Green Coding

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS TOPIC

The term summarizes a variety of measures that can help to develop and operate the software with lower emissions and in a more sustainable manner. Rather, this requires a holistic rethinking during the development process and a new understanding of what good software and an efficient development process are.

Their consumption can be reduced considerably in some cases by green coding; the following are just a few:

Switch off when not in use

When no one is in the room, turn off the lights. It should be the same with software. Designing according to modular principles helps to shut down modules and microservices when demand is lower.

Use resources sparingly

Some file formats use fewer resources than others. CSV uses less than Excel, and YAML less than XML. API choice can have a direct impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Images also have great potential for savings. If possible, they should always be compressed; this means less data is transmitted over the network.

Use agile development

Agile methods make it easier to adapt software toward greater efficiency. Development in small steps helps reduce feedback loops. Developers thus test only the modified sections of code, not entire projects.

Avoid long loading time

Software load and startup time is easy to measure and correlates directly with energy consumption.

Utilize hardware properly

Servers that are not fully utilized consume more energy than necessary. This happens when systems are planned too large. Cloud computing can offer significant energy savings because public cloud systems are highly modular and allow precise control of utilization.

Taking responsibility for the future

No one can say exactly what the future will look like. But the starting points mentioned above show that there are many ways to balance the growing data load. Green coding plays an essential role in the move toward more sustainable digitalization and lowers energy consumption. Companies in particular are now being asked to review their software and make it more efficient and greener. The more companies can reduce their digital footprint, the easier it will be to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This also applies to public bodies and private applications. Particularly as a company in the field of digitalization, it is important for us to make our customers aware of this and to highlight the possible potential for reducing energy consumption and cutting emissions.