The Week in Green Software: Transparency in Emissions Reporting

In this episode, host Chris Adams is joined by Killian Daly, Executive Director of EnergyTag, to explore the complexities of green energy tracking and carbon accounting. They discuss the challenges of accurately measuring and claiming green energy use, including the flaws in current carbon accounting methods and how EnergyTag is working to improve transparency through time-based and location-based energy tracking. Killian shares insights from his experience managing large-scale energy procurement and highlights the growing adoption of 24/7 clean energy practices by major tech companies and policymakers. They also discuss the impact of green energy policies on industries like hydrogen production and data centers, emphasizing the need for accurate, accountable energy sourcing and we find out just how tubular Ireland can actually be!
Learn more about our people:

• Chris Adams: LinkedIn | GitHub | Website
• Killian Daly: LinkedIn | Website

Find out more about the GSF:

• The Green Software Foundation Website
• Sign up to the Green Software Foundation Newsletter

Resources:

• GHG Protocol [09:15]
• Environment Variables Podcast | Ep 82 Electricity Maps w/ Oliver Corradi [32:22]
• Masdar Sustainable City [58:28]

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TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Killian Daly: We need to think about this kind of properly and do the accounting correctly.
And unfortunately, we don't do the accounting very well today.
Chris Adams: Hello, and welcome to Environment Variables, brought to you by the Green Software Foundation. In each episode, we discuss the latest news and events surrounding green software. On our show, you can expect candid conversations with top experts in their field who have a passion for how to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of software.
I'm your host, Chris Adams.
Hello, and welcome to another edition of Environment Variables, where we bring you the latest news and updates from the world of sustainable software development. I'm your host, Chris Adams. When we write software, there are some things we can control directly. For example, we might be able to code in a tight loop ourselves, or design a system that scales to zero when it's not in use.
And if we're buying from a cloud vendor, like many of us do now, we're often buying digital resources, like gigabytes of RAM and disk, or maybe virtual CPUs, rather than physical servers. It's a little bit less direct, but we still know we have a lot of scope for the decisions, to control the impact of their decisions and what kind of environmental consequences come about from that.
However, if we look one level further down the stack, like how the energy powering our kit is sourced, our control is even more indirect. We rarely, if ever, directly choose the kind of generation that powers data centers that our code runs in. But we know it still has an impact. So if we want to source energy responsibly, how do we do it?
If you want to know this, it's a really good idea to talk to someone whose literal job for years has been buying lots and lots of clean energy and is intimately familiar with the standards involved in doing so and who has spent a lot of time thinking about how to make sure you can tell when the energy you're buying really is green.
Fortunately, today I'm joined by just that person, Killian Daly, the Executive Director of the standards organization, EnergyTag. Killian, it's really, nice to have you on the pod. Thanks for coming on.
Killian Daly: Yeah, thanks. Thanks very much for having me, Chris. great to be on the pod and, an avid listener, also. So ...