The new era networking: Green Networking

There is no formal definition of “green” in networking. In simple term it’s seen as the green practices of selecting energy-efficient networking technologies and products, and minimizing resource use whenever possible. Green networking" -- the practice of consolidating devices, relying more on telecommuting and videoconferencing, and using virtualization to reduce power consumption across the network -- is an offshoot of the trend towards "greening" just about everything from cars to coffee cups. That trend has encompassed IT in general, the data center and the network.
Green Networking can be the way to help reduce carbon emissions by the Information Technology (IT) Industry. Green Networking covers all aspects of the network (personal computers, peripherals, switches, routers, and communication media). Energy efficiencies of all network components must be optimized to have a significant impact on the overall energy consumption by these components. Consequently, these efficiencies gained by having a Green Network will reduce CO2 emissions and thus will help mitigate global warming. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the components must be considered. LCA is the valuation of the environmental impacts on a product from cradle to grave. New ICT technologies must be explored and the benefits of these technologies must be assessed in terms of energy efficiencies and their associated benefits in minimizing the environmental impact of ICT. Desktop computers and monitors consume 39% of all electrical power used in ICT. In 2002, this equated to 220Mt (millions tons of CO2 emission).

To reduce power consumption and equivalent CO2 emissions from a network switch, several techniques are available. To reduce the carbon footprint of desktop PCs, their usage must be efficiently managed. Old Cathode Ray Tube monitors should be replaced with Liquid Crystal Display screens which reduce monitor energy consumption by as much as 80%. Replacing all desktop PCs with laptops would achieve a 90% decrease in power consumption. Energy can also be saved by using power saving software installed on desktops and running all the time. The power saving software controls force PCs to go into standby when not in use. Another option is to use solid state hard drives that use 50% less power than mechanical hard drives.
When considering the Local Area Network (LAN) network infrastructure, probably the most power hungry device is the network switch. PoE (Power over Ethernet) is a relative new technology introduced into modern network switches. PoE switch ports provide power for network devices as well as transmit data. PoE switch ports are used by IP phones, wireless LAN access points, and other network-attached equipment. PoE switch port can provide power to a connected device and can scale back power when not required.
Another solution is to use power management software built into the network switch. With power management software, we can instruct the network switch to turn off ports when not in use, this would equate to a saving of 15.4W × 16 hours × 365 days = 89,936 kilowatt-hours per port per year.
As networks became more critical in daily business operations, additional network services were required. Network infrastructure devices were required to support VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) and data encryption also. The new integrated network infrastructure with its network services will make the network more energy efficient and reduce the carbon footprint of the network infrastructure.
Due to the high power consumption by Data Centers, there are some proposed solutions to save energy and make Data Centers more energy efficient. Some of the solutions include; taking the Data Center to the power source instead of taking the power source to the Data Center, consolidation, virtualization, improved server and storage performances, power management, high efficiency power supplies, improved data center design.

Traditionally the electrical power needed for Data Centers is supplied by the electricity grid. Using alternate energy sources at the Data Center is often impractical. The solution is to take the Data Center to the energy source. The energy source could be solar, wind, geothermal, or some combination of these alternate forms of energy. Instead of the power traveling great distances, the data would need to travel great distances. For this to be feasible, we would require a broadband network infrastructure.
Consolidation
Going through a systematic program of consolidating and optimizing your machines and workloads can achieve increased efficiencies at the Data Center.
Virtualization
Virtualization is one of the main technologies used to implement a “Green Network”. Virtualization is a technique used to run multiple virtual machines on a single physical machine, sharing the resources of that single computer across multiple environments. Virtualization allows pooling of resources, such as computing and storage that are normally underutilized. Virtualization offers the following advantages: less power, less cooling, less facilities, and less network infrastructure. Virtualization can also be used to replace the desktop. With desktop virtualization one can use a thin client consuming little power (typically 4 Watts). The image and all other programs required by the client can be downloaded from one of the virtualization servers.
Improved Server and Storage Performances
New multicore processors execute at more than four times the speed compared to previous processors and use new high speed disk arrays with high performance. 144-gigabyte Fiber Channel drives can reduce transfer and improve efficiencies within the Data Center.
Power Management
It is estimated that Servers use up to 30% of their peak electricity consumption when they are idle. Although power management tools are available they are not necessarily being implemented. Many new CPU chips have the capacity to scale back voltage and clock frequency on a per-core basis and this can be done by reducing power supply to the memory. By implementing power management techniques, companies can save energy and cost.
High Efficiency Power Supplies
The use of high efficiency power supplies should be considered in all Data Center devices. Poor quality power supplies not only have low power efficiencies, but the power efficiency is also a function of utilization. With low utilization we achieve lower efficiency in the power supply. For every watt of electrical power wasted in a Data Center device, another watt is used in extra cooling. Therefore, investing in high efficient power supplies can double power savings. Another issue with power supply is that quite often Data Center designers overestimate power supply needs. With more accurate assessment of the power requirements of a device, we can achieve high efficiency and energy savings.
Cloud Computing
“Cloud Computing” can be considered “Green Networking” through the efficiencies gained using “Cloud Computing”. “Cloud Computing” offers the following advantages: consolidation—redundancy and waste, abstraction—decoupling workload from physical infrastructures, automation— removing manual labor from runtime operations, utility Computing—enabling service providers to offer storage and virtual servers that ICT companies can access on demand.

Green networking practices include:
Implementing virtualization
Practicing server consolidation
Upgrading older equipment for newer, more energy-efficient products
Employing systems management to increase efficiency
Substituting telecommuting, remote administration and videoconferencing for travel
High Efficiency Power Supplies
Improved Data Center Design

The apparition of a Green Network is one where we all will be connected via wireless to the Internet, using low energy consumption, where all our data is securely stored in highly efficient, reliable Data Centers typically running at low energy per Gigabit per second speed. This can also include access to network services from Cloud computing service providers. Whatever the future is, Green Networking will help reduce the carbon footprint of the IT industry and hopefully lead the way in a cultural shift that all of us need to make if we are to reverse the global warming caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases. Finally, the issue of Efficiency versus Consumption is an interesting argument, that is, efficiency drives consumption. IT solutions can solve efficiency; it is society that must solve consumption.