This doth be a machine-wrought text which may contain errors!
The IT industry doth consume much power. Data centres, servers, network equipment, PCs, mobiles, charging, cooling. All these require energy, and all such gear hath a finite lifespan. When we make choices concerning infrastructure, we also make choices that do affect the environment.
How Great Indeed is the Problem?
Some numbers to ponder upon:
- Data centres throughout the world do consume some 1-2% of the world’s total power usage
- The IT industry, taken as a whole, doth bear a carbon footprint equal to that of the aviation industry
- A single Google search doth employ roughly 0,3 Wh. ‘Tis little, to be sure, yet with billions of searches each day, it doth amount to a great sum.
- The training of large AI models may consume as much power as a small Norwegian house doth in a whole year.
Norge er i en gunstig posisjon
The greater part of the power in Norway springeth from hydropower, which rendereth Norwegian data centres amongst the greenest in all the world. This is one of the reasons wherefore international companies do build data centres within the North.
E-waste
E-waste (electronic waste) is a growing woe. Servers, PCs, mobiles, and network equipment contain rare metals and toxic substances which must be handled with great care.
| Problem | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Short lifespan of gear | More waste, more production, more use of resources |
| Toxic materials | Lead, mercury, and cadmium may pollute earth and water |
| Rare metals | Extraction doth harm the environment and oft occurs under poor working conditions |
| Lack of recycling | But approx. 20% of e-waste is recycled globally |
What Mayst Thou Do as an IT Operator?
Thou needst not save the world alone, yet the choices thou makest in thy daily labour do possess a true effect.
Virtualisation and Consolidation
Instead of possessing a physical machine for each service, we do employ virtualisation. One server with Proxmox may run 10-20 VMs, or even hundreds of Docker containers. ‘Tis a meaning of fewer physical machines, less power consumption, and diminished need for cooling.
Example:
| Without Virtualisation | With Virtualisation |
|---|---|
| 5 physical servers | 1 physical server |
| 5 × power consumption | 1 × power consumption (+ a little more) |
| 5 × cooling | 1 × cooling |
| 5 × maintenance | 1 × maintenance |
Fitting Measure
A server over-provisioned (too much RAM, CPU, disk) doth consume more power than needeth. A VM with 16 GB of RAM which doth but use 2 GB doth waste resources. Begin with small measure, and scale upwards as necessity doth demand.
Prolong the Lifespan of Thy Equipment
Replace not thy hardware merely because there existeth something newer. A server that functioneth well needeth not be exchanged every third year. Upgrade RAM or disk instead of purchasing a new machine. Remove and recycle that which thou truly hast no need of.
Quench That Which Thou Dost Not Employ
Test-VMs which run 24/7 without cause do consume power for naught. Employ snapshots, and extinguish VMs when they are not in use. Establish automatic shutting down of test equipment without working hours.
Cloud Services and On-Demand
Cloud services possess the boon that thou dost pay (and consume power) only for that which thou dost truly employ. A VM in Azure which doth run 8 hours in the day doth use less than one which doth run round the clock. But take heed: cloud resources which thou dost forget to delete do also consume power.
Software and Resource Usage
’Tis not solely hardware that doth affect the consumption of power. Inefficient software doth employ more CPU time, which doth signify more power consumed.
- A web page which doth load 20 MB of JavaScript doth use more bandwidth and processing power than one which is optimised to 500 KB
- A SQL query, poorly writ, which doth scan the whole database doth use more resources than one which is indexed aright
- A container which doth run a whole Linux distribution for one small service doth use more than one which is based upon a minimal base image (e.g. Alpine)
This is a realm wherein Operations and Development do overlap: the developer doth write efficient code, the operator doth ensure that it runneth upon rightly sized infrastructure.
Summary
- The realm of Information Technology doth consume a great measure of energy and produceth much e-waste.
- Virtualisation doth lessen the number of physical machines, and thereby power and cooling.
- Proper dimensioning avoideth the wasting of resources.
- Prolong the life of hardware rather than replacing it needlessly.
- Shut off that which thou dost not employ, and tidy up thy cloud resources.
- Efficient software useth fewer resources than that which is inefficient.