How Green Computing Can Diminish IT Expenses In UAEs Organizations

Amna Saleh Al Dhaheri, Hedaya Mubarak Bin Mousa

Information Technology Department Dubai Womens College, P.O. Box 16062, Dubai, UAE

Amna.aldhahri@hotmail.com, s200210421@hct.ac.ae ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the ways to reduce the IT expenses and to save the UAE environment through Green computing. It looked at the knowledge of the UAE organizations employees and whether they are aware of the green computing and their organizations practices or not. More than that, this paper will propose methods to implement green computing. The paper has also highlighted the impact of green computing on some of the UAEs organizations which are practicing green computing.

2. BACKGROUND STUDY
Several researches have been done on green computing and its impacts. Talebi and Way described green computing principles focusing only on how to reduce energy by changing the computer power savings modes [12]. Another research done by Herrick and Ritschard focused on how to save energy costs and increase the lifespan of equipments but the analysis was done from the services prospective [5]. According to Lewis Curtis, there are about 6,000 data centers in the USA which were consuming about 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy in 2006 [8]. In 2008, WWF published a report which claimed that each person in UAE had an ecological footprint of 9.5 hectares which it is very high compared with the global average of 2.1 hectares [15]. In addition, as claimed that 80% of UAEs ecological footprint is carbon, electricity consumptions have been number one reason in contributing to the carbon footprint including the IT sectors [4]. All the theories are encouraging us to find out how green computing is used particularly in UAE and how they can eliminate the expenses and lower the costs which lead to a better environment with less carbon footprint. This also motivates us to take a part and try to solve this problem or lessen its dangers. The paper intends to explain more about the green storage, carbon footprint, better IT investments and improving green attitudes for the employees.

Keywords
Green IT, Green computing, carbon footprint.

1. INTRODUCTION
Global warming and carbon foot-print awareness programs help people acquainted with the environmental initiatives taken to downsize the negative effects of what people have gone through due to industrial evolutions and lack of awareness of what is harmful to the environment. It is stated that information technology sector releases 2% of the whole CO2 emissions in the world [5]. This paper looks at the green computing practices in the UAE organizations and to what extent these organizations find them to be useful, and find ways to minimize the cost of energy consumption while preserving the environment. This work is so crucial as every organization in the UAE (in fact around the world) are looking at ways to reduce the costs due to the impact of global financial crisis. It is a known fact that IT departments consume considerable amount of energy and power due to the usage of IT equipment and data centers. This work aims at identifying the implications of green computing in the UAE organizations. The work has been carried out as described below: 1. 2. Find out the awareness level of the employees working in the UAE about Green Computing Propose methods to: Implement green computing technology effectively in the UAE organizations Show how they are implemented successfully in some UAE organizations

3. EMPLOYEES KNOWLEDGE OF GREEN COMPUTING

This survey is done to find out what the employees know about the green computing and if it is implemented in their organizations and how. The survey had 54 responses from various cities which are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al khaima and Al Fujairah. The respondents work in different places from public and private sectors. From the public sector, the organizations are mostly from Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai customs, DEWA, Ministry of Labor, Dubai Municipality, Family Development Centers, General Authority for Islamic Affairs, Awqaf, Sharjah transport and Road and Transport Authority, Dubai. The private sector includes ADGas, iCapital, DCL, Noor Islamic Bank, Du, RAK Properties, Real Estate Company ,YAS and ADIB. As for the employees titles, they were from different levels in the organization and have different roles. The titles include Faculty, Secretary, purchasing officer, Finance Administrator, Customer Relationship Officer, SCADA Database manager, Head of Corporate Performance, Specialists in safety and the environment, other managers and engineers.

The structure of the paper is as follow: chapter 2 is the background study. Chapter 3 is Employees knowledge of green computing. Green computing practices applied in some UAE organizations are addressed in chapter 4. Chapter 5 is about More highlights of UAE organizations which practicing green computing. Conclusion and references are chapters 6 and 7.

