This November, COP29 will take place in Acerbaijan and climate concerns will once again be at the forefront of the news cycle. It’s nearly been a year since the MENA region’s landmark hosting of the previous two consecutive conferences. And in that time, the region’s IT sector has gone from strength to strength, with spending this year alone projected at an eye watering $193.7 billion. Data is now touted as the region’s new oil, and while the environmental impact of the latter is well documented, it’s now no secret that big data too can come with a hefty environmental price tag.
For every one gigabyte stored in the cloud, around seven kilowatts of energy are used per hour. That means that if a business stores ten terabytes of data, it’s creating a carbon footprint equivalent to 500 kg of CO2.
But it’s not just storage, all aspects of processing, analysis and software development come with their own environmental burdens. But here’s the good news, data-driven technologies are also helping to change the world for the better.
Green coding
Digital data is playing a pivotal role in streamlining processes, informing environmental decision-making, and revealing more sustainable ways of working.
Developers, too, are advocating for solutions that align with these goals. The concept of ‘green coding’—a practice that emphasises efficiency and sustainability in software development—is gaining significant momentum. Alongside this, there is a growing focus on the ethical implications of tech supply chains and responsible data storage practices.
But how can businesses embrace greener coding practices, and what role does data streaming play in building a more sustainable future?
Expected and efficient
Streaming data offers more than just reduced CPU usage—it also enables more predictable processing. By transitioning from sudden spikes in resource demand to a continuous, consistent flow, data streaming allows organisations to better anticipate and forecast their processing needs. One prominent example is Apache Flink, an open-source stream-processing framework widely used for real-time data streaming.
With Flink Actions—the operations applied to data streams within Apache Flink—organisations can not only process data in real-time but also generate valuable analytics. These analytics provide clearer insights into usage patterns, reducing the need to account for sudden, unexpected spikes in demand. This lowers the need for unused cloud contingency, driving greater efficiency, cost savings, and more sustainable processing practices.
Additionally, frameworks like Apache Flink, managed through a data-streaming platform, offer the added benefit of serverless architecture, further enhancing operational efficiency.
Serverless suitability
The serverless architecture allows computing resources to scale dynamically based on workload demands. As data volumes fluctuate, the infrastructure automatically adjusts in real-time to manage the load efficiently, without the need for manual intervention.
This not only results in more responsive, efficient, and cost-effective data processing, but it also aligns with green coding principles by minimising idle computational resources. Infrastructure is utilised only when active processing occurs, significantly reducing energy waste.
Additionally, this model encourages developers to write efficient, event-driven functions that consume fewer resources, eliminating the bottlenecks typically associated with batch processing. By shifting the focus towards optimising resource use, this approach promotes sustainability across the entire software development lifecycle.
The cloud provider caveat
Despite these advantages, there is one key consideration.
While green coding and data streaming offer significant benefits, much still depends on the choice of cloud providers and the infrastructure behind your data storage. However, an increasing number of cloud suppliers are recognising the substantial value of adopting sustainable practices. Beyond being the right thing to do, sustainability is also a strong market differentiator, offering energy and cost savings. Leading serverless providers are increasingly turning to renewable energy sources to power their data centres, further reducing the carbon footprint of frameworks like Apache Flink and other serverless computing models.
This shift towards renewable energy is a crucial component of sustainable computing. For industries reliant on high-event, data-driven operations, combining data streaming with a green cloud provider marks a significant step towards a more sustainable, data-focused future.
Discussion about this post