Share

cover art for Backstage: Green Software Patterns

Environment Variables

Backstage: Green Software Patterns

Ep. 101
•
In this episode, Chris Skipper takes us backstage into the Green Software Patterns Project, an open-source initiative designed to help software practitioners reduce emissions by applying vendor-neutral best practices. Guests Franziska Warncke and Liya Mathew, project leads for the initiative, discuss how organizations like AVEVA and MasterCard have successfully integrated these patterns to enhance software sustainability. They also explore the rigorous review process for new patterns, upcoming advancements such as persona-based approaches, and how developers and researchers can contribute. 

Learn more about our people:

Find out more about the GSF:

Resources:

If you enjoyed this episode then please either:
Connect with us on Twitter, Github and LinkedIn!

TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

Chris Skipper: Welcome to Environment Variables, where we bring you the latest news from the world of sustainable software development. I am the producer of the show, Chris Skipper, and today we're excited to bring you another episode of Backstage, where we uncover the stories, challenges, and innovations driving the future of green software.

In this episode, we're diving into the Green Software Patterns Project, an open source initiative designed to curate and share best practices for reducing software emissions.

The project provides a structured approach for software practitioners to discover, contribute, and apply vendor-neutral green software patterns that can make a tangible impact on sustainability. Joining us today are Franziska Warncke and Liya Mathew, the project leads for the Green Software Patterns Initiative.

They'll walk us through how the project works, its role in advancing sustainable software development, and what the future holds for the Green Software Patterns. Before we get started, a quick reminder that everything we discuss in this episode will be linked in the show notes below. So without further ado, let's dive into our first question about the Green Software Patterns project. My first question is for Liya. The project is designed to help software practitioners reduce emissions in their applications.

What are some real world examples of how these patterns have been successfully applied to lower carbon footprints?

Liya Mathew: Thanks for the question, and yes, I am pretty sure that there are a lot of organizations as well as individuals who have greatly benefited from this project. A key factor behind the success of this project is the impact that these small actions can have on longer runs. For example, AVEVA has been an excellent case of an organization that embraced these patterns.

They created their own scoring system based on Patterns which help them measure and improve their software sustainability. Similarly, MasterCard has also adopted and used these patterns effectively. What's truly inspiring is that both AVEVA and MasterCard were willing to share their learnings with the GSF and the open source community as well.

Their contributions will help others learn and benefit from their experiences, fostering a collaborative environment where everyone can work towards a more sustainable software.

Chris Skipper: Green software patterns must balance general applicability with technical specificity. How do you ensure that these patterns remain actionable and practical across different industries, technologies and software architectures?

Liya Mathew: One of the core and most useful features of patterns is the ability to correlate the software carbon intensity specification. Think of it as a bridge that connects learning and measurement. When we look through existing catalog of patterns, one essential thing that stands out is their adaptability.

Many of these patterns not only align with sustainability, but also coincide with security and reliability best practices. The beauty of this approach is that we don't need to completely rewrite our software architecture to make it more sustainable. Small actions like catching static data or providing a dark mode can make significant difference.

These are simple, yet effective steps that can lead us a long way towards sustainability. Also, we are nearing the graduation of Patterns V1. This milestone marks a significant achievement and we are already looking ahead to the next exciting phase: Patterns V2. In Patterns V2, we are focusing on persona-based and behavioral patterns, which will bring even more tailored and impactful solutions to our community.

These new patterns will help address specific needs and behaviors, making our tools even more adaptable and effective.

Chris Skipper: The review and approval process for new patterns involves multiple stages, including subject matter expert validation and team consensus. Could you walk us through the workflow for submitting and reviewing patterns?

