Green IO Newsletter - June 2024
Building a greener digital world, one byte at a time
Hello responsible technologist!
I was recently asked about the true value of embracing an eco-design approach and I came up with some thoughts which I gratefully share with you this month.
Humility. This adjective is not the one we most spontaneously attribute to digital companies or people working in this sector...
Without even mentioning ego battles, or improper investments in technologies with very marginal utility in light of the current crises, the dominant presupposition of our "Tech" culture is that any problem has a solution, and it is preferably digital. Yet, any experienced Product Manager or UX researcher knows that assessing how much their own users understand is not an exact science. Yesterday's certainties are today's mistakes, and many difficulties have no obvious or unique answers.
So, in an open address to all digital designers of tomorrow, this humility is a quality that must accompany our efforts to reduce our environmental footprint, and it starts with eco-design. Understanding these environmental impacts means discovering a non-linear world of complexity, made difficult to read by the multiplicity of cross interactions.
For example, the "chasing the sun" approach. This encourages cloud-ops to transfer computer processing to geographical areas where electricity is particularly low-carbon. Yet this technique has had the knock-on effect of significant pollution transfers to the United States, as the increase in data centers located in sunny areas has led to increased water usage and pollution in areas already experiencing high levels of water stress.
Concerning hardware, the accelerated renewal of IT equipment for more energy-efficient models often overlooks the embodied carbon of the equipment, and so carbon footprints present a negative balance, even in countries where electricity is carbon intense.
And what about the inherent dilemmas faced by a DSP team focused on developing a frugal and low-carbon algorithm, yet the overall business aim is that of optimizing sales for a fast-fashion brand?
Even the statistics and calculations that we use are up for discussion. Does our sector emit between 2.1 and 3.9% of global GHGs (according to the last meta-study of 2021), or significantly more, perhaps 4% or even 5%? It all depends on the scope and boundaries used, as for example, the OECD's strict definition of "digital" does not include the explosion of digital components in the automotive industry or general household goods.
For the main part, dealing with this systemic imbalance means there is no “one size fits all” for solutions, because there are a multitude of actions that can support and guide us towards a new point of equilibrium.
Understanding the context of our digital services, measuring and understanding orders of magnitude, sharing tools and courses of action, taking inspiration from successes and failures, testing and adapting, this is the spirit of an eco-design approach. Fortunately, its adoption is accelerating, allowing the ever-evolving development and dissemination of good practices, as we continue on our constant journey of understanding. Positive effects are beginning to appear in some companies. For example one of the top 10 French web sites is now practicing soft disabling to reduce the weight of a homepage; for teams adopting GreenOps, 40-50% reductions in GHG emissions related to hosting are becoming more frequent; French consultants are embracing the internal challenge to decipher which developments will have the best score based on the RGESN (Référentiel général d'écoconception de services numériques-Eco-Design Framework for Digital Services); and an upcoming famous French online dating application has seen its GHG emissions decrease in absolute value for 2 years. Such examples are inspirational to others, helping drive this positive change.
However, the main interest of an eco-design approach is that is has much wider ramifications. It is often the first, welcome step to a more global reflection. By allowing teams to get their hands dirty, test and experiment, eco-design makes it possible to grapple with the complexity of the environmental subjects, the dizzying questions of frugality, the usefulness of certain digital services or even the perennity of certain business models. We are not all born Marc Jancovici, but many can follow his exploratory journey. Knowing that what remains to be discovered is surely greater than what we have already understood.
I must confess, too, that my nascent understanding of the biodiversity crisis challenges my existing mental models, which have mainly been built around climate issues and resource depletion. And I must admit that I procrastinated an awful lot before I became interested in the subject, because this journey is anything but linear and regular. It shows that the important thing is to initiate the process of openness to the complexity of our environment.
Tech workers, usually well-educated, often curious and anxious to act positively on the world, have every interest in seizing the eco-design approach to make it their entry point to the "world of tomorrow". These multiple positive feedback loops described above, as they are known in the systems approach, are proof that acting on and within a system is possible, and although our digital world is complex, to say the least, every well-thought-out action really does count.
Without hubris and in all humility,
Gaël DUEZ
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What’s been happening this month in Green IO?
