Concern over gas guzzling software

When we wrote about the possibilities of green software back in July, the response from Register Developer readers was mainly positive. Thanks for going easy on us.

One reader was actually inspired to kick-start his own green software initiative while the issue of green software drew significant comment outside of Reg Dev's green pages.

Since then, further digging has shown real concern growing about the effects of software that's been engineered without concern for green issues. Stimulated by worries over increased power consumption in large data centres run by companies such as Google and eBay, green software is being suggested as an important part of the solution to global warming and climate change.

Back in July we suggested that the trend to open software development and multiple processor architectures might help to improve software efficiency. But now it seems that current changes to the way software is delivered such as Software as a Service (SaaS) and technical improvements such as performance tuning are also finding their way on to the green software agenda.

Some will dismiss the "greening" of software development as a passing fad. But there is good reason to think that better designed, more efficient software is not only desirable from an aesthetic point of view - always a lively topic of debate among practitioners - it will also help to save the planet.®