These Five Tricks Can Make Your Apps Greener, Cheaper, & Nicer

The code we write has a climate impact. But how big is that impact? How do we measure it? How do we reduce it? Is the cloud helping? What’s going on with Virginia? Are we still allowed to do CI/CD? Will native compilation save us? Is Java even a good choice anymore? This talk discusses some of the trade-offs for a modern software developer, and provides a roadmap to figuring out the right thing.

Disclosure: Holly works on Quarkus. Along the way, she will talk about Quarkus sustainability measurements we’ve been doing … but it’s ok, because she promises that the Quarkus carbon data is exciting and interesting.

Transcript

1. Holly Cummins Senior Principal Software Engineer, Quarkus J-Spring June 21, 2023 @holly_cummins@hachyderm.io these five tricks can make your Java apps greener cheaper & nicer
2. @holly_cummins #RedHat Sources: https://www.greenit.fr/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/GREENIT_EENM_etude_EN_accessible.pdf https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector the digital world creates more carbon emissions than aviation
3. @holly_cummins #RedHat Lighter area represents high and low estimates, where available. Sources: https://www.iea.org/fuels-and-technologies/data-centres-networks https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-demand?tab=table&country=USA~GBR~FRA~DEU~IND~BRA data centres use as much electricity as a medium country
4. @holly_cummins #RedHat it’s not just artificial intelligence
5. @holly_cummins #RedHat it’s not just artificial intelligence it’s not just cryptocurrency mining
6. @holly_cummins #RedHat it’s not just artificial intelligence it’s not just cryptocurrency mining it’s all of us
7. @holly_cummins #RedHat aaaaaaaargh
8. @holly_cummins #RedHat aaaaaaaargh?
9. @holly_cummins #RedHat be a solutionist
10. @holly_cummins #RedHat how do we do make solutions?
11. @holly_cummins #RedHat green software foundation: principles
12. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles
13. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles where
14. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles where when
15. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles hardware efficiency where when
16. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles hardware efficiency where when elasticity
17. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles hardware efficiency where when elasticity utilisation
18. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles hardware efficiency electricity efficiency where when elasticity utilisation
19. @holly_cummins #RedHat algorithms carbon awareness green software foundation: principles hardware efficiency electricity efficiency where when elasticity utilisation
20. @holly_cummins #RedHat algorithms stack carbon awareness green software foundation: principles hardware efficiency electricity efficiency where when elasticity utilisation
21. @holly_cummins #RedHat algorithms stack carbon awareness hardware efficiency electricity efficiency where when elasticity utilisation green software foundation: principles
22. @holly_cummins #RedHat efficiency
23. @holly_cummins #RedHat what programming languages use the least energy?
24. @holly_cummins #RedHat what programming languages use the most energy?
26. energy efficiency of programming languages
27. @holly_cummins #RedHat
28. @holly_cummins #RedHat
29. @holly_cummins #RedHat what’s the most carbon-efficient java?
30. @holly_cummins #RedHat
31. @holly_cummins #RedHat
32. @holly_cummins #RedHat does being small and fast reduce carbon footprint?
33. #Quarkus @holly_cummins measure, don’t guess.
34. digression: measuring carbon is hard
35. @holly_cummins #RedHat step 1: measure power usage
36. @holly_cummins #RedHat step 1: measure power usage wall power measurement
37. @holly_cummins #RedHat step 1: measure power usage wall power measurement more complete
38. @holly_cummins #RedHat step 1: measure power usage wall power measurement more complete needs access to the wall
39. @holly_cummins #RedHat step 1: measure power usage wall power measurement more complete needs access to the wall RAPL
40. @holly_cummins #RedHat step 1: measure power usage wall power measurement more complete needs access to the wall RAPL programmatically accessible
41. @holly_cummins #RedHat step 1: measure power usage wall power measurement more complete needs access to the wall RAPL programmatically accessible misses some components
42. @holly_cummins #RedHat step 1: measure power usage wall power measurement more complete needs access to the wall data costs carbon RAPL programmatically accessible misses some components
43. @holly_cummins #RedHat
44. @holly_cummins #RedHat
45. @holly_cummins #RedHat
46. @holly_cummins #RedHat load
47. @holly_cummins #RedHat Source: Teads EC2 instances carbon dataset
48. @holly_cummins #RedHat coal wind step 2: convert power usage to carbon solar
49. @holly_cummins #RedHat published energy mixes (these are made-up energy mixes)
50. @holly_cummins #RedHat published energy mixes … but methodologies are not open (these are made-up energy mixes)
51. @holly_cummins #RedHat published energy mixes … but methodologies are not open … or consistent (these are made-up energy mixes)
52. @holly_cummins #RedHat step 3: embedded carbon (manufacturing has costs)
53. @holly_cummins #RedHat simpler models
54. @holly_cummins #RedHat all models are wrong, some are useful
55. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 1: the vrrrrrooooooooom model* * a made-up name
56. @holly_cummins #RedHat
57. @holly_cummins #RedHat these two columns are almost the same
58. @holly_cummins #RedHat energy consumption (sort of, mostly) is proportional to execution time
59. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 2: the economic model*
60. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 2: the economic model* * "economic input-output life cycle assessment"
61. @holly_cummins #RedHat reducing your cloud spend (probably) reducing your carbon footprint* hardware spend electricity bill * if you keep other factors the same
62. so … quarkus?
