IT development faces from its beginning with all IT-related challenges:
- How to deliver faster and cheaper?
- How to change less risky?
- How to run faster?
- How to assure service continuity?
- …..
Power consumption has never been a primary objective, as the power was assumed to be present, and nobody optimized the code, because of the power (except autonomously supplied systems – i.e. Voyager 1 or simply mobile devices 
).
- In reality, in the enterprise area – we currently design and construct IT systems assuming unlimited power available.
This is changing in big data centers, where power consumption is a significant cost factor. But this is a business optimization by now – i.e. the ARM processor investments.
- The current situation is similar to the automobile industry in 1970 when nobody noticed the incoming oil crisis of 1973. There was no concern about fuel consumption, as the fuel was present and cheap. As a result – 5-liter engines were installed into compact or city cars like AMC GREMLIN. (In 2023 city cars are coming in Europe with 1-liter engines and demanding emission standards every year).
Going back to IT, in 2023 we use computer-intensive functions to replace the background in video chat software. Or ask Google for any possible reason. Although we are facing problems with global warming, which is related, or at minimum co-related to human activity. This will change.
One of the options is the limitation of carbon footprint in IT systems.
I don’t think, IT will be the first industry, to optimize its carbon footprint. But, keeping in mind, that IT is pushing out – if not cannibalizing – humans from the business process – which will be described in further posts – it is possible to face this limitation faster (i.e. limiting the carbon footprint only to software robots, which replace the humans on the labor market).
- The carbon footprint limitation for IT is not a challenge for today, but we have to keep it in mind, when thinking about the future of IT. With the current energy delivery model (burn on heat with nuclear fission), we should face carbon footprint limitations in the next decades.
And IT, which will be this time an even bigger business player than today, will probably be involved.