Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing
The Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing (LOCOS) Theme groups the research in the School related to the sustainability of computing. The main focus is on reduction of emissions from computing. However, research in computing science can help in many other ways with reducing of greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation of the effects of climate change. By 2040 computing alone could generate more than to half the emissions level acceptable to keep global warming below 1.5C. This growth in computing emissions is unsustainable. The emissions from production of computing devices far exceed the emissions from operating them, so even if devices are more energy efficient producing more of them will make the emissions problem worse. Therefore we must extend the useful life of our computing devices.
The vision for Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing Theme is simple but ambitious:
- Imagine we can extend the useful life of our devices and even increase their capabilities without any increase in energy consumption, purely through advances in Computing Science: better algorithms, better software design, better programming languages and compilers etc.
- Meanwhile, we will develop the science and technologies for the next generation of devices, designed for energy efficiency as well as long life through pervasive hardware-software co-design.
- Every subsequent cycle will last longer, leading to computing resources that last virtually forever and use very little energy.