Green PCs in open source, free software - the next challenge.
Linux is seeing massive install bases around the world. Millions of PC
computers - not including the millions of embedded systems like
routers, and phones.
OSS, and free software already does a great job in reducing the amount
of waste generated by computer use. Being able to make use of old
hardware, and the ability efficiently virtualise computers resulting
in less hardware being used. Web hosts can run thousands of websites
off one computer - now other servers are taking virtualisation of
computers for other tasks too.
However there is much more that could be done for saving energy with
OSS, free software such as Linux, Debian, and Ubuntu.
Distributions need to focus on turning on the power saving features.
If Debian, and Ubuntu make this easy, then lots of power can be saved
in the world. Debian should put something about power consumption, and
reducing resource use into its social contract.
Is concentrating on power savings worth while? If a 10% difference
could be made in power saving, then over one million machines it would
save a massive amount of energy - and reduce green house gasses.
Monitors need to be put in suspend mode when not being used. Monitors
are the most power hungry parts of a computer system. The more common
LCD monitors do not use as much power as CRT ones, so this is an
advancement. I still find monitors that stay on when not being used.
For an X server, check out the manual of xset for dpms power saving
features.
Hard drives need to be set so that they go to sleep when they're not
being used. The 'hdparm' program can be used to put hard drives to
sleep. Not only does this save power, but makes hard drives last
longer. The longer a hard drive lasts, the less it needs to be
replaced - saving production energy costs. There's also less noise
because your hard drive will be turned off.
Suspend to disk needs to work. This is so people can easily put their
computers to 'sleep'. So that people can have their system power up
quickly with all of their applications where they left them. Mostly
this works, but it needs more testing, and fixes from some poorly
behaving drivers. If people can put their computers to sleep easily,
then they will turn them off when not in use.
Daily tasks should run at off peak power times. Debian uses 6am as a
time to run daily tasks. Many tasks that can be put into off peak
times should be put there.
Power saving measures should all be turned on by default.
Using 'thin' client machines without hard drives uses less power over
all. It also means that less hardware is used - resulting in less
production energy used. Also older machines can be used for the
terminals, resulting in reuse of computer parts. The linux terminal
server project makes setting up thin clients with linux easy.
Operating systems could do more to make this kind of usage easier
still. Rather than concentrating on making their installers easier to
use for single machine use.
More thought needs to be put into saving power with changes to
operating systems. During the design, and implementation of features.
The design of software should take into consideration the power use of
it. If your software can with one hours work reduce it's power usage
by 10%, then you've possibly saved millions of dollars a year in power
costs. If you can reduce the resource usage of your program with a
little work, then you may only use one server instead of two. Over a
couple of years that can add up significantly. Does your web
application need a dedicated server at the moment?
Reviews of Operating systems need to take 'Green' factors into
account. Are power saving features used? How well are they used? Is
there good support for older machines? The media has a part to play in
supporting those that aim to reduce energy use, and reduce the use of
computer parts. A "ten things Ubuntu could do to reduce energy use"
article could be quite popular. What about an article on the bad ram
linux patch(which allows linux to use defective ram)?
Good reviews on power saving features can allow people to make more
informed choices about how much power their purchases will use. How
much energy has been used in producing this equipment?
Just as free software, and OSS people shout from the hills about
reliability, security, and performance - we need to shout about power
saving benefits. Reduction of two servers down to one, can save on air
conditioning bills, office space, and a power bill reduction.
A mailing list should be joined by groups in each distribution aiming
to implement power saving changes to their operating systems. If there
is already a group out there, it needs to be more heavily publicised.
It should be run by a paid member, or members of some of the biggest
distributions. Power saving should be a much higher priority than it
currently is. Start a discussion amongst your groups on how to reduce
power usage.
Other widely used open source projects need to talk about how their
projects are affecting power, and resource usage too. For example take
the python programming language. Recently the python project has
managed to reduce memory usage. This will result in being able to run
more python programs on one machine. However further steps could be
taken to make running web programs on the main cheap virtual hosts
less resource hungry. This is starting to happen, but more could be
done. However many web applications seem to need a dedicated server to
run acceptably(plone). Pygame(game software for python) has been
modified so that instead of using a 'busy loop' by default, it uses a
less accurate, but less cpu using operating system sleep.
If you make your program use less power, then those with laptops are
more likely to use your programs - over the competitors program that
uses more power. Make your lower power usage a feature.
I think people using Open Source Software, and free software should be
interested in power saving, reduction in hardware use, and reuse of
old computer parts. We just need to talk about power saving more, and
make sure we factor it in with our designs.
Some links to readings about saving power.
- Ecology HOWTO - power saving techniques with linux.
- Linux terminal server project.
- Gentu power management guide
If you have any other relevant links on power saving, please leave
them in the comments section of this page. Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment