Without doubt, software is the backbone of virtually all the intelligent solutions designed to support the environment. It’s critical, for example, in efforts to tackle deforestation and reduce emissions. In many instances, however, software is also part and parcel of a rapidly growing carbon footprint. In fact, recent and proliferating digital technologies have begun to worsen many of the environmental problems they are aimed at solving. But companies can make software an integral part of their sustainability efforts by taking its carbon footprint into account in the way it is designed, developed, and deployed and by rethinking some aspects of how the data centers that provide cloud-based services operate.
How Green Is Your Software?
Data centers will consume 8% of the world’s energy by the end of the decade.
September 18, 2020
Illustration by Ricardo Tomás
Summary.
The way software is designed, developed, and deployed can have a major impact on energy consumption. Accordingly, companies should include software in their sustainability efforts. They should articulate a strategy that guides trade-offs and allows for flexibility, review and refine the software development life cycle, and use “sustainable” software to make cloud-based data centers greener.