Cloud Computing Helps Reduce E-Waste

Cloud Computing Helps Reduce E-Wastes

Project Description

Personal Resources and Project Plan

Implementation Plan

Project Budget and Business Plan

The Vancouver City Council recently approved a policy requiring all new building rezoning to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standard. This change is expected to be implemented from January 31, 2011 onwards, and is estimated to result in creating new green buildings annually, thus automatically creating new green job opportunities in the city. Hence, keeping the city council's plans in mind, this project is aimed towards creating Sustainable Community Development, Faculty of Environment. The topic chosen for the business plan is based on the concept of Cloud Computing and how it helps in reducing emissions of electronic waste (E-wastes). The entire project is based upon installing of an integrated cloud computing system to a 36 level high-rise condo Burnaby, BC.

Upon approval, this project will not only be beneficial to my real estate company, but also prove to be a great asset for the Canadian Government along with other well-known bodies such as Environment Canada (EC) and Waste Reduction and Management Division (WRMD) Moreover, I expect complete support from these environmental bodies as they have been involved in the Basel Convention Law, an international treaty which aims to reduce the amount of e-waste being transported to developing countries. However, on the contrary the Electronics Stewardship Association of British Columbia (ESABC) and Western Canada Computer Industry Association (WCCIA), these two organizations may not be quite happy for my project, because they receive a monthly fee from the computer producers based on the number of item sold.

General Project Overview

Project Overview

To install an integrated cloud computing system to a 36 level high-rise condo named Centre Strada near Metrotown, Burnaby, BC. This project will be in line with Vancouver City Council's policies towards building establishments that meets the Leed Gold Standards.

Mission and Vision

Vision: To be the pioneers in providing cost efficient standard of living.

Mission: To reduce the emission of E-Wastes and raise the living standards of clients towards a 21st century high-end technology

Strengths and Core Competencies

A reduction in demand for purchasing new electronic devices.

A reduction in the emission of e-wastes thus protecting the global environment.

Owner's own commitment and dedication towards the project.

Lower costs in comparison to competitors

Challenges

As Cloud Computing is a relatively new technology and still in its testing phase, thus it has to deal with pressure from competitors within the existing field. Nevertheless, the project will be strongly supported by the Vancouver Government and the BC Government.

Project Description

Introduction

"Cloud Computing" is one of the recently growing niches gaining popularity around the world. It is a type of a technology that permits users to access certain applications on any of the computers. These applications however need not be installed on their computers, instead the users can easily avail them at their disposal through the Internet.

Electronic waste, or more commonly referred to as e-waste, is electronic equipment that no longer serves a useful purpose and is thus discarded. Many e-wastes contain lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury and brominate flame retardants, which are all not only significantly dangerous to recycle workers, communities but are also deadly toxic to the entire global environment. According to the United Nations Environment Program estimates more than 20 to 50 million tones of electronic waste are generated each year worldwide, as North America and Europe are known to be the largest exporters of e-waste to the developing countries.

Additionally, cloud computing allows researchers to handle challenges in genome research and environmental modeling etc. It also enables researchers to access multidisciplinary research needed to better understand ecosystems, global climate change, ocean currents, and other complex phenomena. (Nelson, Michael. 2009)

Cloud Computing is the newest trend in reducing e-waste, it would be a mistake to think of cloud computing as just a fad that will come and go, and therefore be obsolete in just a few years' time. Instead, cloud computing is poised to revolutionize the architectural world, much as the Internet itself did not all that long ago. At its most basic, cloud computing uses a network of servers, located globally, to store and process information for both consumers and businesses. It's an alternative to maintaining cumbersome and expensive servers or mainframes on-premises, and can therefore be accessed from any location using only a Web browser. Enterprise cloud computing can offer customer relationship management and sales force automation applications, which automate and streamline processes. (Nelson, Michael. 2009)

Thus, as a result, cloud computing allows you to send almost all of your computing tasks away from your computer, making it clutter-free and at the same time sending you back the results that you desire. (Gozzi 2010)

Proposed Project

The city of Burnaby is spread over 98.60 sq km, residing in the heart of the Great Vancouver Regional District. Being the third most populated urban centre in British Columbia, with an estimated population of 202,799, it occupies almost 4% of the land area of the Vancouver Regional District and accounted for approximately 10% of the Region's population in 2006. Burnaby is a maturing, increasingly integrated community that is centrally located within a rapidly growing metropolitan area. Burnaby's characteristic has shifted from rural to suburban to largely urban. The City features high density residential areas, major commercial town centers, rapid transit, high technology research and business parks, comprehensive industrial estates and major post-secondary institutions.

