# A Case for Sustainability and Environment Friendliness in Software Development and Architecture Decisions by Taking Energy-Efficient Design Decisions

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.01680 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.01680/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 3 Nov 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [LLM Interactive Optimization of Open Source Python Libraries -- Case Studies and Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.14949/) (2023)
- [Can We Make Code Green? Understanding Trade-Offs in LLMs vs. Human Code Optimizations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.20126/) (2025)
- [Carbon-Aware Governance Gates: An Architecture for Sustainable GenAI Development](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.19718/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

IT power usage is a significant concern. Data center energy consumption is estimated to account for 1% to 1.5% of all energy consumption worldwide. Hardware designers, data center designers, and other members of the IT community have been working to improve energy efficiency across many parts of the IT infrastructure; however, little attention has been paid to the energy efficiency of software components. Indeed, energy efficiency is currently not a common performance criteria for software. In this work, we attempt to quantify the potential for gains in energy efficiency in software, based on a set of examples drawn from common, everyday decisions made by software developers and enterprise architects. Our results show that there is potential for significant energy savings through energy-conscious choices at software development and selection time, making the software and IT artifact sustainable and environment friendly.