IT Departments Facing the Climate Emergency: How Eco-Design Can Make a Difference

The Importance of Software Eco-Design for Ecological Transition

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Software eco-design is a major challenge for the ecological transition of businesses and organizations. Indeed, digital technology has a significant environmental impact, accounting for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than the maritime sector! Additionally, the energy consumption of data centers is increasing exponentially and is expected to reach 8% annually by 2030.

In light of these findings, software eco-design emerges as an essential solution to reduce the environmental impact of digital technology. It involves designing software with consideration of its entire lifecycle to minimize resource consumption and waste production.

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1.The Challenges of Software Eco-Design

Reducing the Energy Consumption of Software Products

By optimizing code and using more efficient technologies, it is possible to significantly reduce resource consumption.

Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By reducing energy consumption, software eco-design also helps to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

Limit the Production of Electronic Waste

Better-designed software lasts longer and requires fewer updates, which helps reduce the production of electronic waste.

Improve Software Performance

Well-designed software is generally more efficient and stable, leading to reduced operating costs.

Enhance the Brand Image of Companies

Companies that adopt software eco-design demonstrate their commitment to sustainable development, which enhances their brand image within their ecosystem: employees, customers, partners, and investors.

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2. The Economic Benefits of Software Eco-Design

Reduce Operating Costs

By optimizing the resource consumption of software, it is possible to significantly reduce energy and maintenance costs.

Improving application performance

Well-designed software is generally more performant and stable, leading to reduced crashes and downtime.

Extend the lifespan of equipment

Software that is less resource-intensive helps extend the lifespan of IT equipment, which delays the need for new hardware investments.

Reduce development costs

Software eco-design helps produce more reliable and easier-to-maintain software, which contributes to reducing development costs.

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Harington Impact: Your partner for sustainable and high-performance engineering

Harington Impact offers you comprehensive support to implement IT eco-design within your organization. We conduct an audit of your IT architecture according to our Impact framework, provide recommendations to integrate sustainability from the design stage of your projects, offer advice on using more efficient technologies such as cloud computing, and set up frameworks for Green Coding.

The audit of your IT architecture according to our framework

Our IT eco-design framework allows you to assess your current IT architecture and identify potential areas for improvement. This audit considers environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability.

Recommendations for integrating sustainability from the design stage of projects

We provide you with practical recommendations for integrating sustainability from the design phase of your IT projects. These recommendations cover the entire application lifecycle, from technology choices to decommissioning..

Implementation of frameworks for Green Coding

Green Coding is an approach to software development that aims to reduce the environmental impact of applications. We offer the implementation of frameworks for Green Coding that will enable you to develop more sustainable and resource-efficient applications.

Contact us today to find out how Harington Impact can help you implement IT eco-design within your organization.

To learn more” ou “To go further

• Guide pratique de l’ADEME sur l’écoconception logicielle
• Le Shift Project :The environmental impact of digital technology
• GreenIT : Le portail français de l’écoconception numérique