Cloud Services Environmental Impact Evaluation: A better vision of cloud usage benefits and consequences.

Abstract

This thesis focuses on evaluating Cloud computing and services and their possible impact on the environment, offering an overview of the benefits and drawbacks of cloud usage.

To support the evaluation of a cloud service, a literature survey of energy sources, Data center architecture, practices, equipment, and usage of cloud has been realized. It results in an evaluation framework, providing a set of criteria to be fulfilled to reach a low environmental score. This evaluation is aiming to avoid green washing or misleading use of the Green Cloud Computing qualification, taking into account the entire spectrum of cloud computing services and their possible impact (from energy source to user data).

From problem to actions, passing by evaluation and future advancement, this work is providing a full framework to rate and answer environmental problems caused by cloud services.