About the session:
The current emissions from computing are about 4% of the world total and are projected to rise steeply over the next two decades. By 2040 computing alone will eat up half of the emissions budget to keep global warming below 2°C. This growth in computing emissions is unsustainable: it would make it virtually impossible to stay below the 2°C warming limit.
The emissions from production of computing devices exceed the emissions from operating them, so even if devices are more energy efficient producing more of them will make the emissions problem worse. Therefore we must extend the useful life of our computing devices.
As a society we need to start treating computational resources as finite and precious, to be utilised only when necessary, and as effectively as possible. We need frugal computing: achieving the same results for less energy.