63. @holly_cummins #RedHat density Source: Clement Escoffier cost impact of framework choice Setup: • 800 requests/second, over 20 days • SLA > 99% • AWS instances Assumptions: • Costs are for us-east-1 data centre
64. @holly_cummins #RedHat Setup: • 800 requests/second, over 20 days • SLA > 99% Assumptions: • 50% load • us-east-1 data centre • Teads dataset Source: Clement Escoffier x Teads cloud carbon impact of framework choice
65. @holly_cummins #RedHat Setup: • 800 requests/second, over 20 days • SLA > 99% Assumptions: • 50% load • us-east-1 data centre • Teads dataset Source: Clement Escoffier x Teads cloud carbon impact of framework choice economic model in action: the cost and carbon metrics are (roughly) the same
66. @holly_cummins #RedHat Setup: • REST + CRUD • large heap • RAPL energy measurement • multiple instances to support high load 
 Assumptions: • US energy mix Source: John O’Hara climate impact as a function of load
67. @holly_cummins #RedHat Setup: • REST + CRUD • large heap • RAPL energy measurement • multiple instances to support high load 
 Assumptions: • US energy mix Source: John O’Hara climate impact as a function of load vrrrooom model in action: quarkus on JVM has the smallest footprint … because it has the highest throughput
68. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 3: use quarkus
69. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 3: use quarkus quarkus ‘automatically’ saves
70. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 3: use quarkus quarkus ‘automatically’ saves • time
71. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 3: use quarkus quarkus ‘automatically’ saves • time • money
72. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 3: use quarkus quarkus ‘automatically’ saves • time • money • carbon (~2x)
73. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 3: use quarkus quarkus ‘automatically’ saves • time • money • carbon (~2x) • … even when Spring compatibility libraries are used (almost no code changes except dependencies and tests)
74. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 3: use quarkus quarkus ‘automatically’ saves • time • money • carbon (~2x) • … even when Spring compatibility libraries are used (almost no code changes except dependencies and tests)
75. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles hardware efficiency electricity efficiency
76. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles hardware efficiency electricity efficiency elasticity
77. @holly_cummins #RedHat carbon awareness green software foundation: principles hardware efficiency electricity efficiency elasticity utilisation
78. @holly_cummins #RedHat application utilisation
79. @holly_cummins #RedHat application utilisation high utilisation good case
80. @holly_cummins #RedHat application utilisation over-utilisation very bad case
81. @holly_cummins #RedHat application utilisation over-utilisation very bad case under-utilisation wasteful case
82. @holly_cummins #RedHat application elasticity high utilisation good case @holly_cummins
83. @holly_cummins #RedHat application elasticity scale-up good utilisation @holly_cummins
84. @holly_cummins #RedHat application elasticity scale-down good utilisation @holly_cummins
85. #RedHat @holly_cummins 2017 server-survey 25% doing no useful work (16,000 sampled)
86. #RedHat @holly_cummins 2017 server-survey 25% doing no useful work (16,000 sampled) “perhaps someone forgot to turn them off”
87. #RedHat @holly_cummins@hachyderm.io https://www.anthesisgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Comatose-Servers-Redux-2017.pdf 2014 server-survey 29% active less than 5% of the time (4,000 sampled)
88. @holly_cummins #RedHat cloud elasticity? https://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/overprovisioning-always-on-resources-lead-to-26-6-billion-in-public-cloud-waste-expected-in-2021-02381033
89. @holly_cummins #RedHat cloud elasticity? 2021: https://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/overprovisioning-always-on-resources-lead-to-26-6-billion-in-public-cloud-waste-expected-in-2021-02381033
90. @holly_cummins #RedHat cloud elasticity? 2021: $26.6 billion wasted https://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/overprovisioning-always-on-resources-lead-to-26-6-billion-in-public-cloud-waste-expected-in-2021-02381033
91. @holly_cummins #RedHat cloud elasticity? 2021: $26.6 billion wasted by always-on cloud instances https://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/overprovisioning-always-on-resources-lead-to-26-6-billion-in-public-cloud-waste-expected-in-2021-02381033
92. @holly_cummins #RedHat it’s not just money
93. @holly_cummins #RedHat it’s not just electricity it’s not just money
94. @holly_cummins #RedHat it’s not just electricity it’s water it’s not just money
95. @holly_cummins #RedHat it’s not just electricity it’s water it’s e-waste it’s not just money