Liya Mathew: Sure. The review and approval process for new patterns involve multiple stages, ensuring that each pattern meets a standard before integration. Initially, when a new pattern is submitted, it undergoes an initial review by our initial reviewers. During this stage, reviewers check if the pattern aligns with the GSF's mission of reducing software emissions, follows the GSF Pattern template, and adheres to proper formatting rules. They also ensure that there is enough detail for the subject matter expert to evaluate the pattern. If any issue arises, the reviewer provides clear and constructive feedback directly in the pull request, and the submitter updates a pattern accordingly.

Once the pattern passes the initial review, it is assigned to an appropriate SME for deeper technical review, which should take no more than a week, barring any lengthy feedback cycles. The SME checks for duplicate patterns validates the content as assesses efficiency and accuracy of the pattern in reducing software remission.

It also ensures that the pattern's level of depth is appropriate. If any areas are missing or incomplete, the SME provides feedback in the pull request. If the patterns meet all the criteria, SME will then remove the SME review label and adds a team consensus label and assigns this pull request back to the initial reviewer.

Then the Principles and Patterns Working Group has two weeks to comment or object to the pattern, requiring a team consensus before the PR can be approved and merged in the development branch. Thus the raw process ensures that each pattern is well vetted and aligned with our goals.

Chris Skipper: For listeners who want to start using green software patterns in their projects, what's the best way to get involved, access the catalog, or submit a new pattern?

Liya Mathew: All the contributions are made via GitHub pull requests. You can start by submitting a pull request on our repository. Additionally, we would love to connect with everyone interested in contributing. Feel free to reach out to us on LinkedIn or any social media handles and express your interest in joining our project's weekly calls.

Also, check if your organization is a member of the Green Software Foundation. We warmly welcome contributions in any capacity. As mentioned earlier, we are setting our sights on a very ambitious goal for this project, and your involvement would be invaluable.

Chris Skipper: Thanks to Liya for those great answers. Next, we had some questions for Franziska. The Green Software Patterns project provides a structured open source database of curated software patterns that help reduce software emissions. Could you give us an overview of how the project started and its core mission? 

Franziska Warncke: Great question. The Green Software Patterns project emerged from a growing recommendation of the environmental impact of software and the urgent need for sustainable software engineering practices. As we've seen the tech industry expand, it became clear that while hardware efficiency has been a focal point for sustainability, software optimization was often overlooked.

 A group of dedicated professionals began investigating existing documentation, including resources like the AWS Well-Architected Framework, and this exploration laid to groundwork for the project. This allows us to create a structured approach to the curating of the patterns that can help reduce software emissions.

We developed a template that outlines how each pattern should be presented, ensuring clarity and consistency. Additionally, we categorize these patterns into the three main areas, cloud, web, and AI. 

Chris Skipper: Building an open source knowledge base and ensuring it remains useful, requires careful curation and validation. What are some of the biggest challenges your team has faced in developing and maintaining the green software patterns database? 

Franziska Warncke: Building and maintaining an open source knowledge base like the Green Software Patterns database, comes with its own set of challenges. One of the biggest hurdles we've encountered is resource constraints. As an open source project, we often operate with limited time personnel, which makes it really, really difficult to prioritize certain tasks over others.

Despite this challenge, we are committed to continuous improvement, collaboration, and community engagement to ensure that the Green Software Patterns database remains a valuable resource for developers looking to adopt more sustainable practices.

Chris Skipper: Looking ahead, what are some upcoming initiatives for the project? Are there any plans to expand the pattern library or introduce new methodologies for evaluating and implementing patterns? 

Franziska Warncke: Yes, we have some exciting initiatives on the horizon. So one of our main focuses is to restructure the patterns catalog to adopt the persona-based approach. This means we want to create tailored patterns for various worlds within the software industry, like developers, project managers, UX designers, and system architects.

By doing this, we aim to make the patents more relevant and accessible to a broader audience. We are also working on improving the visualization of the patterns. We recognize that user-friendly visuals are crucial for helping people understand and adopt these patterns in their own projects, which was really missing before.

