What are the “Green” Benefits using Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is one of the most powerful trends nowadays. It offers vast opportunities as for the business profitability so can provide improvements in green initiatives which make enterprises more attractive and eco-friendly. Nevertheless, for every goal of this argument exists opposite opinion. So, let’s verify, concerning major factors of green computing and benefits of cloud computing: could we going green with cloud computing or no?

Defining Green Computing

Green Computing or Green IT as Cloud Computing is one of the cutting edge IT topics today. The key role of green computing is to make the use of computers as energy efficient as possible with minimal or no impact on the environment. As for the businesses it means to find the methods of cutting the consumption of power recourses and IT waste recycling. But that’s where the trouble lies. Adopting eco computing trend, saving energy, you have to be sure you won’t lose in money because the IT is where you always need to consume large amount of energy power. In this case what shall we do?

The benefits of Green Clouds usage: lower costs with high profit

So, here cloud computing is the way to save money and energy for your business. Let’s get into how to save from cloud computing with the benefit for the business both for profit and for the environment. Speaking about cost savings, cloud computing users first of all emphasize Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Using IaaS, users can improve their manageability and facilitate the maintenance of the resources. It means that benefit of business enterprises consists by avoiding spending on software and infrastructure resources, allowing business clients to focus on earning money rather than being weighted down with infrastructure concerns.

As the result, operating this model allows to reduce the consummation of power energy without spending money on running the servers. Moreover, with the absence of hardware to upgrade, no servers to repair and no software to install labor costs are also reduced.

One more aspect of Cloud Computing in order is how to accomplish money savings with a green role of using SaaS (Software as a Service). As it goes a step beyond IaaS by offloading applications to hosted services. With SaaS software accesses usually through a browser based client, meaning that it can be run on virtually any authorized computer, making desktop and laptop resources easily replaceable. Thus, when you also save on the support, it doubles the impact and in fact increases green role in business. For one hand, using cloud computing, there is no need any more for It department structure as the employees can work remotely, travelling and moving from one place to another because they have fast access to the internet and the ability to use all the services at hand, on the other hand it reduces the consumption of fossil fuels and the harmful pollution that results from vehicle emissions as well.

Meanwhile cloud computing offers vast opportunities, as always, every debate has two sides, so there is opposite opinion of the researches considering that cloud computing is just a theory. They consider that using data centers, for example, increases the possibility to get access from any point of the world with more frequency than using infrastructure hosting providers.

Nevertheless, Cloud Computing can still do more and can be more “green”, focusing not only on energy savings but also helps in recycling e-waste, claim the others. Within Cloud Computing we can cut the e-waste production by reduction of hardware and software. In order to optimize the hardware usage, cloud computing dealing with server virtualization that consolidates all servers into a single location, in such a way replacing all hardware by online devices and resources. So, buying or renting access to datacenters we minimize the usage of hardware, at the same time reducing the e-waste. Therefore, this solution improves both environmental and operational benefits.

Conclusion

Cloud green computing is the latest trend today. Balancing energy consummation and hibernating money form saving costs by leaving the purchase of servers, software, datacenter space or network equipment, make the businesses more efficient and attractive. A doubt regarding going green with cloud computing still remains open. So, I will be glad if you share your opinion or business experience of managing with cloud green computing. Thank you for the attention and please feel free to leave your comments.