Devoxx 2024 - Architecting a Sustainable Future

Sustainability is a lens through which the public has started scrutinising various industries. This lens is slowly increasing its focus on the field of IT. As software architects we are uniquely equipped to see this coming and be at the forefront of change.
During this talk, the audience is invited to test its knowledge on the energy usage of various common devices. This surprises most audiences and creates awareness about the need to collect data before we can effectively design new solutions.
Current efforts and organisations working towards greener IT are introduced and compared, as well as how anyone can join in these efforts.
At the end of this talk, the audience has been inspired to be critical about the way we design software systems and (cloud) infrastructures, invited to remain critical on decisions made in existing and new projects and they will leave with a hopeful sense of new possibilities.

1. ARCHITECTING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Jan-Hendrik Kuperus (@jhkuperus)
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2. THERE IS NO TIME TO WASTE
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3. 3

4. 4

5. 5

6. —  Lord Kelvin, Institution of Civil Engineers, 1883
" When you can measure what you are speaking about, and
express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when
you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers,
your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind."
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7. LET'S TEST YOUR INTUITION...
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8. TEST YOUR INTUITION...
100
• "Standard Refrigerator"
• Energy Consumption Index:
▪ Total Energy Consumed in 1 year
▪ Typical Usage in Household of 4
▪ Refrigerator is set as 100
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9. HIGHER OR LOWER?
100
9

10. HIGHER OR LOWER?
100 51
9.1

11. HIGHER OR LOWER?
100
10

12. HIGHER OR LOWER?
100 1111
10.1

13. HIGHER OR LOWER?
100
11

14. HIGHER OR LOWER?
100 124
11.1

15. HIGHER OR LOWER?
100
12

16. HIGHER OR LOWER?
100 192
12.1

17. HIGHER OR LOWER?
192
13

18. HIGHER OR LOWER?
192
533
13.1

19. HIGHER OR LOWER?
192
533
133
13.2

20. HIGHER OR LOWER?
192
533
133 75
13.3

21. HIGHER OR LOWER?
192
533
133 75
TOTAL WIFI SETUP: 1065 (~€123/YR)
13.4

22. MEASURED DATA
Device Yearly Usage Relative Yearly Cost*
Refrigerator 32,85 kWh 100 € 11,60
Phone Charger 16,79 kWh 51 € 5,92
Monitor 40,88 kWh 124 € 14,43
Dishwasher 365,00 kWh 1111 € 128,85
Fritzbox 63,07 kWh 192 € 22,26
Unifi Switch 175,20 kWh 533 € 61,85
Unifi Access Point 43,54 kWh 133 € 15,37
Total WiFi Setup 349,96 kWh 1065 € 123,54
* BASED ON PRICES ON OCTOBER 26TH, 2023
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23. DOES SUSTAINABILITY IN IT MATTER?
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24. DOES SUSTAINABILITY IN IT MATTER?
• Datacenters emit ~1% of Global CO emissions (IEA)
2
15.1

25. DOES SUSTAINABILITY IN IT MATTER?
• Datacenters emit ~1% of Global CO emissions (IEA)
2
• Datacenters consume ~1-1.5% of Global Energy (IEA)
15.2

26. DOES SUSTAINABILITY IN IT MATTER?
• Datacenters emit ~1% of Global CO emissions (IEA)
2
• Datacenters consume ~1-1.5% of Global Energy (IEA)
• Networking consumes another ~1-1.5% of Global Energy (IEA)
15.3

27. DOES SUSTAINABILITY IN IT MATTER?
• Datacenters emit ~1% of Global CO emissions (IEA)
2
• Datacenters consume ~1-1.5% of Global Energy (IEA)
• Networking consumes another ~1-1.5% of Global Energy (IEA)
• Ye a r l y g r o w t h was estimated at 20%-40%
15.4

28. DOES SUSTAINABILITY IN IT MATTER?
• Datacenters emit ~1% of Global CO emissions (IEA)
2
• Datacenters consume ~1-1.5% of Global Energy (IEA)
• Networking consumes another ~1-1.5% of Global Energy (IEA)
• Ye a r l y g r o w t h was estimated at 20%-40%
• Current estimates see AI pushing Datacenters to 20% of Global
Energy in 2030 (PGIM)
15.5

29. YES, OUR CHOICES MATTER
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30. SO WHAT CAN WE DO?
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31. 18

32. JOIN THE GREEN SOFTWARE FOUNDATION
BECOME A GSF CHAMPION (LIKE ME ! )
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33. 20

34. WE MUST IMPLY CONSTRAINTS ON OURSELVES
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35. WE MUST IMPLY CONSTRAINTS ON OURSELVES
• The Cloud has made us lazy
21.1

36. WE MUST IMPLY CONSTRAINTS ON OURSELVES
• The Cloud has made us lazy
• Infrastructure feels "Infinite"
21.2

37. WE MUST IMPLY CONSTRAINTS ON OURSELVES
• The Cloud has made us lazy
• Infrastructure feels "Infinite"
▪ It's a victim of Parkinson's Law of Triviality
21.3

38. —  Biz Stone, Co-Founder of Twitter
"Constraints Inspire Creativity"
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39. LET'S GET PRACTICAL
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40. LET'S GET PRACTICAL
• Observability is key
23.1

41. LET'S GET PRACTICAL
• Observability is key
▪ Include Carbon Intensity
23.2

42. LET'S GET PRACTICAL
• Observability is key
▪ Include Carbon Intensity
• Implement Demand Shaping
23.3

43. LET'S GET PRACTICAL
• Observability is key
▪ Include Carbon Intensity
• Implement Demand Shaping
• Implement Demand Shifting
23.4

