How can edge computing be used to improve sustainability? - Sustainability success (2023)

Edge computing is a term used to describe the use of distributed computing devices at the edge of the network. Edge devices are those that are close to where your services are being used, such as B. sensors, smartphones and other mobile devices. But,How edge computing can be used to improvesustainability?

Edge computing can help improve sustainability by using less energy and resources, reducing service latency, and improving the accuracy and security of data collection.

Was ist Edge-Computing?

Edge computing, also known as edge networking or distributed edge computing, is a way of processing data at the data source. It consumes less power and reduces latency compared to central servers in cloud data centers.

How can edge computing be used to improve sustainability?

Edge computing can help drive improvements across the board3 pillars of sustainability(Ö3P):

• environment
• social
• Economically.

Edge Computing and Sustainability: Now let's look at how Edge Computing can be used to improve sustainability!

1. Reduced energy consumption

Edge computing reduces the amount of data transferred to and from thea cloud, and the impact of this traffic on the network. As such,reduces operating costsfor Cloud Service Providers (CSPs).

This is especially important for more efficient use of IoT and other devices.digital transformation technologiesneeded to reach the roomIndustrial Revolutionand get everythingIndustry 4.0 advantages.

Reducing data center usage also leads to lower energy consumption and greater sustainability. In addition to reducing power consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, edge computing can save money by helping reduce cooling costs, which are often higher than other types of data center infrastructure investments.

The time required to process a request is also reduced with edge computing because there are fewer servers involved in processing requests rather than hundreds or even thousands in many different locations around the world.

Reduced costs and energy wastage mean that edge computing improves the company's economic sustainability and is more environmentally friendly by reducing its carbon footprint.

2. Reuse existing hardware

Thanks to the sustainability of edge computing, you (orreuse) existing hardware. You can use existing servers, switches, storage and software to save money and reduce your carbon footprint.

You don't necessarily have to spend time researching new technologies or building a new infrastructure from scratch. Instead of,It easily plugs into existing hardware, reducing the need to manufacture new hardware and improving sustainability.

3. Improved endurance and can work offline

Edge computing is a technology that has the potential to improve the resilience of industrial systems by enabling them to function offline. This means your system will work normally even if you don't have internet access.

For example, one company used cutting-edge computing technology to build an AI-powered solution for its warehouse workers who work in remote locations around the world. The system also works if you need to go offline for any reason.

Running your applications on nodes in a decentralized network instead of centralized servers saves money by eliminating the need for expensive data centers.

However, they also achieved some additional benefits such as: B. Greater flexibility and scalability, as well as greater security due to the redundancy provided by multiple paths between each node (thereby reducing risk and potential waste).

Sustainability is improved because in the event of a power outage, only a small portion of infrastructure is affected, reducing the potential for waste caused by the power outage itself.

4. Reduced latency enables more efficient services

Latency is the time it takes for a message to get from one point to another.For example, if you need an image of a house on Google Maps, your request must first go through servers located in different parts of the world before it reaches your destination.

Data travels between computers and devices on networks, but there are times when that data needs to be processed faster than usual to provide a service.

Edge computing reduces latency by ensuring that all processing occurs locally, close to where users live (or work).

Reduced latency allows you to build more efficient services with less waste of natural resources. For example, in food transport, sensors at the “edge” can monitor the temperature, humidity and ripeness of fruit and vegetables in real time, even when online. This data can be used to keep them at the right temperature at all times, minimizing food and energy waste.

Reducing waste by creating smarter services can help improve sustainability.

In addition, it also means less data has to travel long distances across networks before reaching its final destination; Therefore, energy consumption is reduced as less energy is used to power these servers.

5. Improved security and privacy

Edge computing is a powerful way to improve the security and privacy of your data. Edge computing allows you to store your data at the edge of a network, meaning it is not stored in a central location.

This makes it much more difficult for hackers to access your information or steal it from your device.

