Abstract

The IoT ecosystem, cloud services, and data centers have contributed to the exponential growth of Internet traffic and energy consumption worldwide. In this regard, the paper introduces GEAR (Green Energy Aware Routing) a new protocol design framework aimed at the development of sustainable architectures for an energy-efficient Internet. GEAR features a hybrid optimization model which makes adaptive routing decisions in relation to node/link utilization, available energy (residual and renewable), and current energy status across nodes. The proposed model uses a multi-objective cost function to optimize total energy consumption alongside performance metrics such as latency or throughput. By embedding energy awareness into routing control algorithms, energy aware adaptive control is implemented as intra-domain (green OSPF extensions) and inter-domain (modified BGP path announcements with energy annotations). The control plane SDN is used for overall network visibility and real-time dynamic reconfiguration while control on the data plane is applied using headers tagged with relevant energetic information. Using NS-3 and Mininet simulations showed that total system’s energy expenditures were reduced by 37.5% compared to systems using OSPF/BGP competing routing protocols configured under static conditions without deterioration of Quality-of-Service parameters. Moreover, the protocol shows adaptability to changes in energy and load conditions, attaining improved metrics of 22% greater utilization of renewable energy sources alongside a 15% enhancement in network lifetime usage for battery-supported edge routers. Ascertaining this goal enables attainment of regionally distributable, SDN-compatible infrastructures that realign network-centric protocols with eco-friendly computing paradigms and moves towards carbon-neutral Internet frameworks.