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lecture hall with a lot of students © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
5th Future Dialog

“We Don’t Talk Enough About the Carbon Footprint of the IT Sector”

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The picture shows heads from behind on the sides, the focus is in the center on a male speaker with a presentation screen in the background. © Oliver Schaper​/​TU Dortmund University
Yelle Lieder (GreenIT Lead, adesso) on the topic of sustainable IT: “There is more to be done in universities too.”
adesso SE, an IT service provider based in Dortmund, was guest at the 5th Future Dialog on 4 July. Kristina Gerwert (member of the Executive Board) and Yelle Lieder (GreenIT Lead) spoke about priority areas for sustainable digitalization. The Future Dialog offers companies from the region the opportunity to illuminate current issues from their perspective and in the context of the university that are important for the future and to discuss topics with students, researchers and staff of TU Dortmund University. The event series is organized by the Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer (CET).

Anyone wanting to reduce their carbon footprint will presumably attempt to fly less often, eat more plant-based and regional products, or perhaps curtail their shopping sprees. But very few people think about their smartphones, laptops and televisions. “We don’t talk enough about the carbon footprint of the IT sector,” said Yelle Lieder during his talk on the campus of TU Dortmund University, explaining that the sector causes four percent of CO2 emissions worldwide, which is already more than global air traffic. The large data centers that make the internet possible – but also the use of AI applications, virtual and augmented reality, or technologies such as blockchain – consume a lot of resources.

No longer a niche issue

For quite some time now, green IT – the eco-friendly design of information and communication technologies – has no longer been a niche topic, and the German government has also launched a green IT initiative. What’s more, sustainability is also lucrative for companies, thanks to energy savings, for example, but also because customers are paying more attention to it, and compliance with sustainability criteria can be a deciding factor in calls for tenders.

What, then, can an IT and software company do to reduce its carbon footprint? A first step, according to Lieder, is not to offer overly complex solutions but only what customers actually need. Even apparently small adjustments can make a big impact, he explained, giving the WordPress content management system as an example, which is used by around a third of all websites worldwide. A minor change to the software led to global savings of 400 tons of CO2. A flexible IT architecture can also be designed to be energy-efficient, for example by performing tasks that are not time-critical, such as synchronization or installing updates, during periods when a lot of green electricity is available.

Dilemma between energy efficiency and higher consumption

However, the sector is also faced with dilemmas such as the rebound effect. Because the 5G mobile communications standard is more energy-efficient than its predecessor 4G, it actually offers great energy-saving potential, said Lieder. But that also makes the 5G network cheaper and faster, which is why it attracts more users. In the final analysis, more energy is consumed than saved.

“But the solution cannot be that we stop digitalizing,” continued Yelle Lieder. After all, digitalization has not only a carbon footprint but also a carbon handprint, i.e. a positive impact on the environment. As an example, he cited digital twins, i.e. virtual images of an object or a system. Among other things, they can be used to develop and optimize drugs without the need for physical prototypes, which substantially reduces material consumption.

After Lieder’s talk, a large number of people who had come to the event in the Seminar Room Building took the opportunity to actively engage in the discussion and ask questions. When asked what contribution universities could make, Lieder replied that so far only a handful of universities in Germany are getting to grips with sustainable IT. “More needs to happen at universities, too. It should not be possible for someone to have a university degree without having come into contact with sustainability.”

The discussion continued afterwards over food and drinks. The next Future Dialog will take place in November.

The picture shows three men and a woman standing next to a TU Dortmund University banner with the inscription "Zukunftsdialog" © Oliver Schaper​/​TU Dortmund University
Prof. Gerhard Schembecker, Vice-Rector for Finance at TU Dortmund University (2nd from right), and CET Managing Director Dr. Ronald Kriedel (right) welcomed Yelle Lieder and Kristina Gerwert from adesso (from left) at the 5th Future Dialogue at TU Dortmund University.

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