A Taxonomy of Green Information and Communication Protocols and Standards

Abstract

Due to increased awareness of human’s adverse effect on the environment, many new technologies to mitigate the environmental damage are under development. Although innovative, many of these technologies are often developed in isolation and consequently incompatible with each other. From the viewpoint of Systems Engineering, this presents an enormous challenge since compatibility among different elements of a system is crucial in achieving an optimal operational state that minimizes energy consumption. Therefore, standardization in the form of protocols is a key to accomplishing the goal of green Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In this chapter, the authors examine the existing green ICT technologies and their protocols to identify both obvious and subtle strengths and weaknesses. Particularly, the authors scrutinize the interoperability of the existing green ICT protocols and provide insights on how to improve the status quo. In addition, information on emerging governing bodies of green ICT protocols is provided.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Green Hardware Protocols: Green computing protocols that focus on their electro-mechanical aspect

Green Computing Protocols: Computing protocols related to processing the data in a more energy-efficient fashion

Green Networking Protocols: Networking protocols making it possible for hosts (or computing devices) to exchange data in a more energy-efficient fashion

Green Software Protocols: Green computing protocols that focus on their programming aspect

Green ICT: Information and communication technologies that are environmentally sensitive and designed to conserve energy, compared to their conventional counterparts