Software’s LCA - Software Carbon Intensity and other frameworks

This talk explores strategies for digital product teams to address their environmental impact. We’ll discuss methods to measure emissions from digital products and introduce techniques to reduce them. We’ll cover design optimization strategies and best practices for development and delivery, involving the entire team in creating more sustainable digital products.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Transcript

1. Per un digitale sostenibile Impatti delle nuove tecnologie. Norme, progetti e iniziative collettive Software’s LCA Software Carbon Intensity and other frameworks Francesco Fullone
2. / fullo I have two old smartphones laying unused in my drawer.
3. / fullo Each Italian* has 1,3 unused smartphones * kids included
4. / fullo Why do we tend to keep them? Why we need to buy new ones?
5. Obsolescence (and/or non-repairability) of hardware Obsolescence (and/or non-upgradability) of the software. Obsolescence
6. The mobile phone was no longer upgradeable. The battery no longer held a charge. There was no more room for applications or photos. Or you just wanted a better camera. Obsolescence
7. Repairability Upgradability Expandability Support Obsolescence Choices
8. / fullo How much impact does e-waste have?
9. e-waste For each European citizen* is collected 11Kg/year of e-waste * including kids
10. e-waste In Europe, only 22.3% of e-waste is recycled
11. e-waste An iPhone has between 80-85Kg of CO2 incorporated by the manufacturing processes
12. / fullo Linear economy Money Work Raw Materials Products Usage Production Systems Distribution Natural Resources
13. / fullo Money Work Raw Materials Products Usage Production Systems Risorse naturali Distribution Pollution + Waste Natural Resources Linear economy
14. / fullo Life Cycle Map https://medium.com/disruptive-design/a-guide-to-life-cycle-thinking-b762ab49bce3 vs https://www.fairphone.com/en/2017/02/27/recyclable-fairphone-2/
15. / fullo But what about the Digital?
16. / fullo 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1995 2005 2015 2020 2023 2030 % of global carbon footprint GHG emitted by IT 3.9% 2023 https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099121223165540890/pdf/P17859712a98880541a4b71d57876048abb.pdf
17. / fullo CO2 emissions Digital Production of technology 57% of emissions Use of technology 43% of emissions end users 66% device production 40% device usage 26% network 19% device production 16% device production 1% data transfer 3% datacenter 15% data storage & code execution 14% = Physical DIGITAL EMISSIONS
18. / fullo Understanding LCA we can implement DIGITAL LCA
19. / fullo LCA: Life Cycle Assessment Embodiement, measuring it
20. / fullo The four phases of LCA Goal & Scope 1 Life Cycle Inventory 2 Impact Assessment 3 Interpretation 4 ISO 14040 ISO 14041 ISO 14042 ISO 14044
21. / fullo 1. Goal and Scope • What will we evaluate? (company, product, service) • In which system will we evaluate it? • What parts of its life cycle? • Which categories will be impacted? (Ie. CO2, water, ...) • What will we not evaluate? Defining the goal and scopes of an LCA means defining what we want to analyze, how we want to analyze it, and how far we want to go with our analysis. ISO 14040 Goal & Scope 1
22. / fullo 1. LCA – functional unit "40,000 hours* of use to read e- mails, make calls and send messages in Italy". * well over the 3 years national average Goal & Scope 1
23. / fullo 2. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Life Cycle Inventory 2
24. / fullo 2. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)^2 Rare earth Circuits Plastic https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308986891_Life_Cycle_Assessment_of_a_Smartphone Life Cycle Inventory 2
25. / fullo 2. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)^2 Circuits
26. / fullo 3. Impact Assessment We translate our data into impact Using standard classification systems (i.e. Ecoinvent) These are the steps: 1. Definition of impact analysis methods 2. Selecting Indicators and Models 3. Classification 4. Impact Measurement ISO 14042 Impact Assessment 3
27. / fullo 4. Interpretation With all the available data, we can draw the most reliable conclusions and recommendations. Interpretation does not necessarily have to happen at the end. According to ISO 14044:2006, this is what the interpretation of a life cycle assessment should include: • Identify significant issues based on LCI and LCIA phases • Evaluate the study itself, how comprehensive it is, if done sensitively and consistently • Conclusions, limitations and recommendations • Clear impact numbers according to the chosen measures Interpretation 4
28. / fullo Digital LCA how to start
29. / fullo 17g CO2 but we send ~275 billion emails every day Average Carbon footprint for a 3 minutes to read email https://carbonliteracy.com/the-carbon-cost-of-an-email/
30. / fullo Emission Model as LCI
31. / fullo digital LCA – functional unit "40,000 hours of use to manage e- mails*, make calls and send messages in Italy". * Send, receive and read 100 emails per day with an average of 100Kb of attachments.
32. https://sci-guide.greensoftware.foundation/ ISO 21031:2024
33. use less energy to do the same things Use less hardware to do the same things change application behavior to emit less GHG Carbon Efficiency Changing application architecture to emit fewer GHGs
34. / fullo Do we need to send a lot of email efficiently, or should can we change the way we communicate*? digital LCA a different approach * or design software
35. / fullo Renewable Energy - Create a renewable energy policy. - Use as few carbon offsets as possible. Data Center - Move from supply efficiency to demand management. - Always available (not always on). - Take responsibility for the sustainability of your cloud. Digital Work Environment - Educate employees. - Address Scope 3 emissions. - Promote circular economy principles. Data management - Share GHG data. - Stop over-delivering features. - Optimize data management and traffic. - Reduce processing cycles. - Host servers in low-carbon data locations. Software - Harness sustainability through design. - Use low-carbon energy sources. - Design sustainable UX. - Run software in the right place at the right time. The Digital Sustainability Roadmap
36. / fullo https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/news/what-people-think-building-a-sustainable-internet-involves-vs-what-it-might-actually-be/
37. / fullo Reducing emissions is Financially Viable https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140988321005156
38. / fullo Sustainable development Sustainable development aims at the balance between meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Brundtland, 1987)
39. / fullo Francesco Fullone Business & Sustainability Designer - Sustainability Strategic Consultant - Entrepreneur, Advisor and Mentor - Innovation and Sustainability (fractional) Manager - Trainer, Lecturer and Keynote speaker https://www.fullo.net https://linkedin.com/in/fullo
40. / fullo PICK YOUR PILLAR Francesco Fullone https://linkedin.com/in/fullo francesco@darumahq.it