Blauer Engel For FOSS (BE4FOSS)
By:: KDE Eco
Source:: https://invent.kde.org/teams/eco/be4foss
Description
In 2020, the German Environment Agency (German: Umweltbundesamt) released the award criteria for eco-certifying desktop software with the Blue Angel ecolabel (German: Blauer Engel). From 2021-2022, the BE4FOSS project under KDE Eco worked to advance eco-certification for resource and energy-efficient software in FOSS communities. Obtaining the Blue Angel ecolabel occurs in 3 steps: (1) Measure, (2) Analyze, and (3) Certify.
— KDE Eco
Handbook
This handbook provides a brief overview of environmental harm driven by software, and how the Blue Angel ecolabel—the official environmental label of the German government—provides a benchmark for sustainable software design.
Workflow
workflow.md · KDE Eco / be4foss · GitLab
3 steps to eco-certification
- Measure energy consumption
- Analyze results using statistical tools such as OSCAR (Open source Software Consumption Analysis in R)
- Certify by submitting full report on fulfillment of BE criteria
1. Measurement
Setup?
- 2 computers, 1 power meter
- computer 1: system under test
- computer 2: data aggregator & evaluator
- power meter: e.g. GUDE Expert Power Control 1202
What to measure?
- Energy consumption (using the power meter)
- Hardware performance (CPU, memory, disk, network data, e.g. by using collectl)
Scenarios to measure:
- Baseline (OS)
- Idle Mode (OS + Application while idle)
- Standard Usage Scenario (OS + Application while used)
2. Analyze
Using OSCAR
- developed by Umweltcampus Birkenfeld
- requires:
- log file of actions (idle & standard usage)
- energy consumption
- hardware performance results
3. Certification
- FOSS should already fulfill the most of the other criterias like transparency, continuity of support, , uninstallability, freedom from advertising, …
- Probably some more documentation is needed
Blue Engel Certification
Devices & Tools
See devices-tools-overview.md · KDE Eco / be4foss · GitLab
Reference Systems:
- Fujitsu Desktop Computer Esprimo P920 / P956 / P957 / P958 (Blauer Engel recommended)
- Hyndai Pentio H-Series AIO MT B85
- Mac mini "Core i5" 2.6, 3.0 (Blauer Engel recommended)
Power Meters & Software:
- GUDE Expert Power Control 1202
- Python script from Achim Guldner (GPL v3.0)
- Gosund SP111 (inexpensive power plug) with Tasmota firmware (GPL v3.0)
- Kst (GPL v2.0, KDE software)
- See Volker Krause's blog post
🔗 References
resources.md · KDE Eco / be4foss · GitLab
conferences-workshops/presentations · KDE Eco / be4foss · GitLab
Joseph P. De Veaugh-Geiss - Sustainable Software & Blauer Engel Eco-Certification - YouTube
B&B 2022 – Was wir durch den Blauen Engel über nachhaltiges Software-Design gelernt haben