Mapping the Future of Sustainable Digital Products

Sustainability in technology is gaining importance, and our recent community event held at Red Badger HQ aimed to shed light on how tech infrastructure can evolve to be more environmentally friendly.

In one of the sessions recorded at this event, Red Badger's very own Chief Scientist, Stuart Harris, shared valuable insights that are shaping the future of software development. His talk, rich with forward-thinking ideas, focused on the significance of sustainable software development and the impact of emerging technologies like Rust and WebAssembly.

Watch the full session below:

Sustainable software engineering is an approach that extends beyond environmental concerns. It involves creating software that is efficient, maintainable, and environmentally conscious. By optimising code and reducing resource usage, we can significantly lower the environmental impact of our digital solutions. This approach results in more robust and future-proof software, which aligns with Red Badger's commitment to sustainability in digital product development.

The Emergence of Rust and WebAssembly

Rust and WebAssembly are at the forefront of advancing software development. 

Rust is a programming language known for its efficiency and reliability. Its lower energy consumption makes it a sustainable choice for software development. This efficiency benefits the environment and enhances software longevity and stability. Rust is also known for its emphasis on memory safety and concurrency, making it an excellent choice for building reliable and high-performance software. It helps prevent common issues like memory leaks and race conditions.

Stu highlighted the significance of Rust in modern software development. He remarked, "What Rust does is it pulls all the problems from the future and makes you have them now... It helps you build really, really, really solid, reliable software that doesn't go wrong when it's in production." 

WebAssembly transforms the capabilities of web applications by enabling code to run efficiently in web browsers. This technology is not just about improving speed; it's about expanding the potential of web-based applications. WebAssembly is changing how complex applications, especially in web browsers, are run. Its secure, lightweight, and efficient characteristics allow applications to run smoothly across various platforms. This technology contributes to a sustainable web ecosystem by ensuring applications are energy-efficient.

Advancing Tech Infrastructure

Looking ahead, Stuart shared his predictions on the trends that will shape the future of tech infrastructure. These technologies will automate routine tasks and improve decision-making. Cloud-native technologies are also gaining traction, offering scalability and resilience. Additionally, robust security measures are essential in our increasingly digital world. At Red Badger, we are actively incorporating these trends into our solutions.

The integration of Rust and WebAssembly in the enterprise is creating more efficient, portable, and sustainable platforms. These platforms aim to reduce the digital carbon footprint by optimising resource usage.

Data Centres and Sustainability

The evolution of data centres is crucial in this transformation. The trend is towards more efficient utilisation of these centres, in line with sustainable software engineering principles. "Data centres are like the factories of the digital age, but their energy consumption and carbon footprint are often overlooked." Stuart pointed out, highlighting the significance of energy efficiency and the adoption of renewable energy sources. He suggested that by optimising data centre design and management, and by being mindful of the software that runs on these servers, we can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of our digital activities.

Check out our recent article highlighting the advances made by another speaker at this event, Data Centre Sustainability expert Mark Bjornsgaard, CEO of DeepGreen Technologies, who recently made the national news with his revolutionary idea of using the heat generated by data centres to heat public swimming pools. 

The move towards sustainable tech infrastructure is essential. Adopting Rust and WebAssembly is a step towards a responsible and sustainable future in technology. This approach benefits the environment and positions businesses for success in a changing digital landscape, a move improves operational efficiency and supports environmental sustainability. It represents a commitment to responsible technology management.

Crux: The Future in Action

Stu and the team at Red Badger have developed an open-source framework that embodies many of the principles he talked about. Crux aims to streamline the development process, offering an efficient, reliable, and secure way to build and test applications. It’s like having a well-oiled machine where each part works in harmony with the others. Crux is particularly good at testing; it allows for exhaustive end-to-end tests that run in milliseconds, a far cry from the hours-long, flaky tests that many developers dread. 

To find out more about any of our recent events, or discuss how you can fold Rust and WebAssembly into your next Digital Product project, get in touch with one of the team.