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Environment Variables

Each episode we discuss the latest news regarding how to reduce the emissions of software and how the industry is dealing with its own environmental impact. Brought to you by The Green Software Foundation.


Latest episode

  • 156. Certifying Green Software

    49:29||Ep. 156
    Host Chris Adams speaks with Anita Schüttler about certifying green software and the role of standards in making software sustainability more mainstream. They discuss Germany’s Blue Angel certification, Anita’s work on the Holmes search software, and how recognising software’s environmental impact can encourage more sustainable design across the technology industry.Learn more about our people:Chris Adams: LinkedIn | GitHub | WebsiteAnita Schüttler: LinkedIn | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterResources:Token & CO2 Dashboard | Neuland [01:28]Bundesverband Green Software [08:51]How Hungry is AI? | Jacob et al. [22:22]Sustainable AI Group launches CLEER [27:59]Blue Angel for Software | Blauer Engel [34:31]EmpCo Directive: Everything You Need to Know Now | CSR Tools [34:57]HOLMES by neuland – The flexible Search Accelerator [40:47]Ecodesign Award | Bundespreis [41:36] If you enjoyed this episode then please either:Follow, rate, and review on Apple PodcastsFollow and rate on SpotifyWatch our videos on The Green Software Foundation YouTube Channel!Connect with us on Twitter, Github and LinkedIn!

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  • 155. The Week in Green Software: The Economics of Green and Efficient Agentic AI

    41:28||Ep. 155
    This Week in Green Software, Valeria and Adi explore the sustainability challenges of agentic AI and six ways developers can make AI workflows more efficient. They also discuss the new SCI for Web update, green regions and cloud sustainability, and the upcoming changes to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO carbon accounting standards.Learn more about our people:Aditya Manglik: LinkedIn | GitHub | WebsiteValeria Salis: LinkedIn | GitHub | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterNews:The Economics of Green and Efficient Agentic AI | GSF [02:19]A July SCI for Web update - defining a new standard for carbon measurement in web applications | Green Web Foundation [10:09]Carbon Emissions from Cloud Storage: An Empirical Analysis toward Actionable User Practices for Sustainable Storage | HotCarbon [18:50]GHG Protocol Announces Key Standard Development Updates [28:25]Events:CNCF TCG Environmental Sustainability [37:04] If you enjoyed this episode then please either:Follow, rate, and review on Apple PodcastsFollow and rate on SpotifyWatch our videos on The Green Software Foundation YouTube Channel!Connect with us on Twitter, Github and LinkedIn!
  • 154. The Week in Green Software: AI Observability and Climate Education with Pascal Joly

    43:39||Ep. 154
    Hosts Kate and Tzviya speak with consultant and technologist Pascal Joly about AI sustainability, observability, and tools for making smarter choices about AI usage. The conversation also explores the ITU’s Greening Digital Companies report and what its findings reveal about the growing energy and emissions of the digital sector before discussing the growing energy demands of the IT sector and recent sustainability reporting from major technology companies. Learn more about our people:Kate Goldenring: LinkedIn | WebsiteTzviya Siegman: LinkedIn | WebsitePascal Joly: LinkedIn | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterNews:It Climate Ed [00:11]Sustainable AI - From Impact to Implementation by Pascal Joly on Maven [02:50]AI model efficiency selector | IT Climate Ed [06:38] AI CEOs say they need to slow the pace of development. But will they? | The Guardian [19:21]AI Energy Management Alliance (AEMA) [24:16]Emerald AI, Google and NVIDIA Launch Alliance to Advance Flexible AI Data Centers Greening Digital Companies 2026 | ITU [29:26] EV Ep151 - The Week in Green Software: The AI Water Management Challenge with Masheika Allgood [40:38]Events:Climate Week NYC 2026 | September 20-27 [37:04]SF Tech Week | October 5-11 [38:58]Green IO London 2026 | Sustainable Tech Conference | September 30 - October 1 [39:56]Designing a Standard for OpenTelemetry (October 5 at 5:00 pm CEST · Virtual) [40:16]If you enjoyed this episode then please either:Follow, rate, and review on Apple PodcastsFollow and rate on SpotifyWatch our videos on The Green Software Foundation YouTube Channel!Connect with us on Twitter, Github and LinkedIn!
  • 153. Backstage: Software Water Intensity

    37:52||Ep. 153
    Producer Chris Skipper goes Backstage with Yi Ding and Hongliu Cao, chair and co-chair of the Software Water Intensity project, to discuss the development of the standard. They explore why water is a unique sustainability challenge, how data centres and semiconductor manufacturing contribute to water use, and the complexities of measuring water withdrawal, consumption, and stress. The conversation also looks at the challenges of data availability and how SWI could turn water impact into a practical metric for making better software and infrastructure decisions.Learn more about our people:Chris Adams: LinkedIn | WebsiteYi Ding: LinkedIn | Website | ScholarHongliu (Leo) Cao: LinkedIn | ScholarFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterResources:Global Water Bankruptcy Report | United Nations [09:50]Software Carbon Intensity | GSF [14:43]SCI for AI | GSF [15:26]Not All Water Consumption Is Equal: A Water Stress Weighted Metric for Sustainable Computing (SCARF Paper) [18:07]Why AI’s Water Footprint Is Harder to Measure Than Carbon | Hongliu Cao [22:32]Different Clouds, Different Water Stories: Why AI’s Water Footprint Is Harder to Measure (Part 2) Welcoming the Software Water Handbook | GSF Software Water Handbook: A companion resource to the SWI specification | GSFGreen Software Movement Platform | GSF  If you enjoyed this episode then please either:Follow, rate, and review on Apple PodcastsFollow and rate on SpotifyWatch our videos on The Green Software Foundation YouTube Channel!Connect with us on Twitter, Github and LinkedIn!
  • 152. The Week in Green Software: Flexibility in the Age of AI

