The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has launched two green computing initiatives that aim to promote sustainable practices and efficient use of computing resources in the tech sector.
Firstly, IMDA’s Green Computing Funding Initiative (GCFI) will allocate $30 million to encourage research around optimising software design and function for energy efficiency. It enables researchers from Institutes of Higher Learning to collaborate with the industry to solve problems related to green computing.
GCFI will focus on use cases that are currently unmet by commercial solutions. IMDA will call for proposals this year to invite researchers and industry players to co-develop low-carbon digital solutions.
Secondly, IMDA invites industry partners to participate in green software trials to better understand how to develop green software, reducing energy use and IT costs. Participants — including Amazon Web Services, NCS, Ant Group, and the Singapore Institute of Technology — will apply carbon reduction techniques to digital applications and measure their impact.
The trials will look at the effectiveness of carbon reduction in real-world applications and the ability to deliver cost and energy efficiency without affecting performance. They will also generate valuable data and insights for IMDA to create guidelines for the industry on developing green software.
Besides these new initiatives, IMDA will continue its efforts to green data centres, which account for the bulk of ICT sector emissions. For instance, it is collaborating with industry partners to trial the Standard for Tropical DCs launched in June 2023 in their live facilities.
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To help more businesses beyond the IT sector go green, IMDA has identified nine digital solutions for sustainability under the Advanced Digital Solutions (ADS) programme. These digital solutions in resource optimisation and carbon management allow companies to achieve productivity gains and cost savings, and gain access to new markets while reducing emissions. The ADS programme provides grant support for up to 70% is provided for the adoption of these digital solutions.
