and


(3)Make environmentally sound purchase decisions:
  • To consider impact on environment while purchase of desktop computers, notebooks and monitors.
  • Product design considering impact on environment. 
  • Use Server and storage virtualization that can help to improve environment.

(4)Reduce Paper Consumption:
  • Increase use of e-mail and electronic archiving.
  • Increase use of “track changes” feature in electronic documents rather than red line corrections on paper.
  • Increase use of online marketing rather than paper based marketing.
  • Use of small font, printing both side of papers and other environment friendly printing options.


(5)Conserve Energy:
  • Increase use Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors rather than Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors;
  • Increase use notebook computers rather than desktop computers whenever possible;
  • Increase use the power-management features to turn off hard drives and displays after several minutes of inactivity;
  • Power-down the CPU and all peripherals during extended periods of inactivity;
  • Increase use of  alternative energy sources for electronic devices. 
  • Increase use of  web conferencing offers instead of travelling to meetings in order to go green and save energy.