A Systematic Survey on Energy-Efficient Techniques in Sustainable Cloud Computing

TLDR

Data centers consume vast energy from fossil‑fuel power plants, driving global warming and environmental harm, prompting a shift toward energy‑optimization and green computing. This study systematically maps the impact of high energy consumption in cloud data centers on the environment and reviews emerging green cloud computing developments. The authors analyzed 119 primary studies up to February 2022, categorizing techniques such as VM virtualization, consolidation, power‑aware, bio‑inspired, and thermal‑management methods to assess their role in reducing energy use and CO₂ footprints. Software‑level techniques dominate, requiring less infrastructure and being less failure‑prone, while the paper identifies key challenges and proposes future research directions.

Abstract

Global warming is one of the most compelling environmental threats today, as the rise in energy consumption and CO2 emission caused a dreadful impact on our environment. The data centers, computing devices, network equipment, etc., consume vast amounts of energy that the thermal power plants mainly generate. Primarily fossil fuels like coal and oils are used for energy generation in these power plants that induce various environmental problems such as global warming ozone layer depletion, which can even become the cause of premature deaths of living beings. The recent research trend has shifted towards optimizing energy consumption and green fields since the world recognized the importance of these concepts. This paper aims to conduct a complete systematic mapping analysis on the impact of high energy consumption in cloud data centers and its effect on the environment. To answer the research questions identified in this paper, one hundred nineteen primary studies published until February 2022 were considered and further categorized. Some new developments in green cloud computing and the taxonomy of various energy efficiency techniques used in data centers have also been discussed. It includes techniques like VM Virtualization and Consolidation, Power-aware, Bio-inspired methods, Thermal-management techniques, and an effort to evaluate the cloud data center’s role in reducing energy consumption and CO2 footprints. Most of the researchers proposed software level techniques as with these techniques, massive infrastructures are not required as compared with hardware techniques, and it is less prone to failure and faults. Also, we disclose some dominant problems and provide suggestions for future enhancements in green computing.