Green IO Newsletter - February 2025
Building a greener digital world, one byte at a time
Hello responsible technologist!
It is great to see that Green IO is delivering its objectives, as people are starting to connect, to interact, discussing important issues surrounding digital sustainability. So I am extremely happy to invite Ben Schwartz to take up the pen for this February newsletter, where he discloses his personal reactions to E51.
Gaël DUEZ
Eroom’s Law and the Future of Sustainable Software Development by Benjamin Schwartz
This blog draws inspiration from a recent episode of the Green IO podcast, in which Tristan Nitot discussed erooM’s law with host Gaël Duez. Eroom challenges our current approach to software and hardware. Listening to this conversation, I couldn’t help but reflect on my journey as a developer and the potential of erooM’s law to reshape how we think about digital sustainability.
From the code of the past to the challenges of today
I wrote my first code on an Amstrad in the 80s and became a developer when the industry was still defining itself. By the 90s, I was deep into C++, with Sun workstations as the ultimate dream machines. As my career progressed, I (regrettably) moved from coding to management just as Java became the “sexy” new language. I’m no longer an active developer, but my early experiences gave me a front-row seat to the priorities that shaped our industry.
When I joined the industry, there were no retirees. My first teachers and mentors, who had used punchcards, still considered compute time the most critical resource. They regarded the relatively new BIOS as the pinnacle of abstraction.
Yet Moore’s law was unstoppable. Most programmers (that’s what we were back then) gradually realised that the tacit partnership between Microsoft and Intel, the “WinTel monopoly” described but not named in the podcast, was a cartel. We became a much more critical resource than computers, and like most, my annual pay rise was double-digit for most of my decade as a programmer.
So, software development was expensive, and our time had to be maximised for impact.
To do that, we leaned heavily into abstraction to cope with the growing complexity of our projects and, even more, to minimise developer effort and maximise code reuse. We condescendingly thought that most of what came before us was spaghetti code. Complex architectures became the norm, with layers upon layers designed to make code more reusable and systems more maintainable. While this approach aimed to save time and human resources, it came at the cost of computational efficiency. Fortunately, Moore’s law allowed us to overlook this trade-off for decades, as hardware improvements compensated for software inefficiencies.
erooM’s law: A paradigm shift
ErooM’s law, as Tristan Nitot described it in the podcast, flips Moore’s law on its head. It argues that instead of relying on endless hardware upgrades to offset bloated software, we should optimise software to extend the life of existing hardware. This law is more than sound engineering; it is necessary in a world where manufacturing hardware seems to have a more significant environmental impact than using it.
Tristan shared striking examples of inefficient code, including cases where optimisation improved performance hundreds of millions of times. These examples underscore the extent to which latent inefficiency exists in modern software, a direct result of prioritising developer productivity over computational efficiency.
AI and the Future of Development
AI detractors don’t seem to have a game plan, and its exponential growth could once again shift the balance of priorities. AI tools promise to drastically boost developer productivity, enabling rapid code generation and optimisation. This trend could reduce the need for highly reusable, abstracted architectures designed to save developer time.
We could return to simpler practices, where AI-assisted developers focus on writing lean, hardware-optimized single-use code tailored to specific tasks. AI handles much of the repetitive grunt work, abandoning complex architectures born out of an obsolete necessity.
This shift would require intentionality so that AI doesn’t perpetuate the inefficiencies of abstraction.
Rebuilding for sustainability
Tristan’s vision for erooM’s law offers a robust roadmap for rethinking software. After listening to the excellent podcast, I think that to create truly sustainable systems, we need to:
Prioritise lean, efficient code that runs closer to the hardware.
Rebuild open-source projects with efficiency as a core design principle, even if that means sacrificing reusability, which AI can compensate for.
Move away from over-reliance on abstraction layers that inflate computational costs.
Accept that “write once, run many” will probably no longer be the best goal, and some target platforms will require a dedicated code base with much less reuse than we’ve become accustomed to.
The software industry once took great pride in its innovations, such as containers and, before that, emulators. These tools may eventually be seen as symbols of a bygone era's wastefulness. However, development productivity can reduce software's energy footprint by shedding unnecessary layers and using leaner architectures.
A call to action
Listening to Tristan and Gaël also felt like a call to action. ErooM’s law challenges the industry to stop relying on hardware upgrades to solve problems that could be addressed by more innovative software. It calls on technologists to revisit the principles that guided much earlier programming —efficiency, resourcefulness, and a deep understanding of hardware— and apply them in a modern context.
A case in point is modern PC games, which typically require tens of gigabytes because it's easier for developers to put everything, including multiple copies of the same texture, into a single monolithic bundle. When cartridges were used, resource optimisation was critical.
