Carbon Footprint Control for Cloud Resource Consumption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Companies using cloud resources lack visibility into their carbon footprint and environmental impact, as cloud providers do not provide detailed carbon footprint information, making it difficult for organizations to fulfill their corporate social responsibility of reducing carbon emissions.
Innovation Solution
A system that allows cloud consumer organizations to set carbon footprint caps based on sustainability targets, using a publish-subscribe platform to select optimized cloud resources that meet resource requirements while keeping carbon emissions within the set cap, and dynamically adjust resource allocation to maintain compliance with these targets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If cloud service providers do not provide carbon footprint details, then device complexity is reduced, but loss of information increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component that collects carbon footprint data from cloud service providers and presents it to cloud consumers in a standardized format. This intermediary layer shields cloud service providers from the complexity of direct carbon data management while ensuring transparency of carbon footprint information to consumers, thereby resolving the contradiction between reduced provider complexity and information transparency.
2Measurement precision
If cloud consumers require detailed carbon footprint information, then measurement precision increases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the carbon footprint management system into distinct modular components: data collection modules at cloud service providers, aggregation modules at the platform level, and presentation modules at cloud consumer interfaces. Each segment handles specific tasks with defined interfaces, enabling precise carbon footprint measurement while distributing system complexity across multiple manageable components rather than concentrating it in a single complex system.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If cloud consumers dynamically adjust resource allocation to meet carbon targets, then object-generated harmful factors decrease, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-calculating and storing carbon footprint data for different cloud resource configurations and workload scenarios. When cloud consumers need to adjust resources to meet carbon targets, the system can quickly query pre-computed data and generate optimization recommendations without performing real-time carbon calculations, thereby reducing the time required for dynamic resource allocation while maintaining accurate carbon emission control.
Data Source
AI summary
An approach is provided for determining a carbon footprint-based consumption of cloud resources. Cloud resource requirements and a carbon footprint cap of a workload of a cloud consumer are received. The requirements and cap are based on a sustainability target, published by the cloud consumer, and subscribed by cloud service providers. A list of cloud resources that satisfy the requirements are sent. Carbon emission values of the cloud resources at different load levels of the workload are sent. Based on a service level agreement requirement, a criticality level, and a peak load duration of the workload, and previous success rates of satisfying cloud resource requirements by cloud service providers, an optimized configuration of cloud resource(s) and cloud service provider(s) is selected. The cloud resource(s) are selected from the list and have a carbon footprint that does not exceed the cap at a given load level.