Green IO Newsletter - September 2024
Building a greener digital world, one byte at a time
Hello responsible technologist!
Let’s take a moment to welcome the 260+! new readers from the Green IO London conference. In case of a mistake, please unsubscribe here, but if you want to try out our newsletter, then please read on! (you can always unsubscribe at the end of it).
Jumping straight in to the main takeaways of the 2nd edition of the Green IO London conference, here are 3 things from the talks that blew my mind:
When we click play on Netflix, we can go through 40+ devices;
The air conditioning used to keep machines cool is 30-40% of total emissions;
A customer moving from an old-fashioned bare-metal datacenter in Scotland to AWS in Dublin actually increased spend and emissions by 460%. (Editor’s note - I use this example in almost all my public speaking).
For me, Green IO London 2024 truly delivered one of its core objectives in providing an open, non-judgemental platform for responsible technologists to come together. And this year’s conference also brought home to me the pertinence of Chris Adams’ mantra: “Connect not collect”. The vast array of topics and issues discussed genuinely reflected the diverse audience, yet curiously there was much common ground. Here are my top 6 connections that I found between talks, despite people coming from different backgrounds. And yes, some of them are quite surprising.
First, we must look under the hood, challenge everything and not just take things at face value, which was loudly advocated by Mark Butcher, Ben Schwartz and Tereze Gaile. Second, regulation is necessary, but it’s not a silver bullet, as each country or state has their own particular view and context, as Alexander Dawson highlighted. And it comes with delays in delivering metrics which now need to be validated by the legal department - thanks Paull Young for raising this point. Third, talking metrics again, granularity is important, and new studies and updated tools are really helping, as shown by Chris Adams, Ben Schwarz, Paull Young plus Philip Treleaven & Tatiana Collins. But we can’t afford to lose the bigger picture because of metrics and wait ages for the perfect one, as stated both by Aiste Rugeviciute and Amael Parreaux-Ey. Fourth, Design is central, though there are 50 shades of gray, and trade-offs will have to be accepted, as illustrated in their own way by Thorsten Jonas, Ben Schwartz, Julie Dennis and Andri Johnston. Fifth, no more sticking our heads in the sand either, as we have to admit that we have a serious AI problem (no way!), with issues of big tech control, equity of use, plus the obvious ethical and environmental dimensions as highlighted by Ishmael Burdeau, Philip Treleaven & Tatiana Collins and our panelists Anne Curie, Chris Adams, Maxime Fazilleau and Sandra Pallier.
Finally, all of the above goes to show that we need more than ever to onboard absolutely everyone, no matter the job title. And to make sure everyone is on the same page, let’s use the right objectives, as Mark Butcher, Amael, and Daryl Elfield & Jérémie Veg & Magali Saul all stated at some point: “it’s not my wallet but it’s my planet”. Environmental incentives beat financial ones across all teams and organizations all the time.
I encourage you to draw your own conclusions and find new connections while browsing the presentation slides from (almost) all speakers on the Green IO London 2024 agenda.
Yet, as the 2024 London conference came to close, it was never more clear that, by bringing together technologists from all walks of life, new light can be shed on existing challenges. And at each conference, we at Green IO learn a little more of how to bring value to all those attending. So here are our pledges for Paris 2024 and upcoming 2025 events:
Continue to provide a safe and diplomatic place for responsible technologists and NGOs involved in the field to learn and exchange;
Promote further a cross-disciplinary approach to explore multiple angles of analysis (practitioners, experts, academics…) for each different issue (low-carbon cloud ops, green software, sustainable design, AI, etc.) ;
Enjoy being with our kind, and be kind to our kind too, recognizing the unique value that each person can bring to the table. If we help and cooperate with each other, it makes it so much easier to deliver the change needed;
Have as much fun attending as volunteering!
So an enormous thank you to all those who contributed to the 2024 London conference in any way - volunteers, speakers, attendees, sponsors - and I know I can rely on you for future events. So, see you next time, be it Paris, Singapore, NY, Munich or London, and of course, don’t forget to bring a colleague or two with you!
Gaël DUEZ
📧 Want to share something, get involved or write in the newsletter? Drop us an email at contact@greenio.com
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What’s been happening this month in Green IO?
🎙️ Podcast episodes
Our latest podcast episodes - a dose of autumnal green IT cheer.
