It's not easy being green: embedding environmental sustainability in training material

Abstract

UKRI is committed to reaching Net Zero by 2040 and RSE/DRI will be key to achieving this. Green software practices will play a crucial role in this transition and so are increasingly discussed in the community - in part thanks to the Green RSE Special Interest Group. For full adoption, we must enable the next generation of RSEs and researchers to embed green software practices in their work through training. In the words of Professor Dave Reay: “Skills are a fundamental enabler of Net Zero” (https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/skills-and-net-zero-expert-advisory-group/).Several training courses are now available, some covering high level topics and some focusing on specific topics such as Green HPC and Green AI (see https://socrse.github.io/green-sig/resources.html). The availability of green software courses is of clear benefit to the community and it is valuable to have courses that dig into the details. However, existing courses are not well connected and the green software topic is often considered in isolation, beyond ‘core’ courses such as version control or testing. That is, learners “opt in” to learning about environmentally sustainable software by taking specific green software courses, rather than learning about it in other courses. Courses on HPC, testing, and AI are good candidates for embedding small amounts of green software recommendations early, likely also increasing interest in green RSE from the outset. In this workshop, we will discuss how best to embed green software engineering practices in existing training courses.