Software has an impact on climate change, say Martin Lippert and Ben Linders. “The more you look into the details of software, the more aspects you identify that cause greenhouse gas emissions — directly or indirectly.” For example, they note:
- The hardware that is used to run software must be manufactured.
- The data center that runs the software must be powered and cooled.
- Data must be transferred over the network.
Thus, they say, software engineers can contribute to the fight against climate change in seemingly small ways that add up to a larger impact.
This article examines basic ways that engineers can reduce energy use when creating and running software, such as:
- Deleting workloads that are no longer used.
- Running workloads only when necessary.
- Moving workloads to a low carbon location and time.
- Using fewer resources for your workload.
Learn more at InfoQ.
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