An open-source application backed by Mia-Platform, an end-to-end platform builder, has been adopted by several companies in an innovative move to limit carbon thumbprint of their digital operations. Entitled kube-green, the application was created by Mia-Platform’s Senior Tech Leader Davide Bianchi to limit CO2 emissions for cloud-based applications and save costs.
What is the value and industry offering of kube-green?
On average, kube-green can reduce CO2 emissions from IT infrastructures by 30%. Early adopters are now beginning to report significant savings from using the new application.
The premise behind the Mia-Platform app is that IT infrastructures within global companies consist of clusters, a collection of namespaces within an IT system where microservices and applications reside. These environments only operate at their full capacity during a typical 35–40-hour week. For 75% of the time, during weekends and overnight, they are not in use.
This is causing a financial and environmental burden for companies and firms, as unused resources continue to consume power and contribute to an even greater carbon thumbprint. Kube-green helps them to mitigate the issue of unused resources consuming high amounts of power outside of working hours. It automatically manages the downscaling of clusters, optimising use of energy from IT infrastructure while simultaneously reducing C02 emissions.
With the kube-green application, developers can now customise when deployment resources go to sleep and wake up, negating the cost of leaving pods running outside of working hours.
In total, the digital corporate industry is responsible for approximately 4% of the world’s carbon emissions and this figure is expected to double by 2025. Trivial digital actions that we take for granted have such a reverberating effect on the ecosystem and the environment; sending a tweet, for example, emits 0.2 grams of CO2 with emails costing up to 4 grams.
Kube-green addresses a problem faced by many companies that operate digital platforms on Kubernetes and proves that technological innovation and sustainability can actually coexist.
What are the industry remarks about Mia-Platform’s app?
Lorenzo De Francesco, IT Manager at the credible fintech; Step4Business, said: “We pay a lot of attention to using resources in a sustainable and eco-friendly way. Through kube-green, we will stop all developmental environments on Saturdays, Sundays and also at night. This allowed us to save more than 30% of costs and help developers to improve personal work-life balance.”
Meanwhile, digital transaction security specialist INFOCERT’s Chief Technology Officer Daniele Citterio highlighted the need for environmental responsibility among companies and firms when carrying out digital transformation: “Being able to guarantee the reduction of emissions from IT infrastructure in advance with kube-green can make the process of digitization even more sustainable and eco-friendly, with consequent positive impacts on the environment.”
Davide Bianchi talks further about the inspiration behind his creation; “In the current situation, with the boom in cloud-based services within firms and companies, people continue to add servers within the IT infrastructure without taking into account their energy consumption.”
“With the kube-green application we want to make our contribution to try to reduce carbon emissions. This comes at a time in history where digitization is bringing about major changes in organisations at a rapid pace, but also has a direct impact on climate and the environment.”
Mia-Platform Chief Executive Officer, Federico Soncini Sessa, explains; “Mia-Platform has supported kube-green with marketing and communication initiatives since the very beginning. The technology we develop today can have a considerable impact on many future generations.”
“That’s why sustainable development is integrated in all business decisions we make in the environmental, social, and economic spheres: we have a responsibility to choose a path with the least possible impact on the planet. Being an SME, moreover, we’re close to the social context that surrounds us. We form partnerships with associations that are active in the area.”
