The Ecological Impact of High-performance Computing in Astrophysics

TL;DR

This paper discusses the environmental impact of high-performance computing in astrophysics, emphasizing that inefficient use of hardware and software can significantly increase the carbon footprint of astronomical research.

Contribution

It highlights the ecological consequences of current computing practices in astronomy and advocates for optimized code and hardware use to reduce environmental impact.

Findings

High-performance computing significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions in astronomy.

Overclocking and inefficient code increase the environmental footprint.

Adopting efficient programming paradigms can mitigate ecological impact.

Abstract

The importance of computing in astronomy continues to increase, and so is its impact on the environment. When analyzing data or performing simulations, most researchers raise concerns about the time to reach a solution rather than its impact on the environment. Luckily, a reduced time-to-solution due to faster hardware or optimizations in the software generally also leads to a smaller carbon footprint. This is not the case when the reduced wall-clock time is achieved by overclocking the processor, or when using supercomputers. The increase in the popularity of interpreted scripting languages, and the general availability of high-performance workstations form a considerable threat to the environment. A similar concern can be raised about the trend of running single-core instead of adopting efficient many-core programming paradigms. In astronomy, computing is among the top producers of green-house gasses, surpassing telescope operations. Here I hope to raise the awareness of the environmental impact of running non-optimized code on overpowered computer hardware.