Green cloud computing

Cloud computing is offering utility oriented IT services to users worldwide. It enables hosting of applications from consumer, scientific and business domains. However data centre hosting cloud computing applications consume huge amounts of energy, thereby contributing to high operational costs and carbon footprints to the environment. With energy shortages and global climate change leading our concerns these days, the power consumption of data centers has become a key issue. Thus, we are in need of green cloud computing solutions that cannot only save energy, but also reduce operational costs. The vision for energy efficient management of cloud computing environments is presented here. A green scheduling algorithm which works by powering down servers when they are not in use is also presented.