As conversations about climate change, energy consumption, and environmental responsibility dominate global headlines, one crucial topic is often overlooked: the carbon footprint of software.

While industries like transportation and manufacturing have clear environmental impacts, the digital world tends to fly under the radar. But software is not as “invisible” as it seems. Every app, every click, every backend process runs on infrastructure that consumes electricity—often at massive scale. And as AI, cloud computing, and IoT expand, that impact is only growing.

The time has come for developers, product teams, and tech leaders to recognize this reality—and act on it. Sustainable software development is no longer a fringe interest. It’s a strategic imperative.

The Shift We’re Seeing: Code Has Consequences

Data centers—the backbone of the digital economy—are projected to consume 485 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2025. That’s 1.7% of global electricity demand. In the United States alone, data centers already account for 4.4% of national electricity use. And the most energy-hungry workloads? You guessed it: AI and machine learning.

It doesn’t stop at infrastructure. The choice of programming language can drastically affect how much energy your app consumes. Compiled languages like C++ are up to 479 times more energy efficient than interpreted ones like Perl. Even a seemingly small choice—how you write an algorithm, what framework you use, whether you cache a response—can ripple out into massive cumulative energy savings or waste.

The ICT sector’s greenhouse gas emissions are now comparable to those of the aviation industry. That’s not just a metaphor—it’s a call to responsibility.

What Businesses Should Know: Digital Sustainability Is a Business Advantage

For CTOs and founders, this shift brings both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is clear: digital products must be designed not just for usability and scale, but for environmental impact. The opportunity? Sustainable software isn’t just good for the planet—it’s increasingly good for business.

According to market projections, the sustainability and energy management software market is growing fast—expected to reach $1.69 billion in 2025. Consumers and investors are paying attention to carbon footprints. Regulations are tightening. And digital sustainability is emerging as a competitive edge, especially for brands targeting younger, climate-conscious users.

But it’s not just about ethics or compliance. Optimizing for sustainability often leads to better software: faster load times, lower hosting costs, more efficient architecture, and happier users.

Zarego’s Perspective: Building Software with the Planet in Mind

At Zarego, we believe sustainable software starts with intentionality. It’s not about adding a “green” label after the fact—it’s about embedding eco-conscious thinking into every step of the product lifecycle.

From architecture to deployment, we help clients make decisions that reduce digital waste, energy use, and environmental impact. That means:

• Choosing cloud providers with renewable energy commitments
  
• Adopting serverless and microservices architectures that auto-scale
  
• Prioritizing lean code, lightweight frameworks, and efficient algorithms
  
• Tracking sustainability metrics in DevOps
  
• Designing interfaces that reduce user time and server load
  

We don’t treat sustainability as a separate track. It’s part of how we design quality, future-ready software.

Two Examples from the Field

This philosophy has guided our work with a range of partners, including two standout cases:

vGreat: An e-commerce platform for vegan products in Chile, vGreat wanted more than just a shopping app—they wanted a platform that reflected their environmental mission. We built a scalable serverless system that minimized idle resource use, along with user-facing apps and a delivery app that helped reduce last-mile carbon impact. It’s a green-first platform, designed to make eco-conscious living easier.

Ambios: This ambitious platform connects IoT environmental sensors with the Solana blockchain to create a decentralized network of real-time climate data. We helped turn that vision into a secure, streamlined system integrating sensor data, e-commerce, blockchain, and B2B tools. With over 7,000 sensors online and billions of data points streamed, Ambios is showing how software can empower better environmental decision-making—without creating digital bloat.

Aerovy: Focused on revolutionizing energy infrastructure, Aerovy needed a smart battery swap system for electric scooters. We developed a dual-application solution: a mobile app for users to reserve and exchange batteries, and a desktop app for operational teams to manage battery inventory in real time. The architecture was built for scalability, real-time synchronization, and a smooth user experience—all aligned with Aerovy’s sustainability mission. The result: streamlined station operations, reduced downtime, and more efficient energy use.

These projects aren’t just success stories. They’re proof that sustainable development is both achievable and impactful.

