A systematic mapping study of Green SE research published between 2010 and 2024 indicates that SE conferences host the majority of energy-related literature, and optimization and benchmarking emerged as the most prevalent research types.
Abstract
Energy consumption and climate change have made sustainability critical in Software Engineering (SE), driving the emergence of Green SE. Over the past 15 years, numerous solutions for sustainable software systems have been published by the SE community, offering a rich resource for analyzing the field's evolution. To explore this, we conducted a systematic mapping study of Green SE research published between 2010 and 2024. We collected 390 publications, categorizing them by application domain (e.g., mobile, cloud, AI) and research type (e.g., optimisation study, benchmarking, literature review Additionally, we analyzed a representative subset of 79 papers to classify the key elements-such as hardware, measurement, stability, and replicability-considered during energy measurement experiments. Our findings indicate that SE conferences host the majority of energy-related literature. Notably, Green SE studies surged in popularity starting in 2023, largely driven by AI-related publications. Optimization and benchmarking emerged as the most prevalent research types. Ultimately, we aim to inform the SE community about current approaches to energy concerns, highlight critical experimental practices, and advocate for continued action toward more sustainable software engineering.
This study maps the development of Green Software Engineering (GSE) research and examines its contribution to sustainable IT services. A Scopus-based Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was combined with bibliometric mapping. Records were retrieved on May 6, 2026 using TITLE-ABS-KEY("Green Software"), screened according to PRISMA, and analyzed with VOSviewer. After applying document-type and language criteria, 108 English-language Scopus-indexed journal articles were included. The findings indicate that GSE is an emerging but steadily growing field, with publication activity increasing markedly after 2016. Spain was the leading contributor, while major research themes included energy efficiency, energy consumption, sustainable development, software design, Green Computing, software sustainability, and Green IT. This study contributes by integrating systematic review evidence with bibliometric mapping to provide a consolidated and traceable overview of GSE in the context of sustainable IT services. Practically, the findings highlight research-informed priorities for IT service planning, including energy efficiency, hardware efficiency, carbon awareness, sustainability measurement, and climate commitments. The results are limited to Scopus-indexed evidence retrieved using the keyword “Green Software” and should not be interpreted as representing all global GSE research.
C. Ramdani, I. Widyantara, Linawati et al.· Journal of Information Syste...· 0 citations
Although software systems increasingly shape energy consumption, economic output, and societal welfare, most development methods still prioritise schedule, cost, and functionality. This paper presents an approach to software development that prioritises sustainability by embedding environmental, economic, and social objectives into the SDLC from the very beginning. The framework represents sustainability as a set of quantifiable variables that are combined into a Global Sustainability Index (GSI). These metrics include operational energy and carbon footprint, total cost of ownership (TCO), maintainability index, defect density, and a normalised Social Impact Score (SIS). An empirical measurement architecture gathers runtime and process data for continuous improvement, while phase-level “sustainability budgets” direct trade-offs across requirements, design, implementation, testing, and operation. The framework is evaluated in a repeated-measures industrial study of six production software systems (758 KLOC in total, 58 engineers, six application domains), in which every system is observed over four counterbalanced release cycles governed respectively by the proposed framework and by three established approaches: GREENSOFT, GreenSDLC, and the Sustainability Quality Model (SQM). The proposed framework attains the highest GSI (0.86 ± 0.03), a statistically significant improvement of 10–19% over the competing frameworks (paired t-tests, all Holm-adjusted p < 0.002, Cohen’s dz > 2.5). Relative to current models, energy usage and carbon emissions are cut by 10–20%, and they are decreased by approximately 30% when compared to a no-framework baseline. Normalised maintainability and defect density both improve over a five-year timeframe, and total cost of ownership drops 4–9%. Consistently higher levels of social impact and stakeholder satisfaction are observed, particularly for user groups who are marginalised. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals and effect sizes are reported for every headline comparison, and the principal limitations of the framework are stated explicitly together with mitigation strategies. These results show that all three dimensions can be improved with explicit quantitative sustainability integration without a rise in long-term costs.
M. K., P. Pareek· International Journal of Adv...· 0 citations
It is demonstrated that multiple architectural views, continuous monitoring, domain-driven decomposition, and AI-assisted design techniques contribute significantly to improving scalability, maintainability, adaptability, and long-term software sustainability.
Seven major CSFs that drive success in globally distributed projects are revealed, highlighting a major paradigm shift within the software industry: socio-technical skills and reliable technology now carry significantly more weight than strict, traditional processes.
Chellal Mostafa, Mohammed Saber, M. Belkasmi· EPJ Web of Conferences· 0 citations
This study maps the intellectual landscape of green cloud computing by analysing publication trends, thematic evolution, author productivity, institutional contributions, and global collaboration from 1990 to 2026. It is driven by concerns over rising data-centre energy consumption and the need for sustainable digital infrastructure in academic and research libraries. A scientometrics analysis was conducted on 10,084 records from the Scopus database. Data were processed using R Studio with the Bibliometric package, while VOSviewer was applied for network mapping. Bradford’s law and Lotka’s law were used to assess source and author distributions. The field demonstrates strong growth (16.91% annually), with 19,318 authors across 3,473 sources. China, India, and the United States dominate output, while leading institutions include Islamic Azad University and major Chinese universities. Five key research clusters emerge, including energy-efficient resource allocation, edge/fog computing, sustainable data centres, virtualisation, and AI-driven energy management. Beyond description, the study makes three further contributions. It develops a conceptual framework in which the field is shown to have passed through three phases distinguished by their unit of optimisation, moving from the server (infrastructure efficiency), to the topology (distributed and edge architectures), to the control loop (AI-enabled sustainability control). It tests the robustness of its own findings against five alternative corpus specifications and reports that, while the thematic and structural results hold, the identity of the leading producer country reverses when an explicit sustainability term is required. And it measures, rather than asserts, the presence of library and information science in this literature: just 14 of 10,084 documents, or 0.14%, engage library, repository, or preservation settings. That measured absence, together with the contradiction between the field’s expanding output and its contracting engagement with carbon accounting, is translated into operational priorities for library managers, cloud-service adopters, systems administrators, policy makers, and LIS researchers.
Niharika Saikia, Hirak Jyoti Hazarika· Education for Information· 0 citations
This paper presents a realistic case study showing how the implementation of DevOps principles in cross-functional teams, with the help of the standardized pipelines and integrated automation, facilitates cooperation, reduces cycle times, enhances quality assurance and accelerates delivery outcomes.
Karthik Allam· International Journal of Eme...· 0 citations
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