TomasKopunec
commented
8 months ago Context
Primary Objective
IEF is designed to accurately model, measure, simulate, and monitor the environmental impacts of software components across various computing environments. This includes cloud platforms, containers, mobile devices, desktops, and potentially edge devices.
Core Features of the System
1. Calculation of environmental impacts
- Easily calculate software impact metrics, such as carbon, water, or energy without the need for writing any code
- Extend the capabilities of the existing Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) specification to offer a flexible measurement model for software environmental impacts
- Measuring such metrics is complex and nuanced, varying over time and different environments, especially if the application is run on resources out of our control
- The IF utilizes real-world data and attempts to make the best estimates for calculating the SCI score, focusing on operational and embodied emissions
2. User-Friendly Interface
- The design is easy-to-use, intuitive and accessible for software engineers and environmental scientists, encouraging widespread adoption
- Simple installation via yarn or npm package managers
- All that is needed, is to define the scope and parameters in a simple YAML manifest file, known as impl, the IF handles the rest
3. Modular design
- Modular design that allows for the integration of custom models or selection from a range of pre-existing models, knows as plugins
- Part of the IF design philosophy is that all models should be plugins, so that IF is as composable and configurable as possible
- The IF does not include any builtin models, meaning there is a clear separation between the engine and the plugins
4. Comparative Analysis
- The tool’s emphasis on comparison features gives users the ability to optimize their software design decisions by evaluating different scenarios
- Allow users to easily change the model to represent “what if” scenarios, enabling the developers to see how much such changes affect the overall impact without making any changes to the software architecture
- This analysis greatly aids during the eco-friendly software design phase, enabling users to make informed choices
5. Integration with Multiple Environments
- Seamlessly integrate with various environments, such as cloud, bare-metal, and virtualized systems, to assess software impacts comprehensively
6. Monitoring System
- Implements a continuous impact assessment mechanism to monitor the environmental footprint of software in real-time
Additional Capabilities
1. Open-Source Repository and Documentation
- The IF is an open-source project, which ensures community contribution and involvement, producing comprehensive documentation and high-quality code
- The work must align with wide community goals, creating a tool that not only benefits individual users, but also contributes to the broad open-source ecosystem
- The points above motivate the widespread adoption and availability
2. Compliance with Green Software Foundation
- Adhere to the guidelines and objectives of the Green Software Foundation, promoting sustainability in software
Proposed Solution: A monitoring tool that provides ongoing environmental impact assessments
Full details can be found in the goals document.
1) Open Source project: The IF is an open-source project which emphasizes collaboration and community involvement. this work must aligns with this way of working by creating a tool that not only benefits individual users but contributes to the broader open-source ecosystem.
2)Environmental Impact Assessment: The IF framework focuses on modeling and measuring the environmental impacts of software, including factors such as carbon emissions, energy consumption, and water usage.
3)multiple Software Environments: Modern applications run on various platforms, including private and public clouds, bare-metal, virtualized, containerized, mobile devices, and more. The IF framework accounts for this diversity, and this tool must seamlessly integrate with these different environments 4)Dockerization: The decision to Dockerize the web tool shows our prioritization of on ease of deployment, scalability, and compatibility across different environments. This aligns with contemporary software development practices, making the tool more accessible to a wide range of users.
5)Comparative Analysis: The tool's emphasis on comparison features gives users the ability to optimize their software configurations by evaluating different scenarios. This empowers users to make choices that align with environmental impact reduction goals and the simplicity of the tool hopes to empower as many non technical users as possible. 6)Extensibility: The IF framework is designed with extensibility as a core principle, allowing users to create and plug in their own models. This tool must embrace this philosophy.
Environmental sustainability, software development, open-source collaboration,user-friendliness , ease of use