Was pleased to be able to host loco2026 (2nd low carbon computing workshop) in Lancaster recently. Really enjoyed the wide ranging talks, Marloes‘ keynote (We Are On Fire: Increasing efficiency since 1776), the tutorials on edge and low footprint AI generously provided from kalavai and flower.ai, and seeing familiar friends and making some new ones! We had 110 registrations, and were ~25% in person, with several heroic attendees getting up or staying up in their timezone to participate! My talk ‘Too cheap to matter: over abundant microchips, and what we can learn from them‘ has already been picked up by these interesting folks at edge lab, but all the papers are freely available. My thanks again to AV maestros TuxieTech who volunteered time and equipment to make hybrid possible, and Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business who underwrote the event.
ICT
The Impact of Technology on People and the Planet, talk at ICT4S policy and industry panel
My recent short keynote talk focusing on the systemic effects of a growth of ICT, data centres and AI on energy and material systems (systemic effects, rebounds, growth in e-Waste etc.) and the need to consider these impacts and limit overall growth – i.e. don’t adopt expensive techniques at scale that we can’t sustain or don’t deliver value to society or environment worthy of the impacts! (Industry and policy makers day at ICT4S 2026).
Net zero, data centres, and why AI is expanding one and threatening the other
Enjoyed talking as part of the Cyber Runway programme on net zero and the growth of AI and data centres. Why do ICT systems impact both energy and material systems? What value does ICT have in the net zero transition? Slides available.
Transforming Tomorrow podcast: AI, Data Centres, and The Great Energy Problem
Had lots of fun talking with Prof. Jan Bebbington and Paul Turner on ‘AI, Data Centres and the great energy problem‘ on the excellent Pentland Centre ‘Transforming Tomorrow‘ podcast series.
Why should computer scientists learn and think about sustainability?
My interview during the excellent HiPEAC ACACES summer school this year. Why should computer scientists and engineers study sustainability? What are the most important topics to investigate in this field? How can we reconcile the push for ever more computing with the fact that there are finite planetary resources? And what can we do as individuals and collectively to push for a sustainable future?
Enjoyed my invited talk at MobiUK on ‘rethinking resource efficiency’ for sustainabilty
Enjoyed the chance to talk to the interesting folks at MobiUK on mobile computing and sustainability. I attempted to reconsider the role of ‘resource efficiency’ not as a driver of growth of ICT’s impacts on the planet, but rather to work within planetary limits. Digital technology unquestionably transforms our understanding of the world and helps society reconfigure itself to do new things from better healthcare, climate science, self-driving cars and smart cities, and more. Yet, I argued, ICT has significant direct impacts on energy material systems, and an exponentially growing footprint. As researchers, innovators and practitioners, what should the MobiUK community be doing to help bring about a more environmentally sustainable future? The slides are available.
Talk with ecologists without borders in Slovenia, well, online :)
Enjoyed doing talk to inspiring group (Ekologi brez meja – ecologists without borders) in Slovenia on Building digital solutions for the Anthropocene: avoiding digital wastefulness (talk on YouTube). Key points: how the infrastructure we build into the tools we use everyday, e.g. building AI into search, is leading to growth in energy demand, data centres and materials. Plus the need to look systematically at energy systems, IT, water and material resources and how they do and will impact the environment and society in the future.
Talk: Metabolising the Planet, UCLIC talk @ UCL, 9th October
Thoroughly enjoyed talking with the excellent folks at UCLIC at UCL on 9th October on the growing and multidimensional impacts of adopting ‘environmentally and energy expensive’ ICT in research and beyond. They asked great questions 🙂 The slides are online and you can find the actual talk on YouTube.
Talk: Where’s the value in energy data science?
Thoroughly enjoyed talking about the missing context to energy data time-series with the good folks at Keele in software & systems and Digital Society. Check out the slides.
Enjoying the Pentland Centre for Sustainability ‘transforming tomorrow’ podcast series
Really interesting series of podcasts exploring sustainability in business and sustainable infrastructures. There’s even an episode this week by your truly on ICT and its impacts.