Building Green Software

Chapter 2. Building Blocks

The four building blocks of green software are carbon, electricity, hardware, and attitude.

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This book is about reducing greenhouse gases, and there are quite a few, but what are their effects, and why do we need to reduce them?

Before we can get to the fun part of discussing ways to reduce digital greenhouse gases, build green software, and find a sustainable approach to the software development lifecycle, we need to review some fundamental concepts and jargon to set you up for success (we’re nice like that). The three building blocks we will cover in this chapter are carbon, electricity, and hardware, which are all integral to addressing the climate problem.

The Reason We Are Here: Carbon

Carbon is a useful shorthand for all greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Greenhouse Gases

GHGs are any gases in Earth’s atmosphere that can trap heat. This naturally occurring phenomenon gets its name from greenhouses. If you are a keen gardener, we are sure you are familiar with what a greenhouse is. However, for the rest of us techies who like to stay indoors, a greenhouse is a construction made out of transparent material such as glass to capture and retain heat from the sun. This heat-trapping mechanism lets people create a controlled environment for growing plants and flowers, as you’ll see in Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1. A drawing showing how a greenhouse ...