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According to the Greenit.fr website, the definition of Green IT is :
A continuous improvement process designed to reduce the environmental, social and economic impact of digital technology.
You'll note that Green IT is first and foremost a process of continuous improvement. This means that, whatever its current level, Green IT can be achieved by improving the negative impacts of our digital services. The negative impacts addressed by Green IT are not only environmental, but also social and economic. An initiative to improve the accessibility of a digital service is therefore also a Green IT initiative.
Green IT is often confused with IT for Green.
IT for Green focuses on the objective of the digital service, whereas Green IT is based on the design and use of the digital service.
Generally speaking, in the media we hear more about IT for Green than Green IT. One example is software that can quickly detect sick animals or trees, so that only the latter can be treated, thus limiting the use of antibiotics or pesticides.
DoGood People is a very good example of IT for Green, as the application uses gamification to encourage participants to take actions that are beneficial to the peace and prosperity of people and the planet (Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)). All actions are recorded, enabling the individual and collective impact to be visualized over a given period.
Now that we've seen what Green IT isn't, it's important to know what Green IT is in practice.
Green IT focuses on the way software is designed and used. It takes into account all aspects of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), from environmental impact to the social impact on users, suppliers, partners and creators of digital services.
From an environmental point of view, one of the most identifiable aspects of Green IT is the work on eco-design. There is, for example, a French regulation called RGESN (Réglementation Générale d'Ecoconception des Services Numériques - General Ecodesign Regulation for Digital Services) which addresses 8 themes to be taken into account in order to limit, upstream, the environmental impact of a digital service.
At K-LAGAN, we've added 2 themes in order to directly address the issues of quality and development. We can therefore observe the following topics :
This eco-design approach enables potential negative impacts to be identified at an early stage, so that they can be avoided or limited at lower cost. It's the same principle as “shift left”.
In addition to eco-design, Green IT also means looking at resource consumption and the real impact of a digital service. Resource consumption can be viewed in terms of the time required to use it, but also in terms of environmental resources such as water, electricity, CO2 and the impact on terminals
Tools such as the Ecoindex can be used to measure this. In a Green IT approach, the task is to implement actions to improve the Ecoindex score, which can range from A to G.
Green IT has become a necessity. However, as with automation or Agile, even if it is a must, it can be complicated to understand and implement. Above all, it's a state of mind that enables us to implement a continuous improvement approach, taking into account previously neglected elements.
Besides, even if Green IT is now of prime importance, it can't and shouldn't be the only element taken into account when talking about the environment and digital services. IT for Green initiatives also have a role to play... all the more so if they are built around a Green IT and therefore Sustainable Quality approach.
Marc Hage Chahine
QA Practice Manager
www.k-lagan.com
+34 93 535 1500
info@k-lagan.com
