Bitkom 2021 - When if not now? We need to get the big picture of software and sustainability!

The increasing energy consumption of IT, cloud services and data centers worldwide is being discussed ubiquitously. The topics of blockchain, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence in particular are currently fueling the discussion further. The contribution of software engineering to saving energy is increasingly being discussed, however not yet anchored in the discipline. Here, terms such as "Green IT" or "Sustainable IT" are becoming established.
On the other hand, software offers huge potentials to have a positive effect in terms of sustainability by gaining or saving more energy through optimized processes, by optimizing routes or even by steering people's behavior in a more economical direction. This is also referred to as "Green-by-IT" or "Sustainable-by-IT".
Nevertheless, the view of the relationship between sustainability and software is usually fragmented and often also ideologically colored.
In this presentation, we would like to sensitize everyone in the IT business to see the big picture.

Transcript

1. © Fraunhofer IESE 1 Dr. Matthias Naab 11.06.2021 | Digital Design and the New European Bauhaus When, if not now? We need to get the Big Picture of Software and Sustainability!
2. © Fraunhofer IESE 2 How evil is it?
3. © Fraunhofer IESE 3 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/03/climate/bitcoin-carbon-footprint-electricity.html
4. © Fraunhofer IESE 4 https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/04/gpt3_carbon_footprint_estimate/
5. © Fraunhofer IESE 5 https://www.wired.co.uk/article/netflix-carbon-footprint
6. © Fraunhofer IESE 6 world.com/a/powering-the-beast-why-we-shouldnt-worry-about-the-internets-rising-electricity-consumption/
7. © Fraunhofer IESE 7 https://www.businessgreen.com/blog-post/1810555/it-polluting-airline-industry
8. © Fraunhofer IESE 8 https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/industrylab/reports/a-quick-guide-to-your-digital-carbon-footprint
9. © Fraunhofer IESE 9 Is it only evil?
10. © Fraunhofer IESE 10 https://www.iwm.fraunhofer.de/en/why-fraunhofer-iwm/core-competencies-technical-possibilities/material-modeling-and-simulation.html
11. © Fraunhofer IESE 11 https://www.lhsystems.com/solutions-services/operations-solutions/lidoflightplanning/lidoflight4D
12. © Fraunhofer IESE 12
13. © Fraunhofer IESE 13
14. © Fraunhofer IESE 14 https://de.planetly.com/
15. © Fraunhofer IESE 15
16. © Fraunhofer IESE 16 https://www.infiniteenergy.com.au/tracking-your-energy-usage
17. © Fraunhofer IESE 17
18. © Fraunhofer IESE 18 Sustainable IT vs. Sustainable by IT
19. © Fraunhofer IESE 19 Sustainable IT  ICT solutions are no end-in-itself  serve a purpose  Development and use / operation of IT always consumes energy  Energy consumption causes CO2 emissions (depending on the origin of the energy)  Energy consumption causes costs  Development and use / operation of IT requires hardware  Hardware needs raw materials  Hardware production needs energy  Use of hardware can also be minimized / designed efficiently  Decisions in software development have impact on energy consumption and hardware usage  Balance between ecological / economic / social fairness  Consideration over the lifetime of IT systems
20. © Fraunhofer IESE 20 Sustainable-By-IT  Impact on sustainability is main purpose or partial purpose of the IT solution  E.g. solution for optimal route planning of airplanes to minimize kerosene consumption  Potential impact of IT solutions on sustainability  Better understanding of contexts / analysis  Creation of transparency  Influencing behavior / enabling behavior (of companies and people)  Influencing the characteristics of products and processes (consumption of gasoline ...)  During development  During operation  Balance between ecological / economic / social fairness  There must be a motivation for using the IT solution  Somewhere the money for the IT solution has to come from and in some form there has to be economic efficiency (government, B2B, B2C, ...)  Sensible choice of the considered scope is necessary: scope has to be defined actively (which companies / people / activities / ...)  Consideration over meaningful time periods is necessary
