Linnaeus University joins Green Software Foundation to promote green software and combat climate change
There are two ways to view software in terms of climate change: software as part of the climate problem and software as part of the climate solution. Linnaeus University wants to be part of the climate solution and is now taking an important step towards green transition by joining the Green Software Foundation (GSF).
All software consumes electricity, from the applications on mobile phones to the training of machine learning models in data centres. Much of our electricity is produced through the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, which leads to high carbon emissions. Therefore, it is important to increase awareness of how electricity production affects the environment and how software usage can contribute to decreasing carbon emissions. This includes things like energy efficiency and how software can be optimised to use less hardware resources, as well as thinking about sustainability throughout the hardware lifecycle – from production to disposal.
The Green Software Foundation (GSF) aims to create a reliable infrastructure of people, standards, tools, and best practices for building green software on a larger scale. GSF is a non-profit organisation created for people in the software industry. They have members from non-profit, profit-driven, and academic organisations in all sectors around the world. Linnaeus University has been a member since January 2023, primarily through the Department of Computer Science and Media Technology and the EReS research group.
“Despite the great interest in sustainability, the public is often unaware that the software we use every day, including AI, cryptocurrencies, and audio, video and gaming streaming services, accounts for a large part of carbon emissions. We are convinced that we need a paradigm shift in how we design and operate software”, says Mauro Caporuscio, professor of computer science at Linnaeus University.
GSF wants to make software part of the climate solution, instead of it being part of the problem. They focus on reducing software's negative impact on the climate by reducing the emissions caused by software.
“We want to create software that emits as little carbon as possible, so we are trying to make it more energy-efficient”, Caporuscio continues.
Other factors that can affect carbon emissions include how to create software that performs more when the electricity is cleaner and less when the electricity is dirtier, to create software that uses fewer hardware resources, and to measure software's impact on sustainability.
The university will help promote green software through research projects, education, and events. We will also collaborate with industrial partners.
“We welcome anyone interested in taking part in this work for the green transition, to contact us. By having a sustainability perspective on software development and usage, we can reduce our environmental impact and contribute to a better future. Linnaeus University aims to drive the research frontier forward by turning sustainability from an afterthought, which is the current practice, to being a primary and integrated concern for software”, Caporuscio concludes.
Learn more about the work within Green Software Foundation
The GSF work consists of four working groups that focus on different parts of the vision:
- Standards – The Green Software Foundation will develop standards for green software that can be implemented on commonly used computer platforms in both developed and developing regions.
- Innovation – Direct research with open source code, open data and academic research in areas that promote green software. Sponsor key projects with open source code and open data to build confidence that they will be supported and maintained in the long term.
- Community – Facilitate wide adoption of Green Software standards and best practices by creating partnerships, content, events, and programs. Ensure diverse stakeholder participation in the development and implementation of green software.
- Brand – Ensure that the foundation's brands are used correctly and in contexts that do not diminish the foundation's value. Define guidance on when, how, and in what context the foundation's brands can be used.
Contact
Mauro Caporuscio, professor of computer science, phone: +4676-102 30 75, email: mauro.caporuscio@lnu.se