Moreover, under the insightful guidance of Mayor Derek Corrigan, the city of Burnaby, BC has now started taking active steps in developing a Social Sustainability Strategy in order to ensure that Burnaby will continue to be a great place to live, work and learn.

Keeping in mind, the lucrative range of benefits availed through "cloud computing," the proposed project is aimed at installing an integrated cloud computing system in a 36 level high-rise condo building called Centre Strada, which is located near Metrotown, Burnaby, BC. This building has gem room, and six levels of underground parking lot. Additionally, the key purpose of this entire project is to reduce the emission of E-wastes and at the same time simultaneously raising the clients' standard of living towards a 21st century high-end technology.

Moreover, upon approval, this project will not only be beneficial to my real estate company, but also prove to be a great asset for the Canadian Government along with other well-known bodies such as Environment Canada (EC) and Waste Reduction and Management Division (WRMD) Moreover, I expect complete support from these environmental bodies as they have been involved in the Basel Convention Law, an international treaty which aims to reduce the amount of e-waste being transported to developing countries. However, on the contrary the Electronics Stewardship Association of British Columbia (ESABC) and Western Canada Computer Industry Association (WCCIA), these two organizations may not be quite happy for my project, because they receive a monthly fee from the computer producers based on the number of item sold.

Benefits and Features

There is an old saying in China, "The first person to eat crab is a hero." This means every new thing needs to have a starter, and usually the starter will gain the most benefits. We believe, applying the cloud computing system to resident community can lead towards creating an enormous revolution in the information technology market. From the sustainable environmental aspects, adopting cloud computing system can successfully reduce the demand of purchasing new electronic devices. That will effectively reduce the emission of e-wastes, in order to protect the global environment. Due to the efficient use of the mainframe, there will also be huge amount of electricity saved. Thus, this project is intended towards power saving, space saving, e-wastes reducing and modern highly technological revolution. Apart from this some of the other prominent benefits and features of this project include: (Nelson, Michael. 2009)

Flexibility to use millions of software and databases for a variety of purposes.

Increased security where users will not have to worry about their hard drives crashing or getting stolen.

Enhanced collaborations

The ability to access the data and tools they need anywhere by easily connecting to the Internet.

Use of simpler devices as both the data and the software being used are in the clouds.

Why people need this service?

Keeping in mind the general increase in the level of prices in Canada, Vancouver, this project will now only help in cutting costs, but also open a whole new futuristic means of living for the people hence providing them with an ideal standard of living. (Appendix A)

The initial implementation plan is to set a room in the building to hold all the servers, multiple CPUs and storage devices as a Local Area Network. The hardware might be expanded to increase the performance of the entire system and satisfy terminal clients' requirements. Terminal clients only hold a simple terminal monitor with touch screen or other simple input/output devices. Thus, clients will send all requirements to the center database to process their requirement and then the processed information will be sent back to the clients' terminal. Any terminal client may purchase the necessary resources, such as functions and storage space, according to their needs. Applying the integrated cloud computing system may help people save more time, physical space, energy and even money. The most importantly, significantly reduce the amount of e-wastes, because people won't need to purchase many differentiated electronic devices, and clients' terminals will not have a short planned obsolescence.

Personal Resources and Project Plan

The proposed project is intended to be a self-funded project which I intend to lead as the project coordinator. Since my family is already associated within this field of construction, thus I feel that I am quite well-versed and equipped to handle the task. I am fully aware of the various processes; whether physical, technological, legal or even environmental that needs to be addressed while pursuing a project such as this one. I firmly believe that my experience and that of my father's will not only help me successfully accomplish this project but also give us a chance to take Vancouver to newer heights of innovation and modernization. As far as the funding for the whole project is concerned, most of the funds involved within this project will come from my father and his immigrant friends. As I have already spoken to these people, and explained to them the feasibility of this project, they understand the gains of the project and how beneficial it will be, not only to them as individuals but also to the society as a whole.

Additionally, since most of the group members are already working within this field thus they already possess the experience and have the real estate, construction, net work and engineering experience thus making the entire project quite straightforward and simple to pursue.

