SOCLOUD: a Sufficient and Open Cloud – SOCLOUD

Initially invisible, the power consumption of data centers is becoming a cause for concern, and could reach 10% of global electricity production in 2030. ICT is competing with many other sectors of the economy that are seeking to decarbonize. For over 10 years, we have investigated the energy efficiency issue from every angle. Manufacturers have drastically reduced ICT consumption, but datacenter consumption is increasing, mainly due to the rebound effect. We now need to tackle the problem from the sobriety point of view for medium-power datacenters powered by an energy mix. The aim of the project is to study the human and technical conditions for implementing sobriety in the cloud, and to identify the levers and their consequences. SOCLOUD proposal is to develop approaches that are energy-efficient, open, and convivial solutions, and that users can understand, so that they have the choice of maintaining, degrading, deferring or cancelling a given cloud access depending on the context, thanks to the introduction of different scores and rewards. The provider point of view will be taken into account when confronted with a demand for load shedding on the part of his electricity supplier, with a necessary trade-off between using the energy from his storages and reducing his offer to users. On the contrary he can offer few hours of low-cost, low-carbon energy if he can. SOCLOUD is a multi-disciplinary proposal with a humanities and social sciences, aiming to introduce the principle of conviviality, from technical philosophy to design. A demonstrator will be proposed on a node of the academic SLICES-FR cloud platform.