Event overview
Green Tech South West presents an online event with the pioneering Chris Adams from the Green Web Foundation who’ll talk about the progress made in the Greening of IT.
Getting to a fossil free internet by 2030 – a tour of the tech and policy changes to get us there
Over the last few years, the idea of a carbon aware, fossil free internet by 2030 has become more than just interesting idea. It has become something that is socially and economically plausible, as well as desirable and inline with the latest climate science.
In this talk Chris will cover some of the key drivers to make this possible, and what key policy changes can accelerate our transition from fossil fuels in the technology sector.
Chris will discuss:
- the most promising ideas from the Internet Architecture Board’s recent workshops to explore how to reduce global ICT emissions inline with the science around staying within 1.5 degrees of warming;
- what new open source software like Ecovisors can do for on-site power;
- how carbon-aware computing schedulers and carbon aware networking routers can lead to an internet that can complement a shift to a grid powered by more variable renewable sources of energy;
- how a shift to hourly carbon accounting for electricity with new standards like Energy Tag’s Granular Certificates can cut through existing greenwash;
- some of the the regulatory drivers on the horizon can help technologists argue for more ambitious climate action, from the European Corporate Social Responsibility Directive to recent changes in international accounting standards from the IFRS (international financial reporting standards) Foundation.
Participants will leave with a good grounding of the progress made in the Greening of IT, the challenges facing us for the rest of the decade, and a better idea of their role in the coming energy transition, particularly in the tech sector.
About Chris
Chris Adams is the Executive Director of the Green Web Foundation, a non profit focussed on reaching a fossil free internet by 2030. He’s spent the last 15 years as an environmentally focussed tech generalist, working as a user researcher, product manager, developer, sysadmin and UX designer.
He is a contributing editor to the Ars Electronica award winning Branch Magazine, is the policy chair of the Green Software Foundation, an industry body comprised of non profits and some of the largest names in the tech world, including, Microsoft, Thoughtworks, Github and others.
He enjoys coding in python and javascript, and is the cohost of the Environment Variables podcast, where he interviews researchers working on the bleeding edge of green IT to make it accessible to a wider audience.
Watch the event video
👋 09:21 – Event starts with a welcome from your meet-up organisers, Ellen, Hannah and Mike
📢 14:15 – Our famous 60 second intros – a chance for attendees to introduce themselves, ask for help and tell us about something the group might find interesting
💚 25:50 – Chris’s talk
❓ 01:01:40 – Questions
🗓️ 01:07:12 – Round-up, other community notices and next event announcement
Resources and links
One of the perks of holding events online, and having such a wonderful and engaging community, is we share a huge amount of useful resources and information throughout the event. Here’s a summary of what we unearthed.
Chris’ slides
Browse Chris’ slides below
Green-Tech-South-West-Feb-2023-Getting-to-a-fossil-free-internet-by-2030-minLinks and resources
- Circularity First
- GTSW Circularity First (Cistor) talk
- Sustainable business support programme
- Working in sustainable technology Meetup
- Julia’s Bicycle
- Branch Magazine
- Green Web Foundation
- Environment Variables podcast
- Sustainability in South Gloucestershire networking event
- Google Cloud’s commitment to sharing workspace emissions
- Power profiling with Firefox Profiler
- Umbracospark innovation conference
- How to turn your smartphone into a low energy, low emission laptop
Community 60 second intros
An opportunity for you, our community, to (very quickly) share something with the rest of us. This can be anything from a green tech project or initiative you are working on, a request for help or guidance or even some knowledge/resource you’d like to share with others
James Bridgeman – Works for Circularity First, who offer sustainable IT advisory solutions and services. They help people make more sustainable choices through their supply chain when buying, using, replacing and disposing of their tech via remanufactured technology, as well as helping people keep technology in use for longer. Specialising in brand activation, James looks after their brand assets and website, using Oxygen to optimise and eliminate bloat. They have just completed an analysis showing you can save up to 60% when you by reuse over new due to the emissions associated with the raw materials, assembly, and transportation.
Billy Allen – Programme Coordinator for the Sustainable Business Support Programme which is run by SETSquared in partnership with the University of Bath. Established to support businesses to become more sustainable, they predominantly work with businesses in the West of England, but have recently opened it up to companies who are willing to work within the West. They offer something called sustainable workouts, which focus on the practical ways to grow your company in a socially and environmentally sustainable way. They also offer a series of master classes around digital sustainability, designed if you have less time. Being part of the University of Bath means they have links to the academics and can connect you with potential research collaborations to provide academic input to your product or services. If you’re interested in being part of the programme, their fully funded, free spaces end in May, so do get in touch with Billy!
Email: billy.allen@setsquared.co.uk.
Chris Pointon – Co-organises the Working in Sustainable Technology Meetup in Cambridge. They run a monthly online meetup featuring a particular sector of where technology is being used to aid sustainablity such as retrofit, wind power, green IT and more. Their next event is on Thursday 9th of March (12:30pm) where they’ll be looking at alternative protein and the plant-based meat industry. Aiming to inspire those who want to move into a technical role at a more sustainability focused company, the speakers (usually founders/senior members) and their talks focus less on the product and more on the technologies and techniques they use. They have breakout rooms at the end with the founders which allow you to ask them any questions and gain insights from them directly. We definitely recommend checking these events out!
Andy Hawkins – Chief Purpose Officer and B-Corp Coach at Business On Purpose. On 16th March they will be running Purpose Fest with Bristol city Council at City Hall. Expecting a turnout of around 150 people from the Bristol and Bath area some of the themes include donut economics, diversity & inclusion and corporate activism to name a few. There will be music, donuts and dancing – what’s not to like! More details at Purposefest.
Our slides with upcoming events
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