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# It's not easy being green

Is your bloated codebase contributing to the climate crisis? Discover how integrating green software principles into your agile workflows guarantees faster, highly performant, and planet-friendly applications.

- **Speakers:** Marjolein Pordon
- **Event:** WeAreDevelopers LIVE
- **Published:** April 18, 2023
- **Duration:** 1:02:22
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/558-it-s-not-easy-being-green

## Summary

The software industry faces an escalating environmental crisis, with global IT, consumer devices, and data centers projected to consume a fifth of worldwide electricity by 2030. Routine digital actions from executing heavy database queries to loading bloated frontend assets carry staggering carbon footprints that force early hardware depreciation and rival heavy industry emissions. Recognizing this challenge, frameworks from organizations like the Green Software Foundation emphasize that sustainability must transcend being a peripheral afterthought and become a primary architectural justification.

Addressing software-driven emissions requires embedding green software development models natively into engineering workflows. This shared responsibility spans the entire product lifecycle: designers can reduce data transmission by minimizing heavyweight graphical elements, architects can streamline network requests, and developers can select highly energy-efficient programming languages like Rust or C, which utilize significantly less CPU power than Java or Python. Furthermore, leveraging low-code platforms inherently accelerates green engineering by relying on reusable, pre-optimized software blocks rather than continually generating net-new, resource-heavy custom code.

Transforming these green principles into daily engineering habits effectively closes the gap between theoretical frameworks and deployed applications. Teams can seamlessly integrate environmental accountability into agile routines by embedding sustainability targets into their Product Risk Assessments (PRA) during Sprint Zero, and strictly enforcing energy-efficiency checks throughout the Definition of Ready (DoR) and Definition of Done (DoD). By measuring the first-, second-, and third-order effects of development choices—such as scheduling compute-heavy automated tests during off-peak hours—organizations create lasting sustainability feedback loops. Ultimately, writing cleaner, unbloated code not only champions planetary health but also guarantees faster, highly performant software for the end user.

**Keywords:** green software development, digital carbon footprint, lifecycle assessment modeling, green software foundation, low-code development sustainability, agile sustainability integration, definition of ready compliance, definition of done criteria, energy efficient programming languages, green it initiatives, five pillars of sustainability, greensoft model framework, agile product risk assessment, automated code emission tracking, first-order digital effects

## Chapters

1. **Introduction to the concept of being green in technology** (00:04) — Embracing environmental awareness in digital development requires overcoming feelings of insignificance.
1. **The environmental impact of digital activities and social media** (02:16) — Everyday digital behaviors like sending tweets and browsing social media generate immense global carbon emissions.
1. **Energy forecasts and resource demands of information technology** (05:57) — Scaling digital infrastructure massively strains global electricity networks and limits critical natural resources.
1. **Environmental protection policies promoted by the United Nations** (06:39) — The United Nations Environment Programme serves a crucial role in advancing sustainable engineering practices worldwide.
1. **Core principles behind the Green Software Foundation** (08:03) — Global technology leaders coordinate to establish core philosophies for sustainable software creation.
1. **Role of digital small and medium enterprises in sustainability** (10:59) — Local smaller organizations form active alliances to lobby and implement uniform digital sustainability standards.
1. **Differences between adopting green IT and IT for green** (12:03) — Green sustainability initiatives distinguish between reducing internal sector emissions and building software that directly aids environmental causes.
1. **Specific sustainability roles across the software development team** (13:28) — Designing sustainable architectures depends on how product teams actively reduce code complexity and streamline database queries.
1. **Applying software lifecycle assessments to track systemic resource consumption** (16:23) — Analyzing the complete hardware and software journey clarifies the systemic environmental costs of processing raw physical materials.
1. **Assessing efficient programming languages against the pillars of sustainability** (20:35) — Optimizing codebase efficiency utilizing languages like Rust dramatically improves the economic and social pillars of corporate sustainability.
1. **Using the green software model to evaluate long-term effects** (23:02) — Adopting a practical green software framework allows product teams to reliably track and evaluate cascading energy efficiency impacts.
1. **Incorporating clear sustainability checks into typical agile sprint routines** (26:13) — Embedding green impact goals into the definition of ready establishes continuous energy awareness during agile sprint operations.
1. **Monitoring computational resource usage and measuring production emissions** (29:19) — Assessing server load requirements prior to deployment minimizes unnecessary processing power and overall environmental greenhouse impacts.
1. **Strategies to establish green software quality consciousness** (31:13) — Reinforcing internal sustainability routines ensures engineered systems combine high digital quality with minimized physical waste.
1. **Adopting low code capabilities for sustainable digital development practices** (35:09) — Leveraging reusable low code components circumvents the redundant energy costs of establishing entirely new ground-up architectures.
1. **Evaluating the environmental costs and benefits of artificial intelligence** (38:09) — Managing modern data retention with artificial intelligence introduces computational overhead while supporting essential long-term dataset deduplication.
1. **Challenges of creating practical legislation for digital sustainability policies** (41:35) — Governments frequently struggle to mandate clear environmental limits without severely obstructing required structural infrastructure developments.
1. **Securing shared commitment for organizational green tech initiatives** (43:48) — Combining grassroots communication with incentivized management policies fosters genuine team participation in sustainable office workways.
1. **Implementing actionable changes to reduce personal workplace carbon footprints** (49:54) — Replacing daily individual driving habits with accessible public transportation alternatives provides immediate localized emission reductions.
1. **Overcoming commitment pitfalls to maintain green workplace cultural changes** (52:32) — Preparing for gradual environmental progress prevents implementation fatigue when modernizing rigid and energy-heavy legacy practices.
1. **Balancing remote working locations with effective shared office productivity** (56:13) — Consolidating targeted office days reduces personal commute emissions without sacrificing necessary in-person team collaboration activities.
1. **Practical examples of organic green operational workplace transformations** (57:17) — Initiating casual internal discussions around green habits can rapidly influence executive leadership and broader workforce behaviors.

## Related Moments

- [Coding for environmental sustainability in software engineering](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/602-unlocking-the-potential-of-digital-it-at-vodafone) (from "Unlocking the potential of Digital & IT at Vodafone")
- [Implementing architectural best practices for sustainable software systems](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1414-a-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-resource-efficient-software) (from "A Hitchhiker's Guide to Resource Efficient Software")
- [Building an implementation strategy for green software](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100251-one-year-of-the-co2-challenge-insights-and-lessons-learned) (from "One year of the CO2-challenge – insights and lessons learned")
- [Advocating for green tech policies inside modern software companies](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/560-sustainable-me-a-tale-of-good-design) (from "Sustainable me. A tale of good design.")
- [Business justifications for adopting sustainable engineering practices](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/592-green-cloud-computing) (from "Green Cloud Computing")
- [Distinguishing between sustainability by software and in software](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/988-times-of-climate-crisis-how-and-why-sustainable-software-is-a-must) (from "Times of (climate) crisis - How and why sustainable software is a must!")

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