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Green software engineering and student motivation

Juha Taina
University of Helsinki

Abstract: Green Software Engineering (GSE) is a subfield of Green IT. In GSE, the goal is to measure and reduce carbon footprints of software engineering processes and software products. In my research, I have studied GSE metrics and their impacts. My main result was that GSE is not only of software itself but also of software development and usage. I proposed a three-level GSE metrics system: primary, secondary, and tertiary metrics. Software engineering and software execution metrics are primary metrics, software usage metrics are secondary metrics, and software results usage metrics are tertiary metrics. Most used metrics are primary metrics, but in order to fully understand GSE, the secondary and tertiary metrics are also needed.

There are two new emerging areas that must be included in GSE: AI systems and software engineering best practices. The use of AI strongly affects GSE and the software engineering best practices seldom consider GSE. The AI systems usage will increase and it will also affect software carbon footprints. An interesting open question is how much and what kind of AI usage in software engineering yields the smallest possible carbon footprint and what is the best way to persuade software engineering professionals to use AI wisely.

We propose that one approach to support GSE best practices is via education and student motivation. Our hypothesis is that a motivated student is more willing to learn more of the field and use AI as a means to get the desired outcome instead of the outcome itself. If this holds true, next to GSE, it will improve software engineering teaching, learning, and practicing.

Bio: Juha Taina is an experienced IT professional with over 25 years at the University of Helsinki and more than a decade of experience in the software industry. He has served as a university lecturer in Computer Science and a senior lecturer in university pedagogy in Faculty of Science. Taina's research includes real-time databases, software engineering, student motivation, and software carbon footprint and life cycle analysis, including early contributions to green software engineering. He has supervised a large number of Bachelor’s and Master’s theses and has been actively involved in developing teaching practices in computer science education. Taina currently works as an IT architect in a large Finnish company. He holds a distinctive combination of research, university pedagogy, and software engineering experience.