Use open source platforms to find cloud computing’s energy and emissions footprint

By on May 8, 2012

 

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Regular GreenMonk readers will be very aware that I am deeply skeptical about claims that Cloud Computing is Green (or even energy efficient). And that I talk about the significant carbon, water and biodiversity effects cloud computing can have.

One of the biggest issues with any claims of Cloud Computing being energy efficient, or Green, is the lack of transparency from the Cloud Computing providers. None of them are publishing any data around the energy consumption, or emissions of their Cloud infrastructure. Without data to back them up, any claims of Cloud computing being efficient are worthless.

Last week, while at the RackSpace EMEA Analyst day, we were given a potted history of OpenStack, RackSpace’s Cloud Computing platform. OpenStack was jointly developed by NASA and RackSpace and they open-sourced it with an Apache License in July 2010.

Anyone can download OpenStack and use it to create and host Cloud Computing solutions. Prominent OpenStack users include NASA, RackSpace (not surprisingly), AT&T, Deutsche Telecom, HP and IBM.

What has this got to do with Cloud Computing and energy efficiency I hear you ask?

Well, it occurred to me, during the analyst day, that because OpenStack is open source, anyone can fork it and write a version with built-in energy and emissions reporting. What would be really cool is, if this functionality, having been written, became a part of the core distribution – then anyone deploying OpenStack, would have this functionality by default…

(Read this and other articles @ GreenMonk: the blog)

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Tom Raftery is the lead analyst of GreenMonk , the Energy and Sustainability practice of industry analyst firm RedMonk. Tom has a very strong background in social media, is the former co-founder of a software firm and is co-founder and director of hyper energy-efficient data center Cork Internet eXchange.
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2 responses to “Use open source platforms to find cloud computing’s energy and emissions footprint”

  1. HP details its cloud computing strategy at OpenStack – TechTarget | CloudPSI
    HP details its cloud computing strategy at OpenStack – TechTarget | CloudPSI May 8, 2012 at 6:08 pm |

    [...] Computing, Services Reality CheckTalkinCloud (blog)Rackspace's Q1 Earnings DisappointDatamationEnterprise Irregularsall 20 news articles » /* Tags: Cloud Computing, HP, San Francisco, [...]

  2. Power management on OpenStack clouds?
    Power management on OpenStack clouds? May 14, 2012 at 4:09 pm |

    [...] Raftery at Enterprise Irregulars recently blogged about cloud services providers and the lack of transparency when it comes to energy consumption. This, naturally, makes him skeptical that cloud computing is green. Though I’ll take one [...]

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