Green ICT Methodology for Energy Consumption Calculation in ICT Architecture Components

Abstract

As the usage of information and communication technology (ICT) solution have been exploded in the last decades, the research community exhibits a deficiency in terms of methodologies for accurately quantifying the energy consumption of individual ICT components. This paper presents a novel methodology aimed at addressing the existing research gap by offering a comprehensive analysis of energy consumption ranges for ICT components, measured in Watt. The methodology being proposed involves the classification of ICT components into distinct classes, namely sensors, gateways, servers-platforms, and databases, while these classes are further subdivided into sub-classes. The calculation of energy consumption places emphasis on particular components within each sub-class, encompassing CPUs, RAM, GPUs, hard drives, network switches, cooling systems, and communication units. Compared with existing green ICT standards where mainly focused on strategy-related recommendations, the methodology utilises manufacturers’ specifications for standard operational procedures in order to compute energy consumption. The objective of the methodology is to extend the current research and provide countable energy consumption attributes of various component types, that are used in the ICT architecture, supporting the decision-making process of architects regarding environmentally sustainable and high-performance device selection. This study concludes with the development of a tree diagram for calculating the energy consumption of an ICT system.