    52:02||Ep. 152
    TWiGS hosts Kate and Tzviya are joined by Dave Masselink, founder of Compute Gardener, to discuss how software engineers can play a direct role in building a cleaner energy future. The conversation explores flexible computing, carbon aware workload scheduling, and the growing impact of AI on electricity demand, while highlighting practical ways developers can reduce emissions without sacrificing performance. They offer a grounded look at how better, flexible software decisions can support a more sustainable grid.Learn more about our people:Tzviya Siegman: LinkedIn | WebsiteKate Goldenring: LinkedIn | WebsiteDave Masselink: LinkedIn | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterNews:EV Ep151 TWiGS: The AI Water Management Challenge with Masheika Allgood [08:24]Data centers are ready to negotiate flexibility for speed | Utility Dive [15:40]Sustainability Interoperability Layer for Operations (SILO) | GSF [25:47]Introducing Neuralwatt Cloud: Energy-Based AI Inference Pricing [33:23]How Gridware’s grid monitoring sensors won over a career lineman | Latitude Media [41:42]Events:CNCF Environmental Sustainability Technical Community Group Meeting | 11 Aug 02:00 PM CEST (Virtual) [50:20]Green Software San Francisco Bay Area | Meetup | October 2026 (San Francisco) [50:40]If you enjoyed this episode then please either:Follow, rate, and review on Apple PodcastsFollow and rate on SpotifyWatch our videos on The Green Software Foundation YouTube Channel!Connect with us on Twitter, Github and LinkedIn!
  • 151. The Week in Green Software: The AI Water Management Challenge with Masheika Allgood

    53:12||Ep. 151
    This Week, hosts Tzviya and Kate are joined by AI ethicist Masheika Allgood to discuss the growing environmental impact of AI data centres through the lens of water use. Drawing on a new case study from Georgia, the conversation explores how communities can better understand the local effects of AI infrastructure, why transparency and public engagement matter, and what policymakers, developers, and residents should consider before new data centres are built. Learn more about our people:Kate Goldenring: LinkedIn | WebsiteTzviya Siegman: LinkedIn | WebsiteMasheika Allgood: LinkedIn | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterResources:When Will the Taps Run Dry? | AllAI [01:31]The AI Data Center Water Management Challenge: A Georgia Case Study | Taps Run Dry [03:51]The AI Data Center Water Management Challenge | Masheika Allgood [07:46]UN Open Source Week [14:09]Summit 26 - Unlock AI's potential to serve humanity [14:44]Wyoming tightens wastewater rules after Meta datacenter contractor flushed contaminated water | The Guardian [27:39]EV Ep141 TWiGS: Tokens, Water, and Transparency [42:16]If you enjoyed this episode then please either:Follow, rate, and review on Apple PodcastsFollow and rate on SpotifyWatch our videos on The Green Software Foundation YouTube Channel!Connect with us on Twitter, Github and LinkedIn!
  • 150. The Week in Green Software: The Green Side of Observability

    43:09||Ep. 150
    This Week in Green Software, Kate is joined by Diana Todea to explore how observability can become more sustainable by designing systems with efficiency in mind. They discuss practical ways to cut costs and carbon emissions, avoid telemetry bloat, and build greener observability pipelines from the start. Treating observability as an architectural decision is key to creating more efficient and sustainable software systems.Learn more about our people:Kate Goldenring: LinkedIn | WebsiteDiana Todea: LinkedIn | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterResources:The Green Side of Observability - Diana Todea | DevOps.com [01:01]Retroactive Sampling with OpenTelemetry | KubeCon Amsterdam 2026 [10:09]Observability Is a Mesh, Not a Braid - Diana Todea | Medium [24:54]Grafana Mimir [29:47]VictoriaMetrics [30:03]SCI for Open Telemetry | GSF [33:44]Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) | GSF [34:00]Green Observability: What Needs to Shuffle in Open Source? - Diana Todea | SCALE [34:41]Events:Sustainable Tech in the Age of AI 29 June 18:00 - Hamburg, Germany [40:59]FREE UKSG webinar: Minimising the environmental harm of AI through principle thinking 30 June 13:00 BST - UK, Virtual [41:15]Reducing Cost and Carbon 2 July 18:00 Frankfurt, Germany [41:39]If you enjoyed this episode then please either:Follow, rate, and review on Apple PodcastsFollow and rate on SpotifyWatch our videos on The Green Software Foundation YouTube Channel!Connect with us on Twitter, Github and LinkedIn!