#46 “Green SEO” with Natalie Arney and Stuart Davies. Listen
#45 “Assessing digital sustainability’s maturity” with Aiste Rugeviciute and Rob Price. Listen | 5-mins read
#44 “Can the data center industry become circular?” with Deborah Andrews. Listen | 5-mins read
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🎤 Green IO conferences
Paris, December 4th-5th 2024
Don’t miss out on our most comprehensive program combining experts and use-cases worldwide. Check the line-up and get early bird tickets (2 weeks remaining) here.
Singapore, April 16th 2025
A second edition to boost digital sustainability in SEA - save the date! First speakers will be announced in Q4 and early .
New-York, May 15th 2025
It is looking likely that Green IO will host its first conference in North America in 2025.
Munich, July 3rd 2025
It is also looking likely that Green IO will also host its first conference in Germany in 2025.
Be part of the Green IO conference adventure
We are always looking for great speakers with inspiring stories and 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. Drop us an email at contact@greenio.com if you want to get involved.
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# Listen # Watch # Read # Study # Participate # Attend
What else has popped up on our Tech & Sustainability radar?
# Listen… We’re all ears
Chris Adams is on a roll this month with three brilliant Environment Variables episodes. E82 with Asim Hussain is all about the growing complexities of measuring and reducing C emissions, and which follows on from E81 where Philipp Wiesner discusses carbon aware computing. The latest episode released, E83, zooms out rather than in, focusing on electricity maps exploring the the decarbonization of electricity grids and the resulting complexities of carbon intensity data.
# Watch… Sometimes video is worth its environmental footprint
Google is not the only one investing CDRs as a way to buy their way out of emissions and avoid changing the MO, as Microsoft signs a deal with Occidental Petroleum to buy 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits over six years.
# Read… Our coffee break reading this month
Coffee breaks are about to get a whole lot longer, as picking up on the Green IO London conference thread. The G20 have published a Ministerial Declaration on the Digital Economy, promoting information integrity and ethical AI governance, highlighting that AI development should not be left to market forces.
Returning to the central question of metrics, the GSF published a great article on emissions calculation for software systems using LLM’s, and have also produced a fantastic report which dives into 5 key areas to consider when considering AI and it’s direct negative impacts. Wholegrain Digital goes one step further in advocating not just sustainable design but sustainable messaging, and the British broadsheet ‘The Guardian’ mines the data from company-owned data centers, reporting that they are probably x7 times higher than officially reported by Microsoft, Google, Meta and Apple. Talking about emissions, the concept of enabled emissions is on the rise, and a new concept of continous stewardship advocates generating code for the long-term. And a bonus for all French speakers, Raphaël Lemaire’s book (second edition) on Green IT (FR) is a fantastic resource for tools to deploy responsible IT projects.
# Study… We’re never too old to learn
The French collective Green IT release the results of their 9th survey which measures the level of digital sobriety in the office. And whilst regular punters are trying hard to minimize their impact, Big Tech are doing all they can to maintain the status quo by quietly maneuvering to change how pollution is reported. Can, or will, companies take up the challenge on ethical and green finance? Carbon Bankroll 2.0 is a real eye-opener on this subject.
# Participate… One byte at a time
The gaming community is pushing forward on CDR, and the SGA Standard is open-access and available for use by the entire games industry. Join the community to help shape the standards.
# Tools… Skill-up for a sustainable future
We all know AI is ramping up, and Mistral AI showcases its first multimodal LLM, plus OpenAI Strawberry o1-preview has arrived which incorporates CoT. Check out too the CDR tools mentioned in Green IO E45 and also at the London conference: the CDR Maturity Model developed by Aiste Rugeviciute, plus the International CDR Manifesto with its set of principles to guide you on your Digital Responsibility journey.
# Attend… Meet fellow responsible technologists
Green SEO meet-up, Brighton (UK) 2nd Oct. 2024
Code Green London x CAT Meetup, London (UK) 15th Oct. 2024
Cloud & hardware procurement networking event, Amsterdam (NL), 3rd Oct. 2024
European Tech for Climate, Brussels, (BE) 17th Oct. 2024
FUCXGLAS 2024, Glasgow (UK), 20th Nov. 2024
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One last (positive) thought…
A quiet revolution - motionless turbines
The UK’s first “motionless” wind energy system is designed to work in tandem with solar systems. Vertical airfoils create a vacuum effect, drawing wind behind an internal propeller to generate electricity.
Claus Lønborg, managing director at Aeromine explains that benefits include reduced noise and vibrations, whilst minimizing negative wildlife impact.
See you next month!
Gaël DUEZ, Jill TELLIER & the Green IO Team