Energy-Efficiency versus Carbon-Efficiency

Abstract

Improving the energy-efficiency of computing systems has been the focus of computer science research for many decades. In the data center domain, for example, there has been an intense focus on improving energy efficiency by improving the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of data centers. Other domains such as civil and mechanical engineering have also focused on improving the energy efficiency of built environments such as buildings. More recently, there has been an increased emphasis on sustainability on the human-built infrastructure of various kinds motivated by climate change, which has resulted in an emphasis on reducing carbon emissions of such infrastructure by optimizing their carbon efficiency.