The Economic Virtues of Digital Sobriety and Eco-Design

Opt for digital sobriety and save money by purchasing second-hand on-premise software licenses on the Softcorner marketplace.

Today, digital technology is omnipresent in our private and professional lives. France has almost 61 million internet users out of a population of just over 65 million, which is nearly 100% across all age groups. The benefits of a connected society are evident, but in the context of a climate emergency, it's essential to consider the ecological footprint of digital technology to sustainably combat its negative effects and develop more sustainable practices.

Digital services account for 10% of electricity consumption in France and 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Manufacturing a computer requires 588 kg of raw materials, 240 kg of fossil fuels, 22 kg of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water.

As Frédéric Bordage, founder of the GreenIT collective, reminded us: "Digital is a limited resource, we must urgently limit its use." As an involved actor, he highlights the issues of digital pollution and promotes the environmental and economic virtues of eco-design and digital sobriety.

Definition of Eco-Design and Digital Sobriety Concepts

Based on software and hardware infrastructures (servers, network equipment, fixed and mobile terminals...), digital technology contributes exponentially to greenhouse gas emissions. These GHG emissions are almost equally distributed among the manufacturing phases of digital devices (37%), their use (38%), network infrastructures, and data centers (25%). By implementing a strategy of eco-design and digital sobriety, a lever for the ecological transition enshrined in the REEN law (Reduction of the Environmental Footprint of Digital Technology) of November 2021, companies can simultaneously act on these three phases. 

What is Eco-Design?

Eco-design is based on integrating the environmental dimension from the design of digital products and services to their end of life. Material eco-design simplifies the repair of digital equipment to extend their lifespan and slow down the excessively high renewal rate of devices (mobiles, fixed and mobile computers...). Responsible digital design (CNR) also improves the recycling of these devices at the end of their life.

Software and applications are also concerned with eco-design. They are at the heart of digital services and determine the choice of hardware based on technical prerequisites, and also determine its lifespan. Software sobriety has a decisive impact on processor power, memory capacity, and storage needed for its proper functioning. Software eco-design intervenes throughout the software life cycle:

• Upstream, relying on the principles of digital eco-design, which are simplicity in terms of functionality and user interface, frugality, and digital sobriety in terms of data volume, relevance covering the usefulness of obtained results, processing speed, and accessibility, and finally durability, which consists of reusing all or part of a program.
• During development phases, with the analysis and supervision of the software to identify the most resource and energy-consuming programs and functions, and optimize the code.
• Downstream, respecting a principle of digital sobriety during deployment (choice of hosting and installation procedures) and ensuring continuous improvement based on user feedback. Eco-design also defines the decommissioning procedures of software within your information system as part of your resale strategy on the second-hand market to value your software assets or simply to archive them. By following this approach, you avoid residual impacts on your servers, terminals, network, and storage spaces.

What is Digital Sobriety?

The term comes from Frédéric Bordage, who in 2008 observed that digital is a critical, non-renewable resource that is inevitably depleting. Digital sobriety is based on moderating digital usage and designing more sober digital services. For the French association The Shift Project, digital sobriety involves moving from today's instinctive digital use to a conscious and thoughtful digital approach. Digital sobriety has a systemic dimension that mechanically impacts social, economic, and technological aspects.

Concretely, the strategy of digital sobriety is based, among other things, on:

• Limiting the renewal of digital equipment through a maintenance strategy to extend their lifespan;
• Reducing the volume of electronic waste by donating equipment to associations, depositing them in recycling and waste recovery channels, or selling spare parts;
• Limiting the electrical consumption of equipment by turning them off at the end of the day rather than leaving them on standby, favoring Wifi over 4G, disabling geolocation and notifications for mobile terminals, activating energy-saving mode;
• Optimizing hardware, software, network, and telecom infrastructure, and limiting cloud technology usage;
• Adopting good daily practices to improve email management of your collaborators, deleting unnecessary documents from backup units, limiting the use of video conferencing...

Second-Hand Software Licenses: A Vector of Savings and Digital Sobriety

The management of your software assets (SAM) is part of a digital sobriety approach as it is a source of savings and efficiency. A precise analysis of your software architecture in relation to the needs of your collaborators will allow you to decommission unnecessary applications and purchase second-hand on-premise licenses. By removing unnecessary applications from your servers and terminals, you free up resources in terms of power, storage, and bandwidth, and you also reduce your energy consumption. By favoring the circular economy and second-hand perpetual licenses with the Softcorner marketplace, you extend the lifespan of software licenses and your hardware infrastructure. You achieve substantial savings, which you can reinvest in security, eco-design projects... in line with the requirements of sustainable and reasoned digital technology.