16 Apr 2009 12:55
From energy savings to longer lifespans for equipment, Linux can improve the eco-credentials of your technology environment, says Jack Wallen.
How do you go green without going to the lengths of installing solar panels on your roof? If you are using Linux, or thinking of using it, you are already one step ahead of most people. Here are 10 solid ways to start thinking green in your IT department.
1. Reduced landfill
With Linux, you can keep using older hardware, even if you are using the latest version of your distribution. When you use Linux, you do not have to throw away the ugly packaging that typically comes with software. And there are no transportation costs for shipping distributions from the warehouse to your retail store.
According to a study by the Office of Government Commerce in 2004, Windows users are obliged to upgrade their computers twice as often as Linux users: "Industry observers quote a typical hardware refresh period for Microsoft Windows systems as three to four years; a major UK manufacturing organisation quotes its hardware refresh period for Linux systems as six to eight years."
2. PowerTop
This little gem of an application can help you learn how to make your laptops and desktops more efficient.
When you run PowerTop, it examines your system and provides tips on how to improve your energy performance. When I run PowerTop on my laptop, I get this suggestion: "Disable 'hal' from polling your CD-ROM with: hal-disable-polling --device /dev/scd0 — 'hal' is the component that auto-opens a window if you plug in a CD but disables Sata power saving from kicking in."
Some of PowerTop's suggestions will even tell you how much wattage you can save by killing or reconfiguring services. Even though the main page for PowerTop states it is for machines with Intel processors, it will work on AMD-based machines as well.
3. Netbooks
Not only are netbooks here to stay, they are growing faster than many predicted. And a number of these netbooks are optimised for long battery life by minimising power usage.
The primary goals of the Moblin operating system, a project originally led by Intel, are low power and high battery life. Moblin is Linux-based and is only for netbooks.
Another feature that makes netbooks especially green is their no-moving-parts storage, which means they should have a longer lifespan than the standard notebook. So netbooks are one of the greener options available. And no matter how well Windows 7 is received, it cannot beat the cost of Linux on a netbook.
4. Zonbu
I have used both the desktop and laptop versions of the the Zonbu hybrid computing system and I can attest that these pieces of hardware are some of the greenest computers I have ever experienced.
The Zonbu laptop's battery life is among the best I have encountered on a notebook — especially when running a lightweight desktop such as Enlightenment.
And the Zonbu Mini is like a netbook for your desktop. Zonbu's Elastic Drive is effectively remote storage. There is no extra hardware to buy or to throw away when it fails. And the Zonbu operating system is Energy Star compliant and optimised for low power consumption.
5. Money savings
This point may not seem green, but you can use the money you save using Linux to green up other aspects of your business or home.
Also, because you are not spending money on boxed software, you are not increasing the carbon footprint of the companies that put CDs and printed licence agreements — which no-one will read anyway — in shrink-wrapped boxes, and ship them via smoke-belching trucks. Instead, just download an ISO image of a Linux distribution, or binary of an application, and install it. No waste. No guilt.
6. Fewer energy-demanding desktops
If you are like me, you enjoy using alternative desktops. With nearly every laptop I use, one of the first things I do is install Enlightenment because it uses far less CPU power, and hence far less energy, than Gnome or K Desktop Environment (KDE).
Using these desktops has another benefit. Because they will use fewer CPU cycles, they could, theoretically, extend the life of your machine. But even though...
...these desktops will require fewer resources, do not be tricked into using less RAM. Less RAM means more disk-swapping, and more disk-swapping consumes more energy.
7. Custom-compiled kernels
If you have the skills to be able to undertake kernel compilation, you can roll your own kernel to fit your hardware perfectly. With a good kernel compilation, you can take out services and features you do not need and add in services you want, such as the tickless kernel.
Naturally, many Linux users have never compiled a kernel. But if you have not, you should look into it. It is a real treat to have compiled your own kernel on your system.
8. KPowersave, ACPI and other power-saving tools
Some laptops will suspend and hibernate out of the box with Linux. But for others, this issue can be a real head-scratcher. Having a laptop that will not suspend or hibernate is nothing more than a waste of power and battery life.
Fortunately, tools are available to help you solve these problems, such as KPowersave. Such tools provide a simple view of the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) that will help you understand why your laptop will not suspend or hibernate.
9. Migration from Windows Server
Red Hat Linux has beaten Windows Server 2008 in 13 out of 16 power-consumption tests. These benchmarks included: a set of quiescent tests without power savings applied, of which Red Hat won three out of four; in quiescent tests with power savings applied, Red Hat won four out of four; in active tests without power saving applied, Red Hat won three out of four; and in active tests with power savings applied, Red Hat won three out of four.
If you are looking for the most power-saving, greenest computing, why would you not migrate to Linux? With the ability to tune your machine to specific needs, either by installing software or compiling your kernel, you can eke out every drop of power.
With Windows, however, you take what you get and hope Microsoft has tuned the kernel to save as much energy as possible. If not, your best option is to find efficient hardware on which to run the operating system.
10. Run only the processes you need
This point should be a no-brainer. There are always background processes you do not need, with Bluetooth always one of the main culprits.
To find out which services are running, issue the chkconfig --list command, which will list every running service on your machine. You can dig through this listing to find all the services you do not need. For instance, if you are running a desktop machine and you see laptop-mode listed, you can kill that service. And there might well be plenty of other unnecessary services.
Greener still?
I hope that after reading this, you will find that green computing is much easier with Linux than it is with Windows. What do you think? Have you gone green? If so, have you gone green with Linux? Or have you managed to green up your PCs with Windows? Let us know.
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