How Software Engineers Can Help Solve Climate Change – Annie Freeman

November 15, 2023

Climate change isn’t just a problem for some of us – it’s a problem for all of us. It requires transforming everything we do. The tech sector is expected to consume 14% of the world’s energy consumption per year by 2040.
As engineers, we can help solve the climate crisis by embracing green software.
There’s been an explosion in research and tooling over the past couple of years that will help you to build software that minimizes the carbon emissions of the resources used. The Green Software Foundation in particular has been a driving force in these changes and is a great inspiration for this talk.
Annie will cover how software contributes to carbon emissions, ways you can change how you build software to reduce and optimise your energy consumption, and how small changes can have a large impact in this space.
Annie has been researching, building, and sharing green software for the past two years. She is excited to inspire others to innovate and create in this emerging space.
Towards the conclusion of the presentation, you’ll have an opportunity to pose any inquiries pertaining to green software.
Annie is a software engineer at Xero in New Zealand. She is captivated by how engineers can help solve climate change using green software practices. In particular, she is interested in building carbon aware software that dynamically runs in the least carbon intensive region or time period. Most recently, Annie spoke about green software at the 2023 Grace Hopper Celebration in Orlando, Florida. She is also an enrolled barrister and solicitor in New Zealand and is interested in how software and law can intersect to find solutions to climate change.

Green Software Foundation: https://greensoftware.foundation/
Green Software Practitioners Course: https://training.linuxfoundation.org/training/green-software-for-practitioners-lfc131/
Software Carbon Intensity Guide: https://sci-guide.greensoftware.foundation/
Green Software’s Carbon Aware SDK and Web API: https://github.com/Green-Software-Foundation/carbon-aware-sdk
Green Software Foundation Speakers: https://speakers.greensoftware.foundation/
International Energy Agency – Data Centre energy use, emissions and activities to reduce emissions: https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings/data-centres-and-data-transmission-networks
AWS Customer Carbon Footprint Tool: https://aws.amazon.com/aws-cost-management/aws-customer-carbon-footprint-tool/
Azure Carbon Tacking Tool: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sustainability/emissions-impact-dashboard
Cloud Carbon Footprint (Open Source tracking software for cloud usage): https://www.cloudcarbonfootprint.org/
Code Carbon (Track and reduce emissions from AI): https://codecarbon.io/
Dr Sasha Luccioni’s TED talk on the dangers of AI including environmental impact: https://www.ted.com/talks/sasha_luccioni_ai_is_dangerous_but_not_for_the_reasons_you_think
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00:00 introduction
01:50 Talk
36:35 Questions