In addition to that, we plan to categorize the patterns based on different aspects. Such as persona type, adoptability and effectiveness. This structured approach will help users quickly find the patterns that are most relevant to their roads and their needs, making the entire experience much more streamlined. Moreover, we are actively seeking new contributors to join us.

And we believe that the widest set of voices and perspective will enrich our knowledge base and ensure that our patterns reflect a wide range of experience. So, if anyone is interested, we'd love to hear from you. 

Chris Skipper: The Green Software Patterns Project is open source and community-driven. How can developers, organizations, and researchers contribute to expanding the catalog and improving the quality of the patterns?

Franziska Warncke: Yeah, 

the Green Software Patterns Project is indeed open source and community driven, and we welcome contributions from developers, organizations, and researchers to help expand our catalog and improve the quality of the patterns. We need people to review the existing patterns critically and provide feedback.

This includes helping us categorize them for a specific persona, ensuring that each pattern is tailored to each of various roles in the software industry. Additionally, contributors can assist by adding more information and context to the patterns, making them more comprehensive and useful. Visuals are another key area where we need help.

Creating clear and engaging visuals that illustrate how to implement these patterns can significantly enhance their usability. Therefore, we are looking for experts who can contribute their skills in design and visualization to make the patterns more accessible. So if you're interested, then we would love to have you on board.

Thank you.

Chris Skipper: Thanks to Franziska for those wonderful answers. So we've reached the end of the special backstage episode on the Green Software Patterns Project at the GSF. I hope you enjoyed the podcast. To listen to more podcasts about green software, please visit podcast.greensoftware.foundation. And we'll see you on the next episode.

Bye for now.

​ 



More episodes

View all episodes

  • 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!

  • 149. Modelling a path to Fossil Free Internet with Tom Brown

    58:34||Ep. 149
    Chris Adams is joined by special guest Dr. Tom Brown from TU Berlin to explore how modelling can help build a fossil free internet and power grid. They discuss Google's 24/7 carbon free energy goals, the growing impact of data centres on electricity systems, and how investments in clean energy technologies could accelerate global decarbonisation. Along the way, Tom shares why open source energy modelling is helping shape a more transparent and sustainable energy future.Learn more about our people:Chris Adams: LinkedIn | GitHub | WebsiteTom Brown: LinkedIn | Bluesky | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterResources:CO2.js | Green Web Foundation [01:08]Release Guide: CO2.js v0.18 - Green Web Foundation [01:25]Carbon Aware SDK | GSF [01:33]CodeCarbon [01:52]EcoLogits [01:54]PyPSA [03:00]https://www.tu.berlin/en/ensys Clean Coffee #1 [05:15]European Commission recommends open source tools for hydrogen-related cost-benefit analysis [10:49]The Role of Energy Storage in Germany Do renewables make electricity cheaper or more expensive? [20:17]The cost of data centre growth in Ireland | Friends of the Earth [22:08]24/7 carbon-free electricity matching accelerates adoption of advanced clean energy technologies | Igor Riepin [23:47]EV Ep50 TWiGS: Modeling Carbon Aware Software w/ Igor Riepin [24:32]EV Ep31 TWiGS: Code Green and Clean Power w/ Nina Jabłońska EV Ep97 How to Tell When Energy is Green w/ Killian Daley Spatio-temporal load shifting for truly clean computing [27:39]On the means, costs, and system-level impacts of 24/7 carbon-free energy procurement [35:46]Worked example showing that Anthropic is likely paying around 5000 USD per megawatt hour for compute capacity in the Colossus 1 datacentre [39:39] Neuralwatt Cloud [42:06] Solar and batteries can power the world [44:51]Solar electricity every hour of every day is here and it changes everything | Ember [51:32]Solar + Battery Atlas Harnessing the Sun | Solar + Battery Atlas model.energy [52:58]Scenario Builder (TZ-SB) [53:50]Tom Brown LinkedIn Post re: OpenStreetMap [54:51]MapYourGrid [56:09]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!