3.1 AWARENESS ON GREEN COMPUTING

As shown in figure 1, it states 44.4% only know what green computing is.

In figure 4, 57.4% claimed that their organizations encourage them to switching off the computers when they are not needed.

Figure 4. This figure describes how green computing is implemented

3.4 LIKENESS OF PRACTICING GREEN COMPUTING AS EMPLOYEES

In figure 5, 89% of the respondents liked to practice green computing in their organizations because they found it very important to preserve the environment and increase the efficiency in the organization.

Figure 1. This figure shows number of people aware about green computing.

3.2 EMPLOYEES THOUGHTS OF GREEN COMPUTING

In figure 2, the respondents were given different practices beside the meaning of the green computing. As shown, 61.1% of responses were aware of the green computing meaning.

Figure 5. This figure describes if the employees like to practice green computing in their organizations or not

3.5 EMPLOYEES THOUGHTS OF THE GREEN COMPUTING

Figure 2. This chart shows Employees thoughts of what green computing is In figure 6, 81% of the respondents believe green computing is effective for their organizations because it makes the use of computers as energy-efficient as possible, reduces carbon footprint and power usage which lead to lower costs and exploit that money in a better way in the organizations.

3.3 GREEN COMPUTING PRACTICES IN ORGANIZATIONS

As shown in figure 3, more than 50% employees stated that their organizations practice green computing.

Figure 3. Finding out whether respondents organizations apply green computing or not

Figure 6. This figure shows the majority found that green computing is effective

4. GREEN COMPUTING PRACTICES APPLIED IN UAE ORGANIZATIONS

This section will introduce solutions and practices to implement the green computing and it will help others to understand its meaning. For others, this part will help organizations who already applied green computing to refine their practices or adding more green technology practices. Below, it can be seen what organizations can do for each IT equipment to minimize the CO2 emissions and the costs and some examples from UAEs organizations particularly The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) and Road and Transport Authority, Dubai (RTA).

4.1 SERVERS
4.1.1 SERVER BLADES
Instead of one server takes the whole rack, 20 blades can be set up in one unit [13]. Rack mount servers use 10% more than equivalent blade servers because multiple servers share common components such as power supplies and cooling fans and it reduces the needed space [13]. An example from UAE organization: RTA is using server blades to reduce carbon footprint and disk space [7]

Figure 9. This figure shows how many servers can be replaced with one server using virtualization [14]

4.2 COMPUTER SETTINGS

4.2.1 SAVINGS MODES :
[12]

4.2.1.1 SCREEN SAVERS:

It it is recommended to use typical graphic which is designed to reduce burn in of computer monitor instead of 3D graphics.

4.2.1.2 MONITOR SLEEP MODE:

Using this mode will help to consume lower power.

4.2.1.3 SYSTEM STANDBY MODE:

Standby mode will wake up required system faster but if it is shutdown, it takes more time and power.

4.2.2 BLUETOOTH:
Figure 7 . This figures shows servers blades inserted in one unit [1] Bluetooth consumes a lot of power while it is used, so it is better to shut off the Bluetooth to save more power when not needed. An examples from UAE organizations: By using energy saving modes, RTA saved 22 trees last year. In addition, it cared about Bluetooth CO2 emissions by educating the employees by their monthly tips as a part of energy conservation initiatives [7]

4.3 STORAGE
4.3.1 STORAGE AREA NETWORK(SAN):
Figure 8. Server racks takes a space more than the servers blades [11] SAN is very efficient and logical for the organizations because they only need to add more disks which are quietly less expensive. As for the direct attached storage, the organization needs to add more file servers which cause a significant power usage [13].

