Methodology

CarbonCost methodology is based on Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification. The first ISO Standard Specification for Carbon Calculations.

The SCI (Software Carbon Intensity) specification by the Green Software Foundation provides a methodology for measuring the carbon emissions of software systems. It focuses on quantifying and reducing the environmental impact of software operations.

Key Points of the SCI Specification
SCI is a rate-based score that calculates carbon emissions produced by software per unit of work (e.g., transactions, API calls).

‍Core Formula

Energy: Total energy consumed during software execution.
‍Carbon Intensity: Emissions produced per unit of energy, based on energy source.
‍Embodied Emissions: Carbon emissions from the manufacturing of hardware used.
‍Functional Unit: A unit of work completed by the software (e.g., requests served).

‍Goals
‍Encourage measurable improvements in software efficiency and sustainability. Drive reductions in energy consumption, use of carbon-intensive resources, and hardware impacts.

‍Focus Areas
1- Optimize Energy Efficiency: Reduce the energy used to perform software tasks.
2- Use Low Carbon Energy: Prefer renewable or low-carbon energy sources.
3 - Minimize Hardware Footprint: Reduce embodied emissions from hardware.

Applicability
The SCI can be applied across cloud services, on-premise software, and AI models to measure and reduce carbon impact.

Standards
Aligned with existing sustainability frameworks (like Greenhouse Gas Protocol) to provide actionable, standardized metrics for software developers.

By adopting SCI, organizations can improve software design, operational efficiency, and sustainability, enabling greener software practices.