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About a hundred years ago the Industrial Revolution transformed the lives of millions of people. The invention of steam power, telegraph, electricity and the like freed people from labor intensive jobs and let them spend their energy on improving living standards. The focus of the industrial revolution was on new mechanical inventions. It wasn't until the invention of the transistor in the 50's that the next phase of technological revolution was kicked into high gear. The advent of the electronic age further improved the mechanical machines and allowed us new methods of communications. Now, computer software dominates large aspect of our daily life.
The same pattern is happening with the environmental technology movement. As we move to a greener future, all our focus and efforts are directed towards mechanical improvements to existing technology, such as the use of fuel cells or bio-fuels over fossil fuel, or the replacement of environmentally harmful materials with bio-degradable materials.
While we need to invest resources into these areas, there is an apparent lack of focus on the computer software aspect. Try search for information on 'green' software and you will probably get nothing. Why is there no equivalent of Richard Branson's Virgin Earth Challenge for software applications? I honestly cannot believe that computer software has such a small place in looking after our home planet. Are we, the software industry, not visionary enough to recognize the potential our industry can contribute to the cause? Why does Google, the company with "Do no evil" as their motto, not doing more to lead the industry to greener pastures? Are we as developers just too lazy to bother with saving our planet?
How about software that interfaces with home automation hardware, such as X10 or ZigBee, which would let home owners monitor their energy usage. Better still, optimize usage according to rules set by the home owner? Or a mash-up web application where users can monitor environment changes where the data is opened to everyone in the world and not exclusive to governmental agency such as NASA?
Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsHoria DragomirOct 1st 2007 1:55PM
Tough one!
Maybe because it's a paradox to begin with. To make software, you need a workstation, which, in turn, comes from whole lot of 'harmful' substances. Not to mention that to run the workstation, you need electricity.. and not much electricity comes from green sources.
I think the first step would be to make electricity itself greener. Some researchers are close to patenting a cost-efficien way to massproduce solar panels. That's a good start. Stirling engines also sound promising.
I'd feel a whole lot less hypocritical once I run my rig on green power. Then, I might get the urge to develop software to monitor and manage wind turbines ;)
telecommattOct 1st 2007 2:42PM
Great article! I think software is a huge gaping void in environmental technology. It's not just software for your home PC. I think the real impact would be energy monitoring software for manufacturing. I can't image manufacturers haven't looked into a system that would regulate energy consumption on demand.
Jeremy KorzeniewskiOct 1st 2007 11:49PM
Alex - nice article. I think that the first way that software is and will continue going green is the reduction in paper and packaging. With the internet and downloads, going paper and package-less is a reality. Google Docs and other online document and storage sites are a good step.