This chapter reveals the overview of cloud computing; cloud computing, green computing, green ICT, and data center utilization; the importance of cloud computing in the digital age; the advanced issues of green computing; and the important perspectives on green ICT. Cloud computing is computing based on the Internet. Green computing and green ICT are the sustainable business practices of reducing the environmental footprints of technology by efficiently using several resources. Green computing and green ICT are the important perspectives for the businesses to improve their corporate image by meeting regulatory requirements and sustainability demands of both customers and employees. The chapter argues that cloud computing, green computing, and green ICT are the advanced technologies toward improving sustainability and sustainable development in the green economy.
TopBackground
Cloud computing technology is not a new concept for most of the sectors, such as banks, automobile, retail, health care, education, and logistics (Al-Hudhaif & Alkubeyyer, 2011). Cloud computing is an easy-to-adopt technology with simple and latest architecture (Hutchinson, Ward, & Castilon, 2009). This architecture presents information technology (IT) as a paid service in terms of deployment and maintenance (Sean, Zhi, Subhajyoti, Juheng, & Anand, 2011). Various deployment models of cloud computing make the adoption easy for any type of sector, depending on the need of usage (Singh, Mishra, Ali, Shukla, & Shankar, 2015). This innovative technology makes the collaboration easier among companies by the application of cloud computing (Xuan, 2012).
There has been rapid expansion of the IT due to contribution to the carbon dioxide emission (Khan, Shah, & Nusratullah, 2017). The major objective of the Energy Star program is to assign a voluntary label to the computer products, that were successful in minimizing energy consumption while maximizing efficiency (Jena & Dey, 2013). Green computing is recognized as a way for organizations and individuals to be efficient in resources (McWhorter & Delello, 2016), and considers the use of computers and related resources in an eco-friendly manner, such as the implementation of energy efficiency in the computing equipment (Adhikari & Roy, 2016).
ICT is rapidly growing, and has major influence in all fields of activity (Radu, 2014) toward delivering the intelligent products and services (Banerjee, Sing, Chowdhury, & Anwar, 2013). Green ICT emerges as a new perspective for designing, developing, and managing the computing infrastructure aiming for more efficient processes and mechanisms to avoid the waste of resources toward environmental sustainability (Moreno & Xu, 2013). Over the past few decades, the explosion of the ICT devices has led to a particular focus on the environmental impact in the ICT industry (Chitra, 2011). Green ICT is designed to conserve energy, compared to its conventional counterpart (Ryoo & Choi, 2011).