Show Notes
When artificial intelligence grows, so does its thirst. Chris Skipper hosts sustainability expert Valeria Salis, digging into the hidden cost of powering AI: the massive volumes of water needed to cool the data centers. From submerged servers off China’s coast to European communities pushing back on tech infrastructure, they discuss the environmental trade-offs and the push for solutions that keep innovation flowing without draining local resources. Learn more about our people: Chris Skipper: LinkedIn | Website Valeria Salis: LinkedIn | YouTube | Website
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News: China's HiCloud launches wind-powered underwater data center [07:21] Microsoft finds underwater datacenters are reliable and sustainable [24:26] Thirsty AI mega projects raise alarm in Europe’s driest regions [25:49] How datacenters are innovating with sustainability in mind [36:08]
Resources: Green Software Italia 🌱 [03:18] Green Software Italia | LinkedIn Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) [11:06] Environment Variables Ep 59 | TWiGS: CNCF TAG Environmental Sustainability [11:25] Environment Variables Ep 14 | Community Clouds and Energy Islands with Dawn Nafus and Laura Watts [17:56] Green Software Movement [35:25] SCI for AI [41:16] Projects | GSF [41:46] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Environment Variables
This Week in Green Software, Dr. Nick Souter from the University of Sussex explores how researchers can reduce the carbon footprint of scientific computing without compromising research quality. He shares practical ways to measure and optimise the energy use of fMRI data processing, including how removing unnecessary steps from a pipeline can cut emissions by around 50%. The conversation also examines responsible AI use, sustainable data storage, and how certification initiatives can make sustainability a standard part of scientific research. Learn more about our people: Aditya Manglik: LinkedIn | GitHub | Website Dr. Nick Souter: LinkedIn | Website
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 | Website Anita Schüttler: LinkedIn | Website
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 | Website Valeria Salis: LinkedIn | GitHub | Website
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 | Website Tzviya Siegman: LinkedIn | Website Pascal Joly: LinkedIn | Website
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 | Website Yi Ding: LinkedIn | Website | Scholar Hongliu (Leo) Cao: LinkedIn | Scholar