[irtf-discuss] Re: Draft Charter for an IRTF Proposed Research Group: Sustainability and the Internet Research Group (SUSTAIN RG)

["Ali Rezaki (Nokia)" <[e-mail]>]

Hi Eliot, Eve,

Thanks very much for your e-mails.

Eliot, thanks a lot for your support of the RG and for bringing up the point about innovations in Internet infrastructure and applications that could help save energy and reduce carbon emissions. As Eve mentioned, these are covered under carbon-aware networking in the charter. We hope that novel mechanisms could also be investigated to help other sectors in ICT or at large, do the same in coordination with the energy grid (potentially supplying carbon intensity information in fine granularity). Given that AI energy consumption and carbon emissions are huge multiplier to the existing impact of ICT, there could be great potential.

Looking forward to working together on many of these topics.

Many thanks.

Best regards,

Ali


From: Eve Schooler <[e-mail]>
Sent: Friday, November 1, 2024 9:20 PM
To: Eliot Lear <[e-mail]>
Cc: Ali Rezaki (Nokia) <ali.rezaki=[e-mail]>; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; Ali Rezaki (Nokia) <[e-mail]>; Eve Schooler <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: [irtf-discuss] Draft Charter for an IRTF Proposed Research Group: Sustainability and the Internet Research Group (SUSTAIN RG)


To clarify, the topic proposed in the SUSTAIN RG charter is the investigation of carbon-aware networking.
--Eve

On Fri, Nov 1, 2024 at 1:05 PM Eve Schooler <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>> wrote:
Hi Eliot,

Thanks for your feedback.
The Internet can indeed be applied to scenarios where it can enable savings, which is what is meant in the charter when we refer to the Internet's potential handprint. We are aiming for the RG to focus on the Internet footprint, to balance with discussion on its handprint, whilst avoiding greenwashing (e.g., using the positive impact to eclipse addressing its negative impacts).
The example you cite -- "load shifting based on where the sun or wind can be found" -- is included in the SUSTAIN RG charter as carbon-aware computing, a topic that is not covered by the GREEN WG.

Best,
Eve

On Fri, Nov 1, 2024 at 11:06 AM Eliot Lear <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>> wrote:

Ali,

Thanks for driving this.  This group is extremely well timed, given the vast amounts of resources that AI and its associated hype are consuming.  I would suggest that you consider one additional aspect: the Internet doesn't just consume resources, but it can also be used to SAVE resources.  For instance, load shifting based on where the sun or wind can be found, energy-aware infrastructure (GREEN, etc).

Regards,

Eliot
On 01.11.2024 00:39, Ali Rezaki (Nokia) wrote:

Dear E-impact, Green WG, IRTF-discuss Lists, Colleagues,



We have been working on a draft charter for an IRTF Proposed Research Group: Sustainability and the Internet Research Group (SUSTAIN RG). Please find enclosed v1.0 of this draft charter proposal for your review and feedback.



We have scheduled a Public Side Meeting at IETF 121 in Dublin, on 6 November 2024, at 14:30 GMT (UTC+0) in Wicklow Hall 2A, to present the background and details of the charter and to have an open discussion. We are aware that public side meetings are difficult to attend remotely. Accordingly, we will arrange an additional on-line meeting about a week after the IETF 121 to ensure adequate access for remote participation as well.



We have created a GitHub repository for the development of the charter with community feedback and the management of the side meeting at: https://github.com/rezaki-ali/IRTF_SUSTAIN_RG. The draft charter is available in this repository as well.



We would greatly appreciate it if you would be able to review the draft charter proposal for the SUSTAIN RG and kindly share your feedback with us please. We would also be very happy to see you at the SUSTAIN RG Public Side Meeting at IETF 121 and/or at the on-line meeting to be arranged just after IETF 121.



Many thanks to Colin Perkins, Jari Arkko, Suresh Krishnan, Noa Zilberman, Jukka Manner, Romain Jakob, Michael Welzl, Chris Adams for their review of earlier drafts and their feedback. Many thanks to Dirk Kutscher, David R. Oran, Lixia Zhang, Kurtis Heimerl for their input on priorities and perspectives.



Looking forward to developing the SUSTAIN RG charter with your contributions.



Many thanks and best regards,



Ali and Eve