Patent attributes
Energy-aware configurations can be utilized to operate a network based on sustainability-related metrics. In many embodiments, a suitable device includes a processor, a memory commutatively coupled to the processor, a plurality of elements, a communication port, and an energy-aware topology logic configured to collect topology data from one or more network devices, wherein each of the one or more network devices include a plurality of elements. The energy-aware topology logic can receive power source data and power usage data related to plurality of elements and generate an element energy coefficient (EEC) for a plurality of elements. Subsequently, the energy-aware topology logic can also generate an energy-aware configuration for at least one of the one or more network devices, and then pass the generated energy-aware configuration to the at least one network device, wherein the energy-aware configuration is configured to steer traffic based on at least one sustainability-related metric.