The University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering), together with collaborators at Harvard University, has been awarded $12 million by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to participate in a groundbreaking, multi-institutional research initiative that aims to lay the foundations for environmentally sustainable computing.
With the rapid growth of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and sensor systems, the demand for computer systems that offer both scalable performance and environmental sustainability has never been greater. However, despite recent efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions, the computing industry’s energy usage continues to rise at an alarming rate, outpacing the growth of renewable energy installations.
NSF Expeditions in Computing: Carbon Connect — An Ecosystem for Sustainable Computing will be led by Benjamin Lee, Professor in Electrical and Systems Engineering and Computer Information Science at Penn Engineering, and David Brooks, Haley Family Professor of Computer Science at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Carbon Connect will redefine the way computer scientists approach environmental sustainability by establishing new standards for carbon accounting in the computing industry, with the aim of influencing future energy policy and legislation.