4.1.2 VIRTUALIZATION
Servers tend to consume the most power usage in the IT infrastructure and they are accounted for 50% [13]. The servers can be consolidated and make them in one server using the virtualization and clustering technologies [13]. Examples from UAE organizations: The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) utilized the virtualization technique which led to eliminate 75% of the servers [3] RTA used Microsoft Hyper-V as virtualized platform. It has been deployed currently in the test and staging environment. In 6 to 8 months, it might be deployed to the production environment after evaluation [7]

4.3.2 GREEN DRIVES:

They reduce the sum of power during idle time to condense aerodynamic drag. For example, Western Digital green drives can reduce electricity costs for 36.72 AED yearly per drive [13].

4.3.3 GREEN STORAGE:

Some organizations cannot afford to pay for more power, green storage is highly recommended to avoid the risk of growth and electricity costs [2]. The normal data storage requirements are tend to be doubled per 18 months which consume a huge amount of power, cooling requirements, maintenance and management. An example from UAE organizations: RTA uses SAN to lessen the costs as well as green drives for noncritical applications. In addition, green storage is in the process of product evaluation [7]

Table 1. This table shows the difference between normal data storage and green storage [9] High Performance 300GB 15k rpm SAS Storage Array(Normal storage) If a 10TB storage array is needed, this requires 34 disk drives which consume 595 watts every hour. Add to that, 150w for RAID controller, PSU, fans and so on. 17,880 watts daily 6,526,200 watts yearly Running costs yearly 1 581.26 AED @ 0.04p per kilowatt hour (Without additional cooling costs) Lower Performance 750GB 7.2k rpm SATA-II Storage Array(green storage) If a 10TB storage array is needed, this requires 14 disk drives which consume 168 watts every hour. Add to that, 150w for RAID controller, PSU, fans and so on. 7,632 watts daily 2,785,680 watts yearly Running costs yearly 672.49 AED @ 0.04p per kilowatt hour (Without additional cooling costs)

4.5 COOLING ROOMS

Cooling rooms account for upward of 63% of IT department power usage. It is important to know how much it is actually spending rather than turning up the air conditioning [13]. Examples from UAE organizations: According to Entesar Al Hosani, the IT department manager at EAD, the green data centre relies on cooled racks, cooling subsystems and modular power which had important positive consequences in overall capital expenditure savings and lower the operational cost. According to the Green Grid Data Center Power Efficiency Matrix, the power usage effectiveness(PUE) at EADs data centre is 1.5 MVA which is an acceptable range for this matrix [3] RTA datacenter is also energy efficient. The cooling units switch off their fans while keeping the temp optimized [7]

Storage

Description

5. MORE HIGHLIGHTS OF UAE ORGANIZATIONS 5.1 RTA DUBAI

Roads and Transport Authority (RTA),Dubai, announced the release of the green IT initiative in 2008 to apply the best practices to lessen the energy consumption in whole its buildings and facilities by using the most quality ideas in the IT field. The RTA is considered to be the first organization in UAE who signed for Climate Savers Computing organization to commit purchasing PCs and servers which are energy efficient and applying the green computing [10]. By using the smart computing, it will control the energy consumption from the IT systems which will lead to increase the default lifetime for them. According to Abdullah Al Bastaki, The Director of IT Department at RTA Corporate Support Services Sector at RTA, more than 50% of the IT systems are currently qualified with the green computing requirements, and there is a central energy unit for in the whole desktop computers which is a part from the technical requirements to purchase the IT systems depending to the global standards [10]. The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) announced the green computing initiative in 2010. The agency aims to be the leading in this field and apply the sustainable solutions in information technology. EAD won the best middle ease green initiative award for its green data center in 2010. This award was given by BroadGroup , based in London, for organizations which provides excellent service quality and achievement in data center industry. One of the EAD green computing is paper-less day, which is an event encourages using electronic means instead of wasting papers. Add to that, all papers used in this agency for printing are sustainable managed forests papers and 100% recycled unbleached papers [3]

