Working out the footprint of the internet, and moving to greener clouds
IT's share of global CO2 emissions is growing faster than aviation, and showing no signs of slowing down. If we want a more planet friendly web, we need understanding where the emissions are happening in our current use before we know where can make changes.
After providing a brief background on the subject, we'll map out the supply chain involved in delivering the world wide web to a user's browser, from devices, to data centres, to the infrastructure that provides them.
For each step of the supply chain, we'll run through the most effective steps you can take as a site owner, or agency building sites for clients.
For example, at web design part of the supply chain, this might include designing your pages to stay inside a performance budget, with well optimised images, and so on.
At the networking phase, we'll explain the part content delivery networks might play to reduce the amount of bits shunted around the website, and what your options are now for this, from using a free service like cloudflare to paid CDNs from Google and Amazon running on renewables.
On the infrastructure level, we'll cover the main front runners in this field, who they are, and what is typically involved in using them over your current ones. If you can't switch, we'll cover the options available to you, and look at the steps other organisations have took with similar goals, like Netflix and Mapbox, so on.
At the level above infrastructure, when running applications on servers, we'll also briefly touch on what's happening in that area - how new technologies make applications like Wordpress and Django make more efficient use of the infrastructure they run on, and what your options are for using this yourself in your workflow.
How to map out the supply chain your website uses, to build more planet friendly websites, which deliver a better user experience #sustainableUX
Designers will come away with an idea at each stage what options they have in the process of building digital products or services - they can either use these steps themselves, or use these steps as a starting point to discuss with their team
There are a fair few slide decks here from talks I have given, or presentations I have submitted for funding bids:
http://slideshare.com/chris.d.adams
This is a 25 minute video of a sesison I gave to explain the use of business model canvas to chart how AMEE, an environmental tech startup changed its business model over time, as it tried to find a market for carbon calculation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgPfE1Wpsag
This is 5 minute ignite talk I gave about AMEE's strategy to 'weaponise environmentalism' in the form of supply chain insight for the UK government, and other large corporates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psv8TaMPC8w
Chris Adams is an environmentally focussed tech generalist, who has spent the last 12 years working as a designer, user researcher, product manager, system administrator, and front and back end developer, for companies ranging from the NHS, and Red Bull, and the GLA, to startups like working in european rail travel, environmental impact calculation, city planning, and personal identity.
chrisdams.me.uk productscience.co.uk