Green Cloud? The current and future development of energy consumption by data centers, networks and end-user devices

Abstract

Cloud computing is an efficient way to provide IT capacity. From an ecological perspective, the use of cloud computing is usually assumed to entail lower consumption of energy and materials. However, it is difficult to assess whether this assumption is true. Cloud computing means shifting processing power from workplace computer solutions or the company server to the Internet. Yet it is comparatively difficult to determine resource consumption in the cloud. Previous studies have arrived at different results concerning the ecological benefits of cloud computing depending on the type of application. New cloud applications also cause additional resource consumption. Even today, cloud applications account for more than half of data centers' workloads. This share is expected to increase to more than four-fifths by the end of the decade. It is therefore doubtful whether IT energy and resource consumption can be reduced in the future. The present contribution considers this question and presents current research findings on the energy consumption of data centers, networks and end-user devices in Germany today and through 2025. It projects the findings from Germany to the global development and discusses the ecological effects of shifting processing power to networks and data centers through cloud computing. Index Terms—cloud computing, energy consumption, data center, networks, PC, notebook, tablet, smartphone, green IT