NSF Workshop on Sustainable Computing for Sustainability
April 16, 2024 - April 17, 2024, Alexandria, VA
Computing for Sustainability
Sustainable food supply: This theme encompasses a set of topics that broadly deal
with the use of computing (and sensing) solutions to address the mounting challenges we face
in securing our food supply. Representative examples include:
Precision agriculture. This includes micro weather modeling, crop selection and
adaptation, land management, real-time sensing for efficient crop watering,
fertilization and pest control, etc.
Intelligent food systems: This covers transportation optimization, local sourcing
promotion, waste management and avoidance (through smart sensing and tracking), etc.
Digital manufacturing and construction: This ranges from discovering new material to
applying and using them in novel manners for improved sustainability. Representative
examples include:
New material discovery through computational models, automated generation using
generative AI/ML models
Manufacturing line automation and robotics
3D printing including real-time defect detection and adaptation
Smart building and construction products, home automation
Computing enablers: Sensing and IoT, robotics, AI/ML, 3D printing and
control, human interactions
Climate modeling: This encompasses both adaptation/prediction aspects as well as
potential remediation approaches. Representative examples include:
Global/local and short-term/long-term weather predictions
Atmospheric simulations and models to better understand chemical composition as
environmental factors change
Models for understanding the impact of climate control mechanisms, carbon capture,
solar engineering, etc.
Social and economic impact of climate change and remediation/adaptation techniques
Computing enablers: Distributed/cloud computing, AI/ML, sensing and IoT,
social computing, visualization
Sustainable Computing
Environmental impact of computing: This spans both aspects of usage and its
orchestration, as well as design aspects that account for sustainability. Representative
examples include:
Power efficient architectures and compute models
Datacenter energy optimization (to acknowledge the enormous role they play)
Usage patterns and electrical grid interactions and partnerships
Computing lifecycle: This explores approaches for ensuring sustainable hardware and
software lifecycles to promote greater sustainability. Representative examples include:
Modular design to facilitate reuse and upgrade of computing systems
Software maintenance and upgrades processes to ensure longer lifespans
Economic and business incentives to address the tension between revenue maximization
and extending shelf life of existing systems