Energy and Resource Modeling: A Comparative Analysis of Containers and Virtual Machines

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative analysis of energy and resource utilization between
containers and virtual machines (VMs), technologies essential for modern cloud computing
environments. Containers, lightweight virtualization solutions, enable rapid deployment, efficient
scaling, and reduced overhead by sharing the host OS kernel, making them ideal for
microservices and agile development workflows. Conversely, VMs offer enhanced security and
isolation by virtualizing entire operating systems, suiting multi-tenant and legacy applications.
Through mathematical modeling, this study quantifies the differences in energy consumption and
resource efficiency of these technologies. The models utilize variables such as CPU and RAM
usage and server load to assess each technology's performance in various scenarios. Results
from simulations indicate that containers can significantly reduce infrastructure costs by
optimizing resource allocation. A sample calculation for VMs and containers was performed to
assess resource and energy demands. The results indicate that running 10 VMs requires 9.2%
more CPU resources, and 12.5% more RAM compared to containers. In terms of energy
consumption, VMs require 82% more energy than an equivalent setup of 10 containers.