Green software

Green software is software designed to reduce the carbon emissions produced during operation. There is no clear definition of green software, yet we follow the one created by the Green Software Foundation. The philosophy of green software is to reduce the carbon footprint, not to offset it.

Our commitment to green web applications stems from profound environmental concerns. Social responsibility and dedication to care about the natural environment are among Kiwee's core values.

There is a correlation between website performance and energy consumption. The fewer resources a web application uses, the lower the environmental impact is. Improved website performance is a win-win situation for the business and the environment. Users and search engines will appreciate faster loading of web applications. The companies will value lower server infrastructure bills.

How to measure carbon emissions generated by a website?

You can't improve what you can't measure. Accurate measurement of the carbon footprint of a single-page request is challenging. It requires data on application-level metrics and infrastructure. Most importantly, the environmental impact depends on the data center's use of renewable energy.

However, a good starting point is the website carbon calculator, which gives a result based on a formula that takes the payload size and constants defined for the estimated global and regional internet annual traffic and energy consumption.

In the future, we may expect websites to follow energy efficiency regulations similar to the European Accessibility Act or Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regarding websites' accessibility.

How to make the website greener?

When making a website more environmentally friendly, it is important to address three areas: front-end, back-end, and infrastructure.

Green front-end Before any changes are made, we recommend running Google Lighthouse or a similar tool to get a point of the reference.

The base steps are:

• Use images optimized for the web in next-gen formats.
• Avoid loading too large images.
• Remove Unused JavaScript and CSS code.
• Simplify and trim complex and heavy HTML structure.

We highly recommend applying the principles of green user experience (green UX) when working on new and existing projects.

Green back-end

• Optimize code for lower computational complexity.
• If feasible, choose modern languages like Go or Rust.
• Implement continuous performance testing.

Green infrastructure Cloud Carbon Footprint is an open-source tool to measure and monitor the carbon footprint of your cloud infrastructure for further optimization. Check if your website runs on green energy.

We recommend making the software more environmentally sustainable in your new and existing projects. The Green Software for Practitioners (LFC131) certificate from the Linux Foundation is a good starting point to educate your team on producing green software.