How to Build Software Sustainably: Best Practices and Data

So what does sustainable software development actually look like in practice? It’s more than just energy-efficient data centers. It’s about rethinking the way we code, test, deploy, and even design our apps.

Here’s a breakdown of proven practices, backed by data:

1. Code & Architecture

• Optimize Algorithms: Use the most efficient algorithm for the job. For example, replacing an O(n²) algorithm with O(n log n) can significantly reduce compute time and energy use.
  
• Lean Coding: Eliminate dead code, limit dependencies, and avoid bloated frameworks.
  
• Language Matters: Prefer compiled languages (like C++) over interpreted ones (like Python) when performance and energy are critical.
  
• Serverless & Microservices: Use architectures that automatically scale to demand, avoiding the energy cost of idle resources.
  

2. Cloud & Infrastructure

• Deploy Smart: Choose data center regions powered by renewables.
  
• Right-Size Resources: Avoid overprovisioning; use auto-scaling and monitoring.
  
• Green Hosting: Partner with cloud providers that prioritize sustainability (e.g., AWS’s Sustainability Pillar, Google Cloud’s carbon-intelligent computing).
  

3. DevOps & CI/CD

• Streamline Pipelines: Cut redundant builds and tests.
  
• Clean Environments: Audit dev/test setups to avoid “always-on” VMs.
  
• Monitor Energy: Incorporate sustainability metrics into your DevOps dashboards.
  

4. UX & Frontend

• Simplify Interfaces: Help users complete tasks faster, reducing server load.
  
• Dark Mode: For OLED screens, this can reduce energy use.
  
• Optimize Assets: Compress images, minify code, lazy-load components.
  

5. Data & APIs

• Minimize Data Transfer: Cache frequently used data and limit unnecessary queries.
  
• Efficient APIs: Use batching, caching, and webhooks to reduce network and compute overhead.
  
• Smart Storage: Regularly audit databases and backups to avoid storing obsolete data.
  

6. Culture & Broader Practices

• Carbon Accounting: Use software to track your emissions (Scope 1, 2, and 3).
  
• Renewable Energy: Where possible, power offices and home offices with green energy.
  
• Sustainability Culture: Educate teams and stakeholders about the impact of digital products.

Programming Language Efficiency: What You Choose Matters

Not all programming languages are created equal when it comes to energy efficiency. In fact, the type of language you use can have a dramatic impact on how much electricity your software consumes.

Compiled languages like C and C++ are among the most energy-efficient options available. On average, tasks executed in these languages consume around 120 joules—making them the most sustainable choice in performance-critical applications.

Languages that run on virtual machines, such as Java or C#, are moderately efficient, typically using about 576 joules per task. While not as lean as compiled code, they still offer a good balance between efficiency and flexibility, especially in enterprise environments.

At the other end of the spectrum are interpreted languages like Python, which use considerably more energy—up to 2,365 joules per task on average. While Python is beloved for its ease of use and rapid development cycle, it comes at a cost in terms of compute and energy.

The bottom line? Choosing a more efficient language, where feasible, can result in software that’s not only faster, but significantly more sustainable. Even a small improvement in energy use, when scaled across millions of users or requests, can translate into substantial environmental savings.

How We Help Clients Go Greener

At Zarego, we guide clients not just in building great digital products—but in building responsible ones. Our process includes:

• Auditing architecture for sustainability impact
  
• Helping teams adopt serverless or green cloud practices
  
• Designing efficient user flows that cut processing time
  
• Building data strategies that reduce storage and network load
  

Whether you’re launching a new platform or modernizing legacy systems, we help you build for performance, scale, and sustainability.

Let’s Build the Future — Responsibly

Sustainable software development is not a passing trend—it’s a long-term shift in how we build, think, and operate as tech creators.

If your company is thinking about carbon goals, ESG compliance, or just wants to build software that lasts without harming the planet, it’s time to start asking the right questions:

• How energy-efficient is your stack?
  
• What’s the carbon footprint of your product?
  
• How can your team embed sustainability into day-to-day decisions?
  

We’re here to help you find those answers—and act on them.

👉 Let’s talk about how we can build greener, smarter software together