Green coding: Why it matters & best practices for sustainability
The tech market is growing rapidly. While we see many benefits of globalization and advancements, there are also some flaws. According to IEA, the electricity consumption by the tech industry globally was around 1–1.3% of the global final electricity demand. This excludes cryptocurrency mining, estimated to be around 0.4% of the global electricity demand.
With these advancements, people are becoming more aware of sustainability and energy saving. And that is also seen in the tech industry. This is a large amount of energy consumption by one industry globally, so companies are switching toward sustainable alternatives. Green coding is a new practice but it can benefit businesses in the long run. Developers who are learning to code should also focus on sustainability and efficiency. Learning green coding in the early stages, especially in these times, can be very favorable for developers.
What is green coding?#
Green coding or sustainable coding is an emerging terminology that focuses on making software more energy efficient and less harmful to the environment. Green coding emphasizes creating applications or writing code with less carbon footprint and more energy efficiency.
Green coding does not mean you must learn how to code from scratch. It is neither different nor a new way to design or develop applications. Green coding focuses on writing software using the least possible energy. This means optimizing algorithms, reducing computational complexity, and using energy-efficient coding practices.
As a developer, the next time you’re designing, developing, or testing any application, adapting some of the best green coding practices will help you code efficiently.
Green coding is part of a broader movement toward sustainability in the tech industry, recognizing the significant energy consumption and environmental impact associated with digital technologies and seeking to mitigate these effects.
Best practices for green coding#
With the world progressing at the speed of light, we can’t neglect the importance of energy conservation. No matter what niche or industry you’re working in, as long as you use any energy, it’s time to think about efficiency and sustainability. Today, as tech enthusiasts, we will discuss a few best practices for green coding.
Resource management#
The first practice you should start working on is resource management. It is crucial to manage resources effectively. Ensure that your software or application only uses the resources required at the time. After utilization of a particular resource, release it when it’s no longer needed. This includes proper management of memory, processing power, and network bandwidth.
Energy-aware programming#
Energy-aware programming is a key element of green coding. It focuses on reducing the energy consumption of software applications, especially those with high usage or long runtimes. This approach involves choosing programming languages, libraries, and frameworks that are known for their efficiency in terms of energy usage. For example, languages like the C programming language or the Rust language can be more energy-efficient than higher-level languages like Python or JavaScript due to their lower-level control over hardware resources and efficient memory management.
Rust is quickly becoming one of the most popular languages. With a strong basis as a systems and embedded language, its clean design and ergonomics makes it an emerging choice for general purpose programming tasks as well. This course will be your guide to the fundamentals of programming and Rust. Whether you have no experience or want to learn a new language, this is the place to start. In this course, you’ll start off with the basics of the Rust programming language, learning the syntax, the philosophy of the language, and the anatomy of Rust. With that in hand, you’ll move onto some of the more unique parts of Rust, such as expression-oriented programming, ownership, and its strong type system. In the latter half of the course, you’ll work through some of the core components of Rust such as references, memory management, mutability, traits, slices, and generics. By the time you finish, you’ll have the foundations in place to learn more advanced concepts and take your Rust programming to the next level.
Simplifying rollout updates#
Software updates for large-scale systems can be resource-intensive. It involves significant data transfer and processing and sometimes necessitates hardware upgrades. Green coding emphasizes making these updates lightweight and efficient.
This can be achieved through techniques such as incremental updates, where only the changed parts of the software are downloaded and installed rather than replacing the entire application. Moreover, you can also optimize the packages for size by compressing data and removing unnecessary components to reduce the bandwidth and conserve energy.
Using sustainable energy#
While we are focusing on efficient ways to code, we should also focus on using sustainable substitutes of energy as well. Offices should encourage their employees to conserve energy in all possible ways. For example, employees can work remotely and reduce electricity use in offices or use the resources to commute to the office. Businesses should start using solar energy to produce electricity for their offices.
Beyond coding practices, the IT infrastructure itself can be optimized for energy efficiency. This includes using energy-efficient servers, optimizing data center layouts for better cooling, and utilizing cloud computing services, which can be more energy-efficient than traditional on-premises data centers. Employers should also educate their employees on efficient ways to reduce energy consumption in their professional and personal lives.
Shifting to the cloud#
Cloud computing is an energy-efficient and cost-cutting solution for businesses. Developers should shift to cloud servers to reduce energy consumption. Shifting to the cloud reduces the need for businesses to maintain their own physical IT infrastructure. This means less energy use and is a great cost-effective solution for all businesses.
Cloud computing also allows ultimate scalability and flexibility. Businesses only pay for the resources they are utilizing, allowing developers to access anything from anywhere around the world. Big cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud have aimed to power their operations with 100% renewable energy. Don’t know much about the cloud? It’s time to learn cloud computing fundamentals and start practicing on Educative CloudLabs.
We are surrounded by the technology that we utilize daily. Most of it makes use of cloud computing. Cloud is not a nuance anymore; it’s the norm. As software practitioners, it’s imperative to have a good understanding of cloud computing concepts. In this course, you will learn the fundamental concepts of cloud computing. Next, you’ll familiarize yourself with cloud’s standard services. You’ll also learn about various service models available in cloud computing. You’ll learn the concepts of clustering and its relevance in cloud computing. You’ll explore storage and deployment concepts in the cloud. You’ll wrap up with a hands-on experience of how to pick a cloud platform and start your cloud journey. In the end, you’ll have plenty of resources to continue your cloud learning journey. By the end of this course, you’ll have a deeper understanding of the basic concepts of cloud computing and the services and products that cloud platforms offer.
First steps toward green coding#
Green coding might seem like a new term in the tech world, but it’s gaining popularity rapidly, leading to a smarter and safer future. That is why, as an individual, it is time to take your first steps toward green coding. You don’t have to make drastic changes in your routine; just some little steps can create a big difference. Some small steps toward green coding include:
Learning more about green coding: The first step is to completely understand what green coding is and why it is important. Once you have a clear idea of what it is, share it with your peers and friends.
Analyzing the code’s energy efficiency: Start evaluating your code’s energy efficiency. Learn about algorithms and data structures that are energy-efficient, and understand how you can use different coding tools to improve your effectiveness.
Adopting energy-saving techniques: Switch to remote work and cloud computing. Remote work can reduce the carbon footprint associated with commuting and office energy consumption, while cloud computing can offer more energy-efficient data processing and storage options.
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