🎙️ Podcast episodes
#40 “Nordic way of applying digital sustainability“ with Satu Heikinheimo and Janne Kalliola. Listen | Read
#41 “Decarbonizing AWS“ with Adrian Cockcroft. Listen | Read
#42 “Decarbonizing Tech - insights from CTOs“ with Ludi Akue and Owen Rogers. Release date: July 2nd.
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🎤 Green IO conferences
London, September 19th, 2024
This year we intend to bring together an amazing community of responsible technologists. Check out the line-up and get your tickets here (use the voucher GREENIOVIP to get your free pass).
Paris, December 4th-5th, 2024
The most comprehensive program combining experts and use-cases worldwide. Check the line-up and get early bird tickets - until September 4th - here.
Singapore 2025, April (exact dates tba)
A second edition to boost digital sustainability in SEA - date to be announced soon, with program to follow.
New-York 2025, date tba
It is looking likely that Green IO will host its first conference in North America in 2025. Drop us an email at contact@greenio.com if you want to get involved.
Be part of the Green IO conference adventure
We are always looking for great speakers with inspiring stories or hands-on use cases. Apply to be a speaker via our Apidays partner here. You can also become a Green IO volunteer with tons of perks such as free tickets and networking opportunities. And it’s great fun too. Check out the volunteer cheat sheet here.
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# Listen # Watch # Read # Study # Participate # Attend # Tool-up
What else has popped up on our Tech & Sustainability radar?
# Listen… We’re all ears
Environment Variables June podcast navigates GreenOps, DevOps, and FinOps, and calls for green software principles to fortify AI systems while minimizing energy use. Zooming out on a broader scale, it is worthwhile revisiting the Sustainability Agenda podcast about reshaping capitalism, where Sir Ronald Cohen is hugely optimistic about the work being done today on measuring impact, notably the Harvard Business School IWA impact weighted accounts project—making the connection between market value and pollution explicit.
# Watch… Sometimes video is worth its environmental footprint
Sacha Luccioni’s work on energy star ratings for AI models provides a tool for users to select and deploy AI models based on energy efficiency, whilst Paris Marx reflects on how much computation we actually need to build a better world.
# Read… Our coffee break reading this month
An interesting piece on values and how to avoid bias in systems and methods, outlining practical steps for designing systems for a responsible digital future, and Wholegrain Digital’s piece on a more humane web emphasizes the importance of leading with values. Plus how the NVDA screen reader has helped empower a new generation of blind and low-vision developers.
Bonus: Our voices count! Following a massive public mobilization, the EU council seals the deal on Nature restoration.
# Study… We’re never too old to learn
Can LLMs become moral experts, assisting humans in moral guidance and decision making? And follow the outcomes of the UNESCO Policy Dialogue on AI Governance which brings together top AI experts to propose solutions for an ethical AI ecosystem and which complements the Global AI Ethics & Governance Obesrvatory, and the existing Responsible Technology Playbook (2023). Plus, measuring AI openness through an evidence-based framework to help foster a GenAI landscape where regulation and accountability play their due parts. Finally, a range of informative papers from the Tenth Workshop of Computing within Limits held early this month, including sessions on digital futures within limits and computing for the energy transition.
# Participate… One byte at a time
The 12th AIB-MENA Conference (December 16th-18th, 2024 in the UAE) has issued a call for research or short papers on ‘Innovating for sustainability in a global and digital world’. On the hardware side of things, there is still time to participate to the EU public consultation on eco-design requirements for computers which ends on July 18th 2024.
# Attend… Meet fellow responsible technologists
Hot Carbon 9th July, Santa Cruz (USA)
# Tools… Skill-up for a sustainable future
GenAI Impact’s EcoLogits calculator provides a simple and flexible way to estimate the environmental impacts of GenAI models. The W3C Sustainability Group releases draft n°7 of the Web Sustainability Guidelines. And one last thing, the Sustainable Web Design Model, one of the most used worldwide, has been updated to v4.
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One last (positive) thought…
Making pollution visible to the naked eye: Data from calibrated low-cost particulate matter (PM) sensors is used to measure and depict air pollution. The photographs produced are used as a proxy to communicate and create dialogues, spaces and places about air pollution. Code for the light painting photo technique can be found here on a GitHub repository.
See you next month!
Gaël DUEZ, Jill TELLIER & the Green IO Team