PresentationsAn Introduction to Green Software
Abstract
This talk explores the critical role software engineers play in addressing climate change through sustainable development practices. Beginning with historical environmental successes like acid rain reduction and ozone layer protection, the presentation establishes that meaningful progress is possible when we take collective action.
The session examines the IT industry’s substantial carbon footprint, with global data centres consuming 240 to 340 terawatt hours annually (approximately 1 to 1.3% of global electricity demand), rising to around 700 terawatt hours when transmission networks are included. This places the industry’s energy consumption on a par with countries like Brazil, or the entire global aviation sector.
Students will learn practical strategies for reducing software’s environmental impact, including:
- Understanding Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions in IT contexts
- Optimising server utilisation (targeting >50%) and eliminating ‘zombie’ machines
- Implementing ‘LightSwitchOps’ for non-production environments
- Applying carbon-aware computing through demand shifting
- Leveraging measurement tools like Kepler, cloud provider dashboards and Carbon Aware SDKK
- Reducing AI/ML training emissions
Slides
Resources
Data sources:
Sulphur dioxide emissions
Ozone layer
Hockey stick
Cost of low carbon technology
Google 24/7 by 2030
Apple iPhone 14 environmental report
Energy proportionality
Microsoft sustainability report
Google sustainability report
Putting a CO2 figure on a piece of computation
Assessment tools:
Maturity matrix
Measurement:
GSF measurement guide and formula
Kepler (Kubernetes Efficient Power Level Exporter)
Electricity Maps
Cloud Carbon Footprint
AWS Customer Carbon Footprint Tool
Azure Emissions Impact Dashboard
Google Carbon Footprint
Demand shifting and shaping:
What are demand shifting and shaping?
Google case study
Windows 11 case study
XBOX case study
Apple clean energy charging
AI:
AI Consumes Lots of Energy. Can It Ever Be Sustainable?
Speculative Decoding
Books:
The Developer's Guide to Cloud Infrastructure, Efficiency and Sustainability by Charles Humble
Kubernetes at the Edge: Container Orchestration at Scale by Charles Humble
Building Green Software by Anne Currie, Sarah Hsu, Sara Bergman
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates
Not the End of the World by Hannah Richie
