Cloud computing made it possible for small scale businesses to enjoy benefits like mail servers, storage systems etc., without any physical infrastructure. According to wikipedia cloud computing is defined as follows:
“Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort”.
On demand availability of resources, flexibility, scalability, efficiency, economical are few characteristics of cloud computing services. Cloud computing services are provided according to different service models.
Software as a Service(SaaS):
In this model, users gain access to a specific application or service. Users access this application only when needed and pay as per use. The software is installed by the cloud providers. Cloud users access the software from cloud clients. This makes it convenient for the users to use the application.
Platform as a Service(PaaS):
This model provides users an environment to develop and run applications without any software and hardware constraints. Both hardware and software resources are allocated automatically.
Infrastructure as a Service(IaaS):
This model provides users virtual machines along with many other resources like servers, storage, load balancer etc., for installing operating systems and deploying applications in the cloud infrastructure. Users are charged depending upon the resources allocated and consumed.
Hope this information helps you in choosing the right service model depending upon your requirement. Now, need not buy physical infrastructure for short term projects, instead you can choose from the above and pay only for the amount of resources utilized.
The need for alternative energy sources which do not produce more carbon is increasing. This is because there is increase in energy demands and a decrease in energy producing resources. Following are few alternatives for producing energy:
Solar power in space:
Wireless electricity can be transferred to Earth’s surface from the solar panels which are to be placed on a layer above the planet. The main limitations for implementing this alternate source of energy involves cost for wireless electricity transmission, protecting the panels from longer periods of radiation, cost for setting up the equipment in the orbit etc.
Solar Wind:
There are enormous number of charged particles in the solar wind produced by sun at very high speeds which can be used to generate electricity. This requires huge solar sail and charged wire. Electricity is generated when wind passes along it. The amount of electricity generated is dependent on the size of the solar sail deployed.
Dance Floor:
Applying compression force on certain kind of particles produces piezoelectricity. Piezoelectric crystals are attached to surfaces which are moving and smaller amounts of energy is generated. Piezoelectric harvesting technologies can be found in places like underground stations, nightclubs, gyms etc. Kinetic energy generated in this places is converted into piezoelectricity.
Harvesting the heat produced by body:
Huge amounts of heat is trapped in metro systems. There is a lot of temperature differential created by travellers who are sealed in insulated environment of the metro. Heat produced can be converted into electricity for local homes, apartments and businesses.
Speed bumps:
Electro-kinetic road ramps can be installed. Every ramp should have metal plates which are compressed when a vehicle passes and should turn on an internal generator. The amount of energy produced will depend on the weight of passing vehicle.
Sugar:
The metabolic burden on all microbes is evenly distributed as every microbe has unique functions and responsibilities. This helps in increasing the transmission efficiency and generates more electricity. Microbes live on organic substances. This concept motivated a team of Chinese students for developing an electricity generation platform which produces the same electricity output as lithium battery. This has more battery life, cost efficient and doesn’t emit any harmful substances.
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