Cloud Computing is a really new technology and it is still in testing period, there would not be too much pressure from the competence in the same field. However, it may gain a little support from all relative technology focused companies, because, as a trial test, the result of applying Cloud Computing in resident community is also very important for these companies who want to develop on the Cloud Computing System. Nevertheless, the project will be strongly supported by Vancouver Government and BC government, even the Canada Federal Government, because this is a giant step of the human beings toward sustainable modern technology, it would also be a great honor for Canada to perform this project, no matter it successes or failed.

Cloud Computing is the goal and orientation of the development of public and private computers in the future, which is already been proved to be true throughout decays of research in information technology field. Thus, it won't be hard to find any partners who want to get involved in this project. Even though they may not gain much profit through it, this project itself is a valuable experience for them. IBM China, HP China, Ultra power, Google and 360 have cooperated with my father's engineering company in China. Due to the long history of cooperation, it will be easy to get their technical supports on our project. IBM, HP, Ultra power and Google had spent a lot of research and development on cloud computing system for a long time. They have superior experience than other computer hardware and software companies. Besides that the most concern of net security issue has been solved by 360, who performed a great job in China's public and private net security, furthermore 360 had already proved who has a better strength on Cloud Security than other companies. Thus technology is not a problem.

Furthermore, it is also been proved through recent marketing research that although the technology provider may not gain much profit from this project, but it is true that the service provider may gain some profit from proving cloud system as a service, as long as we did sufficient work on marketing and sales promotion.

Implementation Plan

Since this project is based on installation of an integrated cloud computing system to a 36 level high-rise condo named Centre Strada near Metrotown, Burnaby, BC. For this reason the emphasis is more on the technological aspect rather than considering it as an architecture project. Additionally, during the implementation phase, most of its time is expected to be consumed by technology synchronization. During this phase we understand the need to gather all the technique providers, hardware providers, service providers, electrical engineers, computer engineers, power engineers, market and sales people and project managers together to discuss how we can cooperate together to finish this work. For this purpose we are looking into a number of feasible leads. Moreover, this implementation period may take almost around a year to complete all the necessary pre-requisites.

A number of collaborative meetings will also be held amongst the various technique providers, hardware providers, service providers, electrical engineers, computer engineers, power engineers, market and sales people and project managers in order to plan the various steps involved in implementing this project. Once everyone has an agreement on each other, they may start on their own jobs. The hardware providers will delve into starting to design and make the mainframes, server machines, central control panel and terminal Clouds (clients' terminal monitors and input/output devices). Technique providers on the other hand will provide their techniques to all the Service providers. They will also arrange the physical location and prepare the supplementary equipments and services in the Centre Strada condo building. The marketing team will simultaneously start to conduct various promotions and advertisement campaigns in order to turn the project into being the focus point of the whole country, even the whole world. If necessary, a technique supervisor from the project of SAP Business ByDesign is needed, which is a Cloud project has been started in China. All of these sectors should be controlled and coordinated by the project coordinator and project manager. This whole preparation process may take maximum six-month.

Moreover, based on the interest shown by the Vancouver City Council towards adopting green policies and its inclination towards LEED Gold Standard, (which is expected to be implemented from January 31, 2011 onwards, and is estimated to result in creating new green buildings annually, thus automatically creating new green job opportunities in the city) it is expected that the council will not only be willing to accept the project with open hands but also lend its full supporting hand in the project and even provide as much assistance as required.

The initial implementation plan is to set a room in the building to hold all the servers, multiple CPUs and storage devices as a Local Area Network. The hardware might be expanded to increase the performance of the entire system and satisfy terminal clients' requirements. Terminal clients only hold a simple terminal monitor with touch screen or other simple input/output devices. Thus, clients will send all requirements to the center database to process their requirement and then the processed information will be sent back to the clients' terminal. Any terminal client may purchase the necessary resources, such as functions and storage space, according to their needs. Applying the integrated cloud computing system may help people save more time, physical space, energy and even money. The most importantly, significantly reduce the amount of e-wastes, because people won't need to purchase many differentiated electronic devices, and clients' terminals will not have a short planned obsolescence.

During the course of the implementation, immense support is expected from Government of Canada, Environment Canada (EC) and Waste Reduction and Management Division (WRMD), since in 1989, they had present and signed the Basel Convention Law, an international treaty which aims to reduce the amount of e-waste being transported to developing countries. However, Electronics Stewardship Association of British Columbia (ESABC) and Western Canada Computer Industry Association (WCCIA), these two organizations may not be quite happy for my project, because they receive a monthly fee from the computer producers based on the number of item sold.