You may be wondering how this contributes to security and privacy: if I didn't store my data in one place, who would hack it?

The answer lies in the fact that hackers need access to multiple entry points before they can access significantly large data sets. By putting sensitive information at least partially on the edge and out of sight of outsiders, hacking is made more difficult.

This aspect of edge computing is improvingsocial sustainabilityImproving the security of personal data.

6. Scalability

Scalability is the ability to increase or decrease the capacity of a system to meet demand. Edge computing can be scaled up and down as needed, meaning it's more than just being able to handle peak traffic times.

Edge computing is scalable in terms of both hardware and software, but that doesn't mean you should scale everything at once if you don't have to!

Example: If a user has 50 GB of data stored on their device, but doesn't use all of that storage regularly (or at all), there's no reason that those extra GB should be sitting idle for someone else to do. you can do it. I also don't intend to use them any time soon. This would waste valuable energy resources and also cost money - money that could be spent elsewhere!

How does this relate to sustainability?

We are talking about using as little energy as possible, but still enabling efficient use of resources. If you store data on someone else's device and don't use it for weeks or even months, what's the point? It's better to delete it!

As a result, edge computing can make better use of resources than traditional cloud computing, saving money and energy while making the system more efficient.environmentally friendlygeneral.

Edge computing has several sustainability benefits

In summary, when used to the full, edge computing has numerous benefits and positive sustainability effects for the environment, society and the economy. As soon,How does edge computing improve sustainability?

The process of bringing cloud computing closer to users allows for more efficient use of data and energy, which can improve sustainability in all its aspects: environmental, social and economic.

Edge computing is about bringing the cloud to local devices like sensors or routers that don't have high-speed internet access.

This way you reduce your network bandwidth requirements by only uploading what is needed instead of all at once (which would require many uploads).

This reduces power consumption as less power is required. It also helps save resources like water or land by reducing unnecessary waste by generating heat from data transfers between networks within cities or across continents!

Cloud-Computing vs. Edge-Computing

Cloud computing is a centralized service while edge computing is decentralized. That means the cloud has a single point of failure and doesn't offer the same level of security as edge computing.

Edge computing isn't just about where the data comes from, it's also about how it gets there. Edge devices can connect directly to other systems via Wi-Fi or other wireless connections instead of going through a central server before reaching the destination.

This makes them more secure and efficient than traditional approaches, as they don't rely on internet infrastructure like packet-switched networks (which can be compromised).

Another benefit is better latency – whereas traditional data centers have high latency due to the long distances between servers and user devices. Edge computing offers low latencies by connecting directly over Wi-Fi or cellular networks instead of relying on the traditional Internet.

Conclusion

How can edge computing be used to improve sustainability?

Edge computing is an important step towards a more sustainable future and can be used to improve sustainability through:

• save energy– Through reduced network traffic, reduced data center requirements and locally analyzed data at the edge.
• savings measures– Existing IT infrastructure can be used as an edge computing device. In addition, reduced power consumption and cloud computing requirements also help reduce costs.
• improve security– With edge computing, data is more distributed, making it more difficult for large data sets to leak through. This can improve users' overall security by keeping their personal information more secure and reducing the economic and social problems associated with data leakage.
• Enable faster on-demand services– The availability of computing resources at the edge enables the creation of faster and more efficient services, further reducing waste and costs.
• local scalabilityenables more efficient use of resources compared to the cloud. Because compared to what they do in the cloud, users are more careful not to store useless data and overload a local device, allowing for virtually unlimited data storage.

Edge computing can be considered part of thisyou are greenand it can certainly be an interesting technology to leverage for exploitationecological responsibilityGreen Company Responsibilities.

Edge computing is also ideal for running decentralized blockchain applications.Blockchain can be used to support sustainable business practicesand also improve sustainability.

Edge computing is the next step in computing's evolution towards a more sustainable model and will help us reduce our dependency on centralized data centers and the associated costs.