  • 148. The Week in Green Software: State of The Fossil-Free Internet

    35:13||Ep. 148
    Kate and Tzviya explore the Green Web Foundation’s State of the Fossil-free Internet 2026 report and what it reveals about transparency, energy use, and the environmental impact of today’s digital infrastructure. The discussion examines the limitations of carbon accounting practices, the rapid growth of AI-driven data centers, and the role of policy, open source tools, and public accountability in driving meaningful change. They highlight why better measurement, clearer reporting, and greater awareness are essential for building a more sustainable internet.Learn more about our people:Kate Goldenring: LinkedIn | WebsiteTzviya Siegman: LinkedIn | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterNews:State of the Fossil-Free Internet 2026 | Green Web Foundation [01:08]How Tech Companies Are Obscuring AI’s Real Carbon Footprint | BloombergEp 97: How to Tell When Energy is Green with Killian Daly [06:18] Cloud Sustainability at Scale: Why Open Source Will Define the Next Era of Green Computing [15:53]Counting own goals: High-level assessment of the economic relationship between the ICT and the Oil and Gas sectors and its environmental implications [23:20]Enabled Eemissions CampaignUK quietly increases AI emissions forecast 100-fold | POLITICO [34:54]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!

  • 147. The Week in Green Software: Turning Green Standards into Code

    37:28||Ep. 147
    This Week in Green Software, hosts Kate and Tzviya explore how green software is moving from theory to practice, highlighting new reference implementations for measuring Software Carbon Intensity in AI workloads and progress toward standardizing SCI for Web. They also examine the growing energy demands of AI and data centers, discuss the role of policy and awareness in driving change, and reflect on why practical tools and real-world examples are essential for turning sustainability goals into everyday engineering decisions.Learn more about our people:Kate Goldenring: LinkedIn | WebsiteTzviya Siegman: LinkedIn | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterNews:Introducing GSF Reference Implementations | Green Software Foundation [04:13]An update on SCI for Web - a new standard for measuring software carbon intensity for the Web - Green Web Foundation [11:59] Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG) [13:27]Scotland’s ‘green datacentres’ policy ignores emissions impact of AI, analysis shows | The Guardian [20:04]More than 100 UK datacentres plan to burn gas to generate electricity | The Guardian [21:11] New Gas-Powered Data Centers Could Emit More Greenhouse Gases Than Entire Nations | WIRED [24:46]Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon back new data center tech accelerator | Latitude Media [26:41] Resources:Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification | GSF [03:05]EV Ep145: Is Using LLMs for Tech Standards Work Actually Greener? (Harmony) [18:51]The Turing Lectures: Making AI (truly) sustainable (Dr. Sasha Luccioni) [22:04] Events:Web Going Green | June 8 at 12:00 pm BST (Edinburgh, hybrid) [34:26]Green IO Amsterdam | June 9-10 (Amsterdam) [34:37]Green IO - Meetup Community Event | June 9-10 (Amsterdam) [34:53]Who's Going to Save Us From the Energy Use of AI? You Are | June 17 at 6:00 pm BST (Brighton, hybrid) [35:04]SustainableIT Impact Summit | June 23 (London) [35:15] Lean Agentic AI | June 23 at 6:00 pm CEST (Karlsruhe, hybrid) [35:21]Sustainable Tech in the Age of AI | June 29 at 6:00 pm CEST (Hamburg) [35:29]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!

