ECO:DIGIT is a collaborative project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of its GreenTech Innovation Initiative. The project brings together a diverse consortium including the Öko-Institut, Siemens, adesso, the Open Source Business Alliance, and the Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.. At its core, ECO:DIGIT aims to create transparency, objectivity, and standardization in assessing the resource consumption of software solutions. To achieve this, the project focuses on developing several key components:
First, it introduces a methodology for measuring digital resource usage across a range of environments from edge computing and cloud systems to mobile devices and networks. This methodology, available on the project’s website, identifies the primary environmental impacts of software applications and defines relevant indicators to quantify them. These indicators cover everything from the energy consumption of operating environments and hardware resource usage to broader factors like raw materials and chemicals involved in hardware production. The methodology also establishes a standardized framework for presenting these impacts through clear, actionable key performance indicators.
Another key objective is to integrate this methodology into an international standard beyond the project’s duration, ensuring its long-term application and global impact. Building on this foundation, the project has developed a prototype test bed that measures, visualizes, and evaluates the resource and energy consumption of different software applications. The test bed calculates the ECO:DIGIT Score, a composite indicator that reflects various consumption metrics.
