The New Color of Computing

Green Computing is really becoming a buzz word in today’s world where we are surrounded by gadgets and gizmos all around us. It is also known as Green IT and it refers to the study or practice of manufacturing, designing, utilizing and disposing of computers effectively with minimum or no impact on the environment. Today, we are aware of how man-made green house emissions have led to factors like global warming and other environmental issues and hence we are looking forward to alternatives and ways to adopting technologies that can help us resolve such issues related to the degradation of our ecosystem.

Electronic waste is one of the biggest challenges we are facing today. On an average around 24 million computers become obsolete in the United States of America and only 14 percent of it is recycled. The rest of the electronic garbage is dumped and shipped as waste exports or sent to a temporary storage until any decision is taken on where this electronic waste will be transported. Wasting electricity by keeping computer idle is one of the major problems that we are facing today where we leave our computers on without even thinking that the majority of world’s electricity comes from burning of fossil fuels which emit pollutants and carbon dioxide that are harmful to our health and the environment.

To tackle this global problem, many IT firms along with government agencies have joined hands and are spreading awareness about green computing that can solve these problems. Many companies have started selling lead-free PCs and fully recyclable parts that does not harm the environment. The focus of green computing is to have energy-efficient computing, power management, server virtualization, use of renewable energy sources and eco-labeling of IT products. Undoubtedly, the initiation of green computing today will help us make our future healthy and pollution-free.