Digital De-Growth

Published

April 14, 2022

Modified

February 1, 2023

Increasing use of computational resources has become pervasive in today’s society. Until recently computing resources have effectively been treated as infinite. Ridiculous hardware requirements for computing even of the most trivial tasks have been create to support growth-focused (capitalist) economy and marketing.

Degrowth-principles for computing are required as way to de-couple digital technology from the economically driven cycle of planned obsolescence into engineering for planned longevity. We as a society need to start treating computational resources as finite to be utilised as efficiently as possible.

Rational

Greenhouse gas emissions related to computing resources are an increasingly difficult challenge for the common goal of humanity to limit global warming below 2°C before 2040:

Global reduction from 55 to 23 GtCO₂ per year is needed. (Currently about 10 GtCO₂ used to generate electricity. Renewable are projected to provide 30% of global electricity by 2040.)
Today computers account for 3.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Growth in demand will not be offset by increased power efficiency (cf. end of Moors Law). Computing demand is likely to increase considerable (3-4 times) up to 10-14% of global emissions budget by 2040.
Carbon emissions resulting from the production of computing devices exceeds those incurred during operation. Including the carbon cost of production would make computers responsible for 10 GtCO₂ per year in 2040. Almost half of the acceptable CO₂ emission budget.

The carbon footprint of computing resources needs to be dramatically reduced for production and operation to meet the climate targets.

Overview

Following provides a list of reference topics in the domain of de-growth computing [^1]…

Sustainable Computing [^8]

…or zero-carbon computing …or green IT
Treat computational resources as finite and utilise these as effective as possible
Integrated approach to reduce overall energy consumption…
- …across the entire infrastructure stack
- …includes data-center, communication networks, edge devices, hardware, software, etc…
Design hardware drivers, firmware & software with extended lifetime…
- …including a reliable mechanism for updates
- …and management of exploit vulnerabilities
Consideration to deal with technical debt…

Collapse Informatics [^2]

Building durable systems in the abundant present which…
- …continue to operate within a failing infrastructure environment
- …continue to be reparable in times of scarcity (missing replacements components)
Resiliency to intermittent energy supply and network connectivity
Focus on decentralization…
- …current centralised services and networks are fragile
- …favor peer-to-peer infrastructures for distribution and resilience
- …design infrastructure and services with natural disasters in mind
- …consider maintainability during infrastructure collapse (economics, war, sabotage)

Perma-Computing [^3]

Advocates the application of permaculture principles to the digital domain
…sustained through practices of re-use, repair, maintenance and non-waste
Develop digital technologies that are…
- …drastically less reliant on artificial energy sources
- …designed in ways that acknowledges interdependence with natural systems
  - …accommodate to a availability of green energy
  - …like wind and solar energy
  - …day/night cycles, summer/winder seasons

Computing Within Limits (CWL)

Advocates for radically leaner and ecologically-aware approaches…
- …to develop and deploy digital technology across society
- …includes limits functionality and energy-budget
Reimagine the development of digital technology…
- …through principles of constraint and restraint
- …for example limiting designs to fixed energy budgets [^7]
- …optimize for small energy envelopes over performance

Salvage Computing

Extending the use of already available resources…
- …how to make use out of the millions of devices which already exist
- …encouraging repair and reuse of existing computing technology
Regulate industry into prolonged product’s life cycle
Future production of computing hardware should be based…
- …on longevity (designed for disassembly [^3] [^6])
- …rather than planned obsolescence
- …“scavenge-friendly electronic parts” that can be assembled with low-tech
- …cf. “Right to Repair” movement

Frugal Computing [^5]

Aims to extend the shelf-life and energy efficiency…
- …of successive generations of devices…
- …until the point is eventually reached when…
…“the world will have computing resources that last forever and hardly use any energy”

Minimal Computing [^9]

Deliberate distancing from the current tolerance of “bloat-ware”
Encourages programmers to refactor and rewrite programs to keep them small and efficient

Inspiration

Low-Tech Magazine [^7] provides an example of a web-site hosted completely on solar-power. Hundred Rabbits [^9] life on a boat provide a very inspiring example of doing meaningful computing with (very) limited resources. They gave a great talk about their perspective at the LibrePlanet 2022 conference called Software doldrums.

References

[^1] What might degrowth computing look like?, Neil Selwyn, 2022/04/08
[^2] Collapse informatics and practice: Theory, method, and design, Bill Tomlinson, 2013/09/17
[^3] A holistic approach to computing and sustainability inspired from permaculture, Lu Linvega, 2022
[^4] Computing Within Limits, Bonnie Nardi, 2018/10
[^5] Frugal Computing, Wim Vanderbauwhede, 2021/06/29
[^6] Design for Disassembly: This Old Idea is the Wave of the Future, Sarah Templin, 2021/07/20
[^7] How Sustainable is a Solar Powered Website?, Low-tech Magazine, 2020/01
[^8] Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing, Wim Vanderbauwhede, 2021/06/29
[^9] Minimal Computing, DHCP (digital humanities climate coalition)

