Monitoring the carbon footprint

At the German-French culture channel ARTE, sustainability is not limited to program content. The development of software architecture for ARTE’s video library is aiming for efficient coding. “Ecological responsibility is among the five most important business objectives that we are striving for throughout the ARTE group by 2024”, states Marysabelle Cote, Managing and Administrative Director at ARTE. Thanks to the implementation of the ISO 50001 energy management system, the culture channel has been able to reduce its carbon emissions by 38 percent since 2013.

 

“Sustainability is also a criterion for investments as well as tenders for huge infrastructure projects in technology and production.” To code its video library, ARTE is using a new software
tool that monitors the level of energy consumption and its subsequent carbon footprint across the entire system. “Before, it was only possible to evaluate one part of a digital system — the server, the network, or the client”, says ARTE’s Chief Technology Officer Kemal Görgülü, who is in charge of broadcast IT, IT infrastructure, and the development of digital products.

 

In the ARTE video library, the value added by the software tool GreenFrame.io was tested over the course of nine months. “We integrated this tool into our code development and software release pipelines, which is called Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD).” The aim is to spot energy-consumptive programming code before its integration into the system in order to optimize it accordingly. The ongoing updates of system and browser software require the continuous adjustment of the video library’s programming code.

 

The efficiency of the software depends on how often images are reloaded, on which kind of JavaScript Library is used, and on which scripts are applied to various tracking mechanisms. “The more ads, overlays, and pop-ups on a website – which is not the case at ARTE – the worse the energy footprint, as when the browser has to constantly communicate with the server”, the ARTE CTO points out. In doing so, requests are sent to the server permanently, which then require corresponding processing. “We’re trying to combine energy efficiency and usability in our media library.

 

Every click has to be reactive, because the user expects something to happen immediately.” The dark design of ARTE’s video library also saves energy, because in some circumstances dark pixels on monitors don’t need to be lightened by electroluminescent diodes. Green IT is also playing a role in the renewal of ARTE’s production platform and classic broadcast transmission
infrastructure. The tender for the system will contain criteria based on the energy demand as well as on the source and durability of materials and machines.

 

It’s about editing stations whose color and reference monitors are running 24/7. Going forward with the use of data centers, ARTE also wants to address the sustainability aspects of energy
efficiency, the use of renewables, and certification by an eco label.

 

 

Fotos: © Frédéric Maigrot, Christian Horn/ARTE

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