Obviously.
We knew this would be coming. Isn’t there any seasoned developer like me who doesn’t think that in the last two decades things have gotten out of hand? Most of the Web is dynamic for no good reason and recent tech-fads such as NodeJS or the Container/Docker Craze with its convoluted and bloated build, deploy and runtime requirements have taken resource consumption up to eleven. And certainly not just serverside. Just look at Googles favorite end-user VM Chrome and its energy requirements.
Or look at todays smartphones and the apps running on them, eating through electricity like some late 90ies Java Enterprise behemoth running on a mainframe, just to display cat videos or restaurant ratings. Compared to the old days it has become patently absurd in quite a few places, and not just due to shitty programming and clueless deciders – although that does play a part.
Anyone in the IT business with two brain cells to rub together and a little bit of eco- and resource-awareness has know for quite some time that this isn’t sustainable and projects and requirements will have to become reasonable once again.
Static deployment and delivery, minimal processing, low bandwidth requirements and fault-tolerant setups that don’t require a chain of build-ups and tear-downs to go live and that can handle interrupted power are going to quickly become the new norm when prices for energy and other IT-critical resources go through the roof. As they already are.
A 2x on electricity within the next few months is just about guaranteed in the western world (it’s the start of Q4 2022 at time of writing this) and anybody who hasn’t been living under a rock knows that from here on out prices will be going up for a long time. If transition to solar and wind is a given, prices will rise and energy saving will be the new default. For everything. Including computing. And, no, the move to ARM alone won’t cut it, that’s for sure.
See the state of the world – it’s 20 past 12 already.
Look alive and get your IT into frugal mode.
Let’s make it happen, people.