Towards emerging green information and communication technologies: a review

Though the ICT industry has been one of the fastest growing industries in many countries over the past years, its relationship with the natural environment has not been given much consideration. This growing industry has as main negative impact on the environment, climate change in the form of global warming, caused by the emissions of carbon in the air. In order to minimize the harms caused by the growing IT industry on the environment, Green ICT is an emerging solution which is increasingly being adopted by businesses and computer users. Green ICT refers to environmentally sustainable computing and is a discipline that studies, develops and promotes environmentally friendly and resource-efficient ICT products over their entire life cycle. This paper discusses the effects of the growing IT industry on the environment along with a review of emerging green information and communications technologies and best practices which will shape the future of computing at home and in businesses.