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Refactoring isn't just for making apps cloud compatible
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Code changes can help reduce the amount of energy apps use
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Europe is leading the charge, but North America is expected to get on board the sustainability train in the coming years
When you think about application refactoring, you probably think about tweaking the code to allow that app to run effectively in the cloud. But what about using the same process to make apps more environmentally friendly? That’s something companies – especially in Europe – are looking to do, CAST Software VP of Product Greg Rivera told Fierce Network.
“We were talking about refactoring applications for the cloud, but applications can also be refactored to become greener, become more efficient, use less resources, use less energy,” he said. “I think that’s going to be the next logical step, the next major domain even for companies that are already in the cloud.”
CAST is a software intelligence company, offering products which essentially help enterprises evaluate the custom software they run and map dependencies to figure out how best to modernize it. But increasingly, Rivera said, companies are tapping into a feature CAST offers which evaluates the green impact of their software.
According to Rivera, the trend is bigger in Europe than North America. In the former, companies are specifically coming to CAST for this feature. In the latter, companies are using the tool, but it’s more of an added bonus on top of the benefits refactoring can provide in terms of cost and performance.
Wait, what?
But how might refactoring make an application more efficient, you ask? We had the same question. Rivera provided an example.
Say you have an application that runs a SQL query inside of a loop statement. That might seem innocuous, but could mean you’re running that data access query unnecessarily. Instead, you could alter the code so that the access query is outside the loop and only executes when necessary.
It’s a small change that can have a big impact, he said, especially for an app like an e-commerce system that is accessed by millions of users per day. Replicate that sort of change across the thousands of apps large enterprises tend to have and you can see where the energy savings might add up.
Growing emissions
A 2021 study found that ICT emissions could be higher than previously thought, accounting for as much as 3.9% of global emissions. And another study from 2018 estimated this figure could increase substantially to more than 14% of greenhouse gas emissions (based on 2016 levels) by 2040 if left unchecked.
The Green Software Foundation noted in its 2023 State of Green Software report that efforts to curb emissions have until recently focused on hardware. But it warned “net zero goals cannot be achieved without taking actions that enable software to be more energy efficient and do less when energy is dirty and more when it’s clean.”
“Only recently has the industry had a collective ah-ha moment, recognizing that most commercial hardware development is driven by software demand. The real issue is the demand for and development of increasingly data-intensive software products," continued the report.
While Europe is currently leading the charge on the green software front, Rivera said “that’ll probably change in the coming five years” or so. Why? Because making software greener is highly correlated with increased resilience and better performance.
“That’s probably hopefully going to be the way that we start seeing some more adoption” in the U.S., he concluded. “Maybe organizations that are not seeing green as a priority will see the business benefits and then the green will kind of come along for the ride.”