On the Sustainability of Virtual Platforms: A Behavioral Intervention

The energy required to supply data centers today is estimated to be around 1% of the global demand of electricity, with the cloud computing paradigm being the main driver of computing demand. Leading cloud providers are already making efforts to reduce energy expenditure of their data cen...

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Main Authors: Borja Martinez, Xavier Vilajosana
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2022-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9733927/
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author Borja Martinez
Xavier Vilajosana
author_facet Borja Martinez
Xavier Vilajosana
author_sort Borja Martinez
collection DOAJ
description The energy required to supply data centers today is estimated to be around 1% of the global demand of electricity, with the cloud computing paradigm being the main driver of computing demand. Leading cloud providers are already making efforts to reduce energy expenditure of their data centers. However, the role that online platform operators and end-users can play towards a more sustainable cloud is still unclear. In this article, we raise the question whether making end users aware of their impact on cloud energy expenditure leads to more efficient use of the platforms. Focusing on non-retail platforms, we have run an A/B test in the Virtual Campus of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), one of the biggest online universities worldwide. In this intervention, we show the test group real-time information about the energy consumption of the platform, as well as tips on how to reduce it. Alongside, we monitor user behavior in terms of session duration and volume of traffic generated. Our results reveal that users who received this information did not change their behavior significantly. This result encourages us to find alternative ways to reduce the energy impact associated with the platform without the active participation of the end user, such as a more intelligent session management in conjunction with auto-scaling tools.
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spelling doaj.art-fcfa02fa29af4f4db687663fff6cf3bb2022-12-21T22:51:24ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362022-01-0110291942920610.1109/ACCESS.2022.31592429733927On the Sustainability of Virtual Platforms: A Behavioral InterventionBorja Martinez0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8996-9058Xavier Vilajosana1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3020-427XIN3, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, SpainIN3, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, SpainThe energy required to supply data centers today is estimated to be around 1% of the global demand of electricity, with the cloud computing paradigm being the main driver of computing demand. Leading cloud providers are already making efforts to reduce energy expenditure of their data centers. However, the role that online platform operators and end-users can play towards a more sustainable cloud is still unclear. In this article, we raise the question whether making end users aware of their impact on cloud energy expenditure leads to more efficient use of the platforms. Focusing on non-retail platforms, we have run an A/B test in the Virtual Campus of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), one of the biggest online universities worldwide. In this intervention, we show the test group real-time information about the energy consumption of the platform, as well as tips on how to reduce it. Alongside, we monitor user behavior in terms of session duration and volume of traffic generated. Our results reveal that users who received this information did not change their behavior significantly. This result encourages us to find alternative ways to reduce the energy impact associated with the platform without the active participation of the end user, such as a more intelligent session management in conjunction with auto-scaling tools.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9733927/Cloud sustainabilityenvironmental impactvirtual platformcloud platform
spellingShingle Borja Martinez
Xavier Vilajosana
On the Sustainability of Virtual Platforms: A Behavioral Intervention
IEEE Access
Cloud sustainability
environmental impact
virtual platform
cloud platform
title On the Sustainability of Virtual Platforms: A Behavioral Intervention
title_full On the Sustainability of Virtual Platforms: A Behavioral Intervention
title_fullStr On the Sustainability of Virtual Platforms: A Behavioral Intervention
title_full_unstemmed On the Sustainability of Virtual Platforms: A Behavioral Intervention
title_short On the Sustainability of Virtual Platforms: A Behavioral Intervention
title_sort on the sustainability of virtual platforms a behavioral intervention
topic Cloud sustainability
environmental impact
virtual platform
cloud platform
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9733927/
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