Examining power consumption in Linux
Green IT

How much power is your system really using? And how much can you actually save with the new generation of energy-conserving techniques and components? This month we study the phenomenon known as Green IT.
The new mobile work life and the rising cost of energy have caused a flurry of innovations to promote efficiency and reduce consumption. Laptop users want more life in a single charge, and IT managers want lower electricity bills for the server room. Much of the story with the power-saving movement is about virtualization, which we have already covered in several previous issues – and will surely cover again. This month, we decided to study some other pieces of the puzzle. Our primary focus is on energy use in the life of an everyday PC, however, we do return to the virtualization topic with our study of the phenomenon known as cloud computing.
In the leadoff article, Karsten Reich looks at some techniques for reducing power use. You'll learn which components use the most power, and we'll show you some tips for minimizing power usage.
Our next article turns to the server room for a look at cloud computing with Amazon's Elastic Computer Cloud (EC2). The recent phenomenon of cloud computing is causing a stir throughout the world of IT. By leasing virtual server space on an as-needed basis, you can operate your home network with fewer resources, thus saving power and equipment costs, and still provide the capacity for peak usage moments. Dan Frost offers a practical look at how to get started with creating and uploading a Linux image for Amazon's Elastic Cloud.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.