Laura Bauer & Ben Wagner: Interdisciplinary perspectives on sustainable computing

While there are increasing international debates about sustainable and value-based computing, it is notable that many of these debates tend to re-invent the wheel. We believe that by looking more closely at existing debates in sustainability sciences and engineering, it is possible to gain a better understanding of what sustainable computing could be.

This is particularly the case, as debates about sustainability typically focus on ecological or ‘green’ aspects while ignoring digital technologies. This is because these debates see digital technologies are typically seen as neutral tools that cannot and should not embody values. As a result we see an urgent need for a greater debate between these two fields.