Results

4.4 MONITORS
4.4.1 NORMAL VERSUS LCD MONITORS:
The computer monitors use huge power and energy while they are on and they consume about 100W but if they are put on sleep mode, they will consume 5W [12]. In addition, the background colors can play a part in reducing the power and carbon. It is recommend to evaluate monitors before purchasing them. Examples from UAE organizations: RTA is now planning to use the laptops instead of the PCs because it consumes energy 60% less than the PCs and it aiming to make all desktop computers and laptops 100% qualified with the green computing in 2011 and they have a roadmap for green computing [10] [7] The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi guarantees all IT equipment will be compatible with Energy Star standard. All desktop computers were replaced with EPEAT Gold rated laptops which saved 50% in energy consumption[3]

6. CONCLUSION
To sum up, the employees knowledge of the green computing was found out and known. In addition, solutions and practices in order to implement green computing are discussed. Some UAEs organizations were mentioned and how they implemented the green computing which are the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) and Road and Transport Authority, Dubai (RTA). This paper will benefit organizations who want to find out or implement the green computing for instance public sector, private sector, profits companies and non profits companies. It is true that

Figure 10. This chart demonstrates the power usage for the desktop and laptops [12]

the solutions here were explained for the UAE organizations but it can be used anywhere in the world as well. More than that, it will benefit international organizations and people who care about green computing. In the future, the researchers can carry out and extend the research to cover all the organizations in the GCC or in the Arab world. The researchers can also tackle all environment initiatives which can be applied for the whole organizations instead of the IT department only. Finally, the researchers can also go forward and expand their surveys among all the Emirates cities and to get more responses and details.

[6] How a Server Cluster Works. March 2003. 20 April 2011 <http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc738051%28WS.10% 29.aspx>. [7] Kumar, Jaiwanth. Senior Project Manager in IT Infrastructure & Services Section,RTA Amna Al Dhaheri. 28 April 2011. [8]Kurp, Patrick. "Green Computing." communications of the acm (2008): 11. [9]Quattromini, Ray. GREEN DATA STORAGE. Hampshire: Fortuna Power Systems Ltd, 2007. [10] RTA launches Green IT initiative, energy-efficient practices Urged. 17 October 2008. 22 April 2011 <http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20081017103634/ RTA%20launches%20Green%20IT%20initiative,%20energyefficient%20practices%20Urged>. [11]Server Rack. 20 April 2011 <http://www.closetshelf.com/category/server-rack/>. [12]Talebi, Mujtaba and Thomas Way. Methods, Metrics and Motivation for a Green Computer Science Program. Research Report. Villanova, n.d. [13]Velte, Toby, Anthony Velte and Robert Elsenpeter. Green IT. McGraw-Hill, 2008. [14]virtualization. 21 April 2011 <static.highspeedbackbone.net>. [15]what is the ecological footprint of uae. 29 April 2011 <http://ecologicalfootprint.heroesoftheuae.ae/en/article/uaesfootprint-5/what-is-the-ecological-footprint-of-uae.html>.

7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our thanks to Dr. Amala Rajan, our supervisor for her full support in this research. Our thanks go also to RTA who helped us to identify their green computing practices.

8. REFERENCES
[1] Blade server. 20 April 2011 <http://www.maxipedia.com/blade+server+what+is>. [2] Companies try green storage strategies to reduce power consumption. 20 April 2011 <http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Companies-trygreen-storage-strategies-to-reduce-power-consumption>. [3] EADs Green Data Centre Wins Award . 10 June 2010. 22 April2011<http://www.ead.ae/en/news/ead.greendata.centrewins.a ward.aspx>. [4] ecological footprint scenario model in development. 22 April 2011<http://ecologicalfootprint.heroesoftheuae.ae/en/news/news/e cological-footprint-scenario-model-in-development.html>. [5] Herrick, Dan and Mark Ritschard. Greening Your Computing Technology, the Near and Far Perspectives. Research Report. Fort Collins, n.d.