--- title: Digital De-Growth date: 2022/04/14 date-modified: 2023/02/01 --- Increasing use of computational resources has become pervasive in today's society. Until recently computing resources have effectively been treated as infinite. Ridiculous hardware requirements for computing even of the most trivial tasks have been create to support growth-focused (capitalist) economy and marketing. Degrowth-principles for computing are required as way to de-couple digital technology from the economically driven cycle of planned obsolescence into **engineering for planned longevity**. We as a society need to start treating computational resources as finite to be utilised as efficiently as possible. ### Rational Greenhouse gas emissions related to computing resources are an increasingly difficult challenge for the common goal of humanity to limit global warming below 2°C before 2040: * Global reduction from 55 to 23 GtCO₂ per year is needed. (Currently about 10 GtCO₂ used to generate electricity. Renewable are projected to provide 30% of global electricity by 2040.) * Today computers account for 3.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Growth in demand will not be offset by increased power efficiency (cf. end of Moors Law). Computing demand is likely to increase considerable (3-4 times) up to 10-14% of global emissions budget by 2040. * Carbon emissions resulting from the production of computing devices exceeds those incurred during operation. Including the carbon cost of production would make computers responsible for 10 GtCO₂ per year in 2040. Almost half of the acceptable CO₂ emission budget. The carbon footprint of computing resources needs to be dramatically reduced for production and operation to meet the climate targets. ### Overview Following provides a list of reference topics in the domain of de-growth computing [^1]... **Sustainable Computing** [^8] * ...or zero-carbon computing ...or green IT * Treat computational resources as finite and utilise these as effective as possible * Integrated approach to **reduce overall energy consumption**... * ...across the entire infrastructure stack * ...includes data-center, communication networks, edge devices, hardware, software, etc... * Design hardware drivers, firmware & software with **extended lifetime**... * ...including a reliable mechanism for updates * ...and management of exploit vulnerabilities * Consideration to deal with technical debt... **Collapse Informatics** [^2] * Building durable systems in the abundant present which... * ...continue to operate within a failing infrastructure environment * ...continue to be **reparable** in times of scarcity (missing replacements components) * Resiliency to intermittent energy supply and network connectivity * Focus on **decentralization**... * ...current centralised services and networks are fragile * ...favor **peer-to-peer** infrastructures for distribution and resilience * ...design infrastructure and services with natural disasters in mind * ...consider maintainability during infrastructure collapse (economics, war, sabotage) **Perma-Computing** [^3] * Advocates the application of permaculture principles to the digital domain * ...sustained through practices of **re-use**, repair, maintenance and **non-waste** * Develop digital technologies that are... * ...drastically less reliant on artificial energy sources * ...designed in ways that acknowledges interdependence with natural systems * ...**accommodate to a availability of green energy** * ...like wind and solar energy * ...day/night cycles, summer/winder seasons **Computing Within Limits** (CWL) * Advocates for radically leaner and ecologically-aware approaches... * ...to develop and deploy digital technology across society * ...includes limits functionality and energy-budget * Reimagine the development of digital technology... * ...through principles of constraint and restraint * ...for example limiting designs to **fixed energy budgets** [^7] * ...optimize for small energy envelopes over performance **Salvage Computing** * Extending the use of already available resources... * ...how to make use out of the millions of devices which already exist * ...encouraging repair and reuse of existing computing technology * Regulate industry into prolonged product's life cycle * Future production of computing hardware should be based... * ...on longevity (designed for disassembly [^3] [^6]) * ...rather than planned obsolescence * ..."scavenge-friendly electronic parts" that can be assembled with low-tech * ...cf. **"Right to Repair"** movement **Frugal Computing** [^5] * Aims to extend the shelf-life and energy efficiency... * ...of successive generations of devices... * ...until the point is eventually reached when... * ..._“the world will have computing resources that last forever and hardly use any energy”_ **Minimal Computing** [^9] * Deliberate distancing from the current tolerance of "bloat-ware" * Encourages programmers to refactor and rewrite programs to keep them small and efficient ### Inspiration Low-Tech Magazine [^7] provides an example of a web-site hosted completely on solar-power. Hundred Rabbits [^9] life on a boat provide a very inspiring example of doing meaningful computing with (very) limited resources. They gave a great talk about their perspective at the LibrePlanet 2022 conference called [Software doldrums][_01]. ### References [^1] [What might degrowth computing look like?](https://criticaledtech.com/2022/04/08/what-might-degrowth-computing-look-like), Neil Selwyn, 2022/04/08 [^2] [Collapse informatics and practice: Theory, method, and design](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2493431), Bill Tomlinson, 2013/09/17 [^3] [A holistic approach to computing and sustainability inspired from permaculture](https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/permacomputing.html), Lu Linvega, 2022 [^4] [Computing Within Limits](https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2018/10/231374-computing-within-limits/fulltext), Bonnie Nardi, 2018/10 [^5] [Frugal Computing](https://wimvanderbauwhede.github.io/articles/frugal-computing), Wim Vanderbauwhede, 2021/06/29 [^6] [Design for Disassembly: This Old Idea is the Wave of the Future](https://www.core77.com/posts/109506/Design-for-Disassembly-This-Old-Idea-is-the-Wave-of-the-Future), Sarah Templin, 2021/07/20 [^7] [How Sustainable is a Solar Powered Website?](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/01/how-sustainable-is-a-solar-powered-website.html), Low-tech Magazine, 2020/01 [^8] [Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing](http://dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wim/low-carbon-computing), Wim Vanderbauwhede, 2021/06/29 [^9] [Minimal Computing](https://sas-dhrh.github.io/dhcc-toolkit/toolkit/minimal-computing.html), DHCP (digital humanities climate coalition) [_01]: https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/software-doldrums/