Key issue in Clouds

Cloud computing has given enormous benefits in terms of scalability and cost-effectiveness due to its pay-as-you-go utility. Its on-demand approach has set the user free from all infrastructure and platform management techniques by changing ownership-based approach to subscription-based approach. But the dark side of clouds consumptions has led to increase in the greenhouse gas. The key issue is whether the cloud environment is sustainable. If we keep on leveraging the benefits of cloud without taking care of its energy consumption, they will be responsible for Global Warming (A Key issue in Today’s’ World). Not much attention has been paid to this thought. Energy efficiency is crucial at this stage. Energy consumption at the servers, networks while transmitting the data, and the other hardware and software scenarios all should be considered. Studies have shown that by assigning the work to the few servers and keeping off the idle servers can reduce the energy consumption. Those users have not considered the amount of energy consumption while transmitting the data from their desktop to the servers.  On the other hand, by turning off servers and running the few servers, there will be degradation in the performance. The imbalance situation occurs due to overload on the servers. Whenever this imbalance occurs, it should be handled at the same time. Load balancing and energy consumption has been inversely related to each other in this phenomenon.

Cloud advantages like cost saving, manageability etc. have given a strategic edge in this competitive world. But these advantages come with a major price that has an impact on the environment. Cloud has built on virtual platforms. But the carbon footprints it leaves cannot be made invisible. These thousands upon thousands of computer servers are powered by electricity which is made up of fossil fuels like coal or natural gas and leads to carbon emission. This carbon emission is growing rapidly and needs to be controlled at the earliest. The major concern is to use the renewable energy that is powered through the Solar System, Wind turbines etc. The growing demand for cloud computing has made it necessary to play a vital role in maintaining the environment courtesies. Cloud data centers offer the service on demand. They require high energy for its operation

Written By:- Ms. Gaganjot Kaur, Assistant Prof., Department of Computer Science and Technology, MRU