As someone who thrived in an era when developer time was the scarcest resource, I now see the urgency of valuing computational efficiency as equally, if not more important. Back to the future! As half a century ago, the industry must embrace optimisation as a moral imperative to address the environmental impact of our work, perhaps including a move back to bare-metal approaches.
TL;DR: I loved the podcast and agree that by aligning with erooM’s law, we can write a new chapter in software development—one in which innovation and sustainability are integrated—and I feel good to have gotten the abstraction layer part off my chest.
Ben Schwarz
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What’s been happening lately in the Green IO community?
🎙️ Podcast episodes
#53 “Scaling GreenOps at Back Market” with Dawn Baker. Listen | 5-mins read
#52 “Sustainability at WordPress: an update” with Csaba Varszegi, Nahuai Badiola, and Nora Ferreiros. Listen | 5-mins read.
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🎤 Green IO conferences
Singapore, April 16th 2025
The main IT sustainability event in South-East Asia. Check the program and get tickets here.
New-York, May 15th 2025
First Green IO conference in North America! Check the first confirmed speakers here.
Munich, July 3rd 2025
First Green IO conference in DACH region! Get early bird tickets and check first confirmed speakers here.
London, September 24th 2025
Will London beat Paris this year in terms of attendees? We expect a massive turnout for this 3rd edition, so you should get early bird tickets here.
**Paris, December 10th & 11th 2025
**Expect this edition to gather the “crème de la crème” of Green IT thought leaders from all over Europe. Get an early bird ticket here.
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# Listen # Watch # Read # Study # Participate # Attend
What else has popped up on our Tech & Sustainability radar?
# Listen… We’re all ears
This month EV puts the spotlight on the micro level, with the Impact Framework (E96), whilst on E97, EnergyTag explains how they are working to improve transparency through time-based and location-based energy tracking.
Zooming out, listen to reactions to the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement (Outrage & Optimism), and TGS reflects with JB Fressoz on the reality of the energy transition, and the episode on ‘bioregioning’ advocates natural catchments for resource use. And finally, as Green IO gears up for Singapore in April, E5 Green Code reflects on how to ensure the safe and sustainable adoption of AI in SEA.
# Read… Our coffee break reading this month
February saw a flurry of activity on AI, as the Paris AI Action Summit released a people and planet focused AI statement grounded in science, solutions and policy standards (though neither the UK nor the US signed it), alongside the Coalition for Sustainable AI, and an alternative AI Action statement was also released from the Green Coalition. CODES too released a paper on shaping a just and sustainable digital future, echoed in our E53 where governance and transparency are identified as key drivers to deliver impact. And Digital Futures Lab sets out recommendations for responsible development and use of AI in climate action as part of the AI+ Climate Futures in Asia project.
From a darker perspective, FoE’s latest report raises serious concerns over the potential harms of AI to the planet and information ecosystems. And although more people are now wanting to be more impactful in their lives, this slightly esoteric article asks whether AI is actually at odds with this, degenerating human ecologies of knowledge. Time will tell…
Fed up with AI? Read here for a quick and easy recap on all the main ingredients of sustainable web design, and here for a nice explainer article documenting the journey through the hyper-political world of microchips. On the gaming front, don’t be misled by Ben Abraham’s jovial tone, as he lays bare Nvidia GPUs upward energy consumption trend in PC gaming,
# Study… We’re never too old to learn
The ripples, or rather shock waves, of AI’s impact on both planet and humans are brought to light in these latest studies: the public health burden of AI impacts (thanks for signposting Théo Alves de Costa); AI fuelling modern day slavery; and Microsoft’s new study calling attention to the impact of AI on critical thinking.
# Tools… Skill-up for a sustainable future
This E-footprint tool models the environmental impact of digital services, and the AI Energy Score pushes forward the transparency on AI models’ energy efficiency. .
Want to speak climate fluently? Then don’t forget to consult the UN Climate Dictionary & UN Nature Dictionary - both are great resources providing clear definitions and actionable insights. Plus, get asking your climate questions, as ClimateQ&A has released its version 1.6.
# Attend… Meet fellow responsible technologists
Digital Product Sustainability Pulse, 6 March 2025, Edinburgh (UK) and online
Sustainable IT: Regenerative intelligence. 6 March 2025, Utrecht (NL)
Is Digitalisation the New Plastic Series, March 10-16 2025, Sydney (AUS)
Data-driven grid Decarbonization webinar. Electricity Maps. 19 March 2025, 17h00 CET. Online.
GREENS 2025, 29 April 2025, Ottawa (CA)
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One last positive thought
As we approach International Women’s Day, the theme for 2025 is #AccelerateAction. Collaboration is key to advancing gender equality, so let us celebrate all those who are working to promote ethical and gender inclusive AI, and you can read about some of the women who are tackling AI and gender issues head on right here.
See you next month!
Jill TELLIER & the Green IO Team