  • 146. The Week in Green Software: Watts That Smell

    38:38||Ep. 146
    Adi and Valeria return to discuss the latest news from The Week in Green Software. They explore whether sustainability can be built directly into the software development process, from identifying “energy smells” in code to using tools that make energy efficiency as visible as performance or security. They also tackle the growing debate around AI’s environmental impact, examining whether today’s resource-intensive investments can be justified by future benefits, and why better measurement of energy, carbon, and water use is essential for making informed decisions about technology’s role in a sustainable future.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:A Comprehensive Taxonomy of Software Energy Smells [02:33]The Net Climate Impact of Artificial Intelligence [11:10]AI Has an Energy Story. Its Water Story Is Still Being Written [22:11]The Cost of Faster and Greener Computing [30:32]Sustainability Beyond Carbon Newsletter [32:34]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!

  • 145. Is Using LLMs for Tech Standards Work Actually Greener?

    53:34||Ep. 145
    Chris Adams invites Joseph Cook, Arctic scientist and GSF Head of R&D, to explore the latest developments in green software and the growing pressure on the tech industry to balance innovation with sustainability. From AI and energy use to policy, measurement, and infrastructure, the conversation highlights the challenges behind building a greener digital future while sharing practical insights for developers and organizations navigating this rapidly changing space.Learn more about our people:Chris Adams: LinkedIn | GitHub | WebsiteJoseph Cook: LinkedIn | SubstackFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterResources:Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification | GSF [00:44]SCI-Web documents and consensus so far | GitHub/W3C [02:08]Creating a standard for measuring software carbon intensity for the Web Assemblies | Green Software Foundation [02:22]Harmony v2 - Equilibrium Line [06:06]AI can help humans find common ground in democratic deliberation | Science [07:03]Energy and AI – Analysis - IEA [39:28]Why Anthropic’s ultra-dirty deal shouldn’t surprise you at all – Ketan Joshi [46:16]How NOT to build a data center | Energy, Extended Harmony v2 - Equilibrium Line Substack [51:50]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!

  • 144. The Week in Green Software: Carbon Debt, Energy Smells, and the Missing Water Story in AI

    50:41||Ep. 144
    Live from Green IO, Tzviya and Kate are joined by Niki Manoledaki and Susannah Hill as they share highlights and key takeaways from the conference, exploring how sustainability is becoming a bigger priority across the tech industry. From practical engineering strategies to broader conversations around AI, infrastructure, and digital responsibility, the episode captures the energy of the event while unpacking what these discussions mean for developers and organizations trying to build greener software.Learn more about our people:Kate Goldenring: LinkedIn | WebsiteTzviya Siegman: LinkedIn | WebsiteNiki Manoledaki: LinkedIn | WebsiteSusannah Hill: LinkedIn | WebsiteFind out more about the GSF:The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation NewsletterResources:Green IO New York Conference May 13th to 14th 2026 [06:09]Shaolei Ren: AI consumes a lot of water — but why? | TED Talk [12:41]Kepler | CNCF [15:30]Events:State of the fossil-free Internet: Public Briefing | 27 May 4:00pm CET (Virtual) [47:35]Green IO Amsterdam - Where IT leaders tackle Sustainability challenges | 9 Jun 6:00pm CEST (Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam) [48:35]Environmental Sustainability TCG | CNCF [47:53]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!

  • 143. TWiGS: The New Push for Comparable AI Carbon Data

    43:51||Ep. 143
    TWiGS hosts Adi and Valeria explore the latest conversations shaping green software, from the environmental impact of AI and data centers to the growing push for better measurement and accountability in tech. They discuss how developers, companies, and policymakers are responding to rising energy demands, while highlighting practical ideas for building more efficient and sustainable digital systems. It’s a thoughtful look at the challenges behind modern computing and the opportunities to rethink how software is designed and operated.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 Newsletter News:Built to Measure: How SCI, Impact Framework, and Carmen Make Software Measurable | GSF [02:35] AI, energy, and the new rules of cloud sustainability competition | Computer Weekly [16:41] AI model cards in carbon.txt and an AI Sustainability Directory - Green Web Foundation [30:44] Events:Call for speakers for Green IO Conferences in 2026 [40:19] 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!
Copyright Green Software Foundation
Hosted with ❤️ by Acast