21. © Fraunhofer IESE 21 Scope Focus Impact
22. © Fraunhofer IESE 22 Organizations / Companies in their Context Organization in Focus Suppliers B2B- and B2C Customers Own Sustainability Sustainability of Suppliers Sustainability of Customers Sustainability always needs a certain scope for consideration
23. © Fraunhofer IESE 23 Organization in Focus: Develops Software! Goal: Improve own sustainability Suppliers Goal: Improve sustainability of suppliers B2B- und B2C Customers Goal: Improve sustainability of customers Sustainable IT Sustainable-By-IT Big Picture & Focus from a Software Perspective Legislator Laws Laws Scope Impact Proportionality 1 4 2 3 5 6
24. © Fraunhofer IESE 24 Need to Understand: Motivations to Invest into Sustainability  Sustainable Solution is also more economic (from a certain perspective)  Solution is more attractive for customers (e.g. better overall user experience)  More customers  Better prices  Solution is more sustainable and cheaper (e.g. the route optimization for aviation)  Adherence to mandatory regulations  Intrinsic motivation  …
25. © Fraunhofer IESE 25 Proportionality & Impact Proportionality:  Selection of a meaningful overall scope!  Where are the real levers?  How much does IT consume compared to what is saved by IT?  Where does a lot of energy really go into IT?  Transparency is absolutely central, otherwise everyone optimizes in the wrong place  Macro-economic vs. from the perspective of an individual company Impact:  What impact can the state have through regulations?  How much impact does a company want to have in terms of sustainability?  How can a company increase its impact on sustainability?  Highest possible reach of the offer  Quantity of customers / people influenced is central  E.g., as initiator of a digital ecosystem, focus on strong growth  Achieve the greatest possible impact on individual companies / people
26. © Fraunhofer IESE 26 Role of Innovation-, Systems- and Software Engineering
27. © Fraunhofer IESE 27 Systems- und Software-Engineering for „Sustainable-By-IT“  Focus not only on software, but on overall system to be impacted   Selection of a meaningful scope  Digital (Innovation) Design  Origin of innovative solutions for sustainable-by-IT  Needs creativity  Needs to tackle motivations, find business models  Careful balance of ecologic, social, economic aspects   needs more specific guidance, patterns, …  All other software engineering disciplines needed in the “usual fashion” to build great systems
28. © Fraunhofer IESE 28 Systems- and Software-Engineering for „Sustainable IT“  Consider energy consumption as a quality attribute  Cross-cutting  Might be subject to regulations in the future  1 quality attribute among many  Potentially in conflict with other quality attributes  The same applies to hardware consumption  Besides the other quality attributes, the cost consideration is central  Energy costs over the lifetime of the software  Costs for use / operation / development  Energy consumption must / can be considered through all SE activities  Digital Design / RE  Architecture / Implementation / Test  Data Science / Model Training  Overarching consideration of all activities necessary  Integrated consideration of runtime and devtime necessary
29. © Fraunhofer IESE 29 Systems- and Software-Engineering for „Sustainable IT“  Guidance for software engineering (there are first things, but it is by no means established yet)  Transparency: Where does how much energy actually go in? Measurability!  Principles and guidance for all disciplines in SE and across disciplines  Selection of infrastructure / hardware / technology platforms is central  Have predefined characteristics regarding energy consumption  Must be used appropriately  Are often not completely transparent, especially in IaaS and PaaS offerings  Much optimization for better energy consumption is also possible in the technology platforms (by their providers)  Of course, again with certain tradeoffs!
30. © Fraunhofer IESE 30 Let’s start! Know the Big Picture! Select your Scope! Do the right things right!
31. © Fraunhofer IESE 31 Dr. Matthias Naab 11.06.2021 | Digital Design and the New European Bauhaus When, if not now? We need to get the Big Picture of Software and Sustainability!