Microsoft Teams Up With Accenture, Goldman on Greener Software
A new foundation will develop ways to build software that emits less carbon when run in data centers.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Microsoft Corp., Accenture Plc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are teaming up with nonprofits like the Linux Foundation and climate groups to develop and share ways to build software that produces fewer carbon emissions when run in data centers, the notoriously energy-hungry networks of high-powered computers that are consuming increasing amounts of the world’s electricity.
The Green Software Foundation, whose founders also include Microsoft-owned GitHub and software consultancy ThoughtWorks, plans to build tools and create standards for measuring the climate impact of software, and will work on training for software engineers who want to learn how to build programs that consume less energy. Data centers now account for about 1% of global electricity demand, and that’s forecast to rise to 3% to 8% in the next decade, the companies said in a statement Tuesday, timed to Microsoft’s Build developers conference.