44. LET'S GET PRACTICAL
• Observability is key
▪ Include Carbon Intensity
• Implement Demand Shaping
• Implement Demand Shifting
• Calculate Software Carbon Intensity
23.5

45. LET'S GET PRACTICAL
• Observability is key
▪ Include Carbon Intensity
• Implement Demand Shaping
• Implement Demand Shifting
• Calculate Software Carbon Intensity
• Implement LightSwitchOps
23.6

46. OBSERVABILITY
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47. OBSERVABILITY
• You cannot improve what you don't measure
24.1

48. OBSERVABILITY
• You cannot improve what you don't measure
• Measuring CO directly is very hard
2
24.2

49. OBSERVABILITY
• You cannot improve what you don't measure
• Measuring CO directly is very hard
2
• Proxies are available: Cost, Utilisation, Resource Counting
24.3

50. OBSERVABILITY
• You cannot improve what you don't measure
• Measuring CO directly is very hard
2
• Proxies are available: Cost, Utilisation, Resource Counting
▪ Libraries like CO2.js give you a starting point
24.4

51. OBSERVABILITY
• You cannot improve what you don't measure
• Measuring CO directly is very hard
2
• Proxies are available: Cost, Utilisation, Resource Counting
▪ Libraries like CO2.js give you a starting point
• Including Carbon Intensity
24.5

52. 25

53. IMPLEMENT DEMAND SHAPING
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54. IMPLEMENT DEMAND SHAPING
• The false need to do everything right now
26.1

55. IMPLEMENT DEMAND SHAPING
• The false need to do everything right now
• Can workloads be moved to other times?
26.2

56. IMPLEMENT DEMAND SHAPING
• The false need to do everything right now
• Can workloads be moved to other times?
• Rethink the nightly CI/CD builds?
26.3

57. IMPLEMENT DEMAND SHAPING
• The false need to do everything right now
• Can workloads be moved to other times?
• Rethink the nightly CI/CD builds?
• Plan batches in low Carbon time slots
26.4

58. IMPLEMENT DEMAND SHIFTING
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59. IMPLEMENT DEMAND SHIFTING
• Carbon Intensity is available for many
countries
27.1

60. IMPLEMENT DEMAND SHIFTING
• Carbon Intensity is available for many
countries
• Move a heavy workload to a "greener"
region
27.2

61. CARBON AWARE SOFTWARE
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62. CARBON AWARE SOFTWARE
• Automate Demand Shaping/Shifting
28.1

63. CARBON AWARE SOFTWARE
• Automate Demand Shaping/Shifting
• Software that decides on its own
28.2

64. CARBON AWARE SOFTWARE
• Automate Demand Shaping/Shifting
• Software that decides on its own
• Ultimate Maturity Level for Green
Software
28.3

65. CARBON AWARE SOFTWARE
• Automate Demand Shaping/Shifting
• Software that decides on its own
• Ultimate Maturity Level for Green
Software
• (GSF: Carbon SDK)
28.4

66. 29

67. CALCULATE SOFTWARE CARBON INTENSITY
• ISO has accepted SCI as a standard
• Yields a metric for a single software product
• Allows comparison of changes in the product
• Not suitable for comparing products
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68. LIGHSWITCHOPS
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69. LIGHSWITCHOPS
• Scaling Infrastructure to Zero
31.1

70. LIGHSWITCHOPS
• Scaling Infrastructure to Zero
• Are your OTA-environments always on?
31.2

71. LIGHSWITCHOPS
• Scaling Infrastructure to Zero
• Are your OTA-environments always on?
▪ Be honest "
31.3

72. LIGHSWITCHOPS
• Scaling Infrastructure to Zero
• Are your OTA-environments always on?
▪ Be honest "
▪ Savings could be close to 50%
31.4

73. LIGHSWITCHOPS
• Scaling Infrastructure to Zero
• Are your OTA-environments always on?
▪ Be honest "
▪ Savings could be close to 50%
• 40% of developers is afraid of Scaling to
Ze r o
31.5

74. LIGHSWITCHOPS
• Scaling Infrastructure to Zero
• Are your OTA-environments always on?
▪ Be honest "
▪ Savings could be close to 50%
• 40% of developers is afraid of Scaling to
Ze r o
• 50% of developers say their project scales
manually
31.6

75. LIGHSWITCHOPS
• Scaling Infrastructure to Zero
• Are your OTA-environments always on?
▪ Be honest "
▪ Savings could be close to 50%
• 40% of developers is afraid of Scaling to
Ze r o
• 50% of developers say their project scales
manually
• 6.5% of developers say their project
Scales to Zero
31.7

76. WRAPPING UP
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77. WRAPPING UP
1. Get Informed
32.1

78. WRAPPING UP
1. Get Informed
2. Start a Community
32.2

79. WRAPPING UP
1. Get Informed
2. Start a Community
3. Run Assessment Tools
32.3

80. WRAPPING UP
1. Get Informed
2. Start a Community
3. Run Assessment Tools
4. Monitor for Idle & Overprovisioned Resources
32.4

81. WRAPPING UP
1. Get Informed
2. Start a Community
3. Run Assessment Tools
4. Monitor for Idle & Overprovisioned Resources
5. Upgrade Languages & Frameworks
32.5

82. DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK FOR HELP!
Jan-Hendrik Kuperus
Green Software Foundation Champion
 
Architecting a Sustainable Future
@jhkuperus
www.yoink.nl
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