96. @holly_cummins #RedHat achieving elasticity we used to leave our applications running all the time when we scripted turning them off at night, we reduced our cloud bill by 30% @darkandnerdy, Chicago DevOpsDays
97. @holly_cummins #RedHat yes, turning applications off is scary
98. @holly_cummins #RedHat what if … turning applications off was no more scary than turning the lights off? ultimate elasticity
99. @holly_cummins #RedHat
100. @holly_cummins #RedHat
101. @holly_cummins #RedHat turning it off and on again must
102. @holly_cummins #RedHat turning it off and on again must • be fast
103. @holly_cummins #RedHat turning it off and on again must • be fast • actually work
104. @holly_cummins #RedHat turning it off and on again must • be fast • actually work • idempotency
105. @holly_cummins #RedHat turning it off and on again must • be fast • actually work • idempotency • resiliency
106. @holly_cummins #RedHat architect things to be turned off and on often
107. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 4: LightSwitchOps architect things to be turned off and on often
108. @holly_cummins #RedHat trick 4: LightSwitchOps architect things to be turned off and on often
109. #Quarkus @holly_cummins you can’t optimise what you can’t measure
110. @holly_cummins #RedHat FinOps figuring out who in your company forgot to turn off their cloud
111. @holly_cummins #RedHat
112. @holly_cummins #RedHat backstage.io
113. @holly_cummins #RedHat backstage.io •cost insights plugin
114. @holly_cummins #RedHat backstage.io •cost insights plugin •cloud carbon footprint plugin
115. @holly_cummins #RedHat algorithms stack carbon awareness hardware efficiency electricity efficiency where when elasticity utilisation green software foundation: principles
116. trick 5: electricity source
117. @holly_cummins #RedHat data center location matters
118. @holly_cummins #RedHat
119. @holly_cummins #RedHat
120. @holly_cummins #RedHat we need to talk about virginia
121. @holly_cummins #RedHat look at the sustainability information before choosing a hosting region
122. @holly_cummins #RedHat look at the sustainability information before choosing a hosting region choose a cloud provider who make this easy
123. @holly_cummins #RedHat time of day matters • (most) renewables are intermittent • if grid load is high, shortfalls are filled by fossil fuels
124. @holly_cummins #RedHat aaaaaaaargh?
125. @holly_cummins #RedHat “no-regrets” solutions
126. @holly_cummins #RedHat
127. @holly_cummins #RedHat co-benefits
128. @holly_cummins #RedHat co-benefits the double win
129. @holly_cummins #RedHat co-benefits the double win win-win
130. @holly_cummins #RedHat co-benefits the double win win-win twofer
131. @holly_cummins #RedHat co-benefits the double win win-win twofer überwinden
132. @holly_cummins #RedHat co-benefits the double win win-win twofer überwinden
133. @holly_cummins #RedHat climate solutions can make everything better
134. @holly_cummins #RedHat remember the zombie servers? https://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/overprovisioning-always-on-resources-lead-to-26-6-billion-in-public-cloud-waste-expected-in-2021-02381033
135. @holly_cummins #RedHat remember the zombie servers? what else could we do with that $26.6 billion of wasted cloud spend? https://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/overprovisioning-always-on-resources-lead-to-26-6-billion-in-public-cloud-waste-expected-in-2021-02381033
136. @holly_cummins #RedHat the double-win turning things off saves a lot of money
137. @holly_cummins #RedHat the double-win renewable electricity is 9x cheaper
138. @holly_cummins #RedHat the double-win renewable electricity is 9x cheaper hosting in Montreal:
139. @holly_cummins #RedHat the double-win renewable electricity is 9x cheaper hosting in Montreal: 88% less carbon than the same workload in London
140. @holly_cummins #RedHat the double-win renewable electricity is 9x cheaper hosting in Montreal: 88% less carbon than the same workload in London and it’s 15% cheaper
141. @holly_cummins #RedHat remember the vrrrrrooooooooom model? (probably not, it was a made-up name)
142. @holly_cummins #RedHat the double-win
143. @holly_cummins #RedHat the double-win
144. @holly_cummins #RedHat “this is not sacrifice. it’s advancement.” – Dr. Jonathan Foley
145. @holly_cummins #RedHat tl;dpa (too long; didn’t pay attention) trick 1: the vrrrooooom model says faster is greener trick 2: the economic model says cheaper is greener trick 3: choose a fast and energy-efficient framework (such as quarkus) trick 4: architect to be able to turn stuff off (LightSwitchOps) trick 5: choose your hosting wisely
146. @holly_cummins #RedHat we all make a difference
147. slides thank you and don’t forget to vote in the J-Spring app, which is running on Quarkus :) @holly_cummins@hachyderm.io