GreenFediverse: Difference between revisions

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====2. Research: building a open knowledge database====
====2. Research: building a open knowledge database====


While building up our own database we would like to get more knowledge by critical research and make it available to everyone. This relates very specifically to knowledge about the energy use of server operators. Through our script we already receive a first status of all registered Fediverse instances from the GreenWebFoundation. However, since we had to realize that not all companies and server operators are transparent with a statement about the use of renewable energy and partly even do greenwashing, we would like to complement this status with a qualitative and transparent research. This information collected by the community is for each server operator, technically all domain names, AS numbers or IP addresses are collected and added to the list. For this purpose [https://digitalcourage.social/@aligyie nieebel] already collected a lot of information and put it together in a selfmade [https://lite.framacalc.org/green-webhost-ranking ranking]. This information about the use of renewable energy is also collected for our list in separate .md - files. In these text files the collective research is written in text, offer links to information pages and certificate files. Categorized as "[https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/tree/master/additional-info additional infos]", "[https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/tree/master/rejectlist rejectlist]" or as a manually set "[https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/tree/master/whitelist whitelist]", will then be added to the Green Instances List under "background information". Servers marked as "rejected" are those that, based on our research, are contrary to the GreenWebFoundation's status. Since a downgrade rating comes into play here, the quality and validity of the collected information is critical to rejecting a status. Because server operators who claim to use renewable energies, but at the same time and by other means invest in fossil energies, cannot in our view make an ecologically sustainable contribution and are destroying their acquired status themselves - we do this in order to bring more reality, transparency and quality into play. More simply: unfortunately, we have to remain suspicious. Finally, we refrain from an exact and hardly realizable rating, because a lot of factors have to be considered and cannot be read out technically yet.
While building up our own database we would like to get more knowledge by critical research and make it available to everyone. This relates very specifically to knowledge about the energy use of server operators. Through our script we already receive a first status of all registered Fediverse instances from the GreenWebFoundation. However, since we had to realize that not all companies and server operators are transparent with a statement about the use of renewable energy and partly even do greenwashing, we would like to complement this status with a qualitative and transparent research. This information collected by the community is for each server operator, technically all domain names, AS numbers or IP addresses are collected and added to the list.  
 
For this purpose [https://digitalcourage.social/@aligyie nieebel] already collected a lot of information and put it together in a selfmade [https://lite.framacalc.org/green-webhost-ranking ranking]. After research and investigation, we will have a lot of information that we systematically add to the database. We collect these infos about single hosting services and data centers and their use of renewable energy in separate .md - files. In these text files the collective research is structured and written in text, we will offer links to information pages and certificate-files.
 
So we have several options to work with:
 
"[https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/tree/master/additional-info additional infos]" means we make our research transparent in a structured way. For every webhoster we create a separate .md file. You should use this [https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/blob/master/additional-info/stylesheet.md stylesheet] and take a look at the entries we already filled. Inside the file it looks like this:<syntaxhighlight>
**Hosting Provider:**
 
**Green energy certificate:**
 
**Critical green energy and sustainability notes:**
 
*About the data center:*
 
*About the energy:*
 
**Further research:**
 
**Other notes:**
</syntaxhighlight>For example, if we did an investigation for Hetzner's data center, then the .md file: "[https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/blob/master/additional-info/hetzner.md hetzner.md]" will refer to all of Hetzner's servers. But not just the file is enough, we have to connect the file to the database. We can do this in the [https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/blob/master/table.js table.js] where we put the name we get from the [https://greenfediverse.frama.io/green-instances/ instances list] for Hetzner, (the exact name is very important, otherwise it will not work), so correctly: "Hetzner Online AG". Then the complete entry in the table.js looks like this:<syntaxhighlight>
"Hetzner Online AG": "hetzner",
</syntaxhighlight>Currently it looks like this:<syntaxhighlight>
const ADDITIONAL_INFO_LIST = {
    "Hostsharing eG": "hostsharing",
    "Hetzner Online AG": "hetzner",
    "Greenhost": "greenhost",
    "Ungliech": "ungleich",
    "Teuto.net": "teuto",
    "1984 Hosting Company": "1984Hosting",
    "BIT": "bit",
    "FAELIX": "faelix",
    "FlokiNET": "flokinet"
 
</syntaxhighlight>"[https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/tree/master/rejectlist rejectlist]" means that a downgrade of a "green" status comes into play here. Servers marked as "rejected" are those that, according to our research, contradict the status of the GreenWebFoundation. Here we also work with seperate .md files. Same as above, we have to set the entry we want to reject in the [https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/blob/master/table.js table.js]. Currently it looks like this:<syntaxhighlight>
const REJECT_LIST = {
    "Amazon EU (Ireland)": "amazon",
    "Amazon EU (Frankfurt)": "amazon",
    "Amazon US West": "amazon",
    "Amazon Montreal": "amazon",
    "Cloudflare": "cloudflare",
    "Google Inc.": "google",
    "CJ2 Hosting BV": "cj2"
    "FAELIX": "faelix"
 
</syntaxhighlight>The quality and validity of our collected information is crucial for the rejection of a status. An evaluation in this sense is always very difficult to perform. Whether a data center is environmentally sustainable can be attempted to operationalize, and there are official methods for doing so, such as [[wikipedia:Power_usage_effectiveness|power usage effectiveness]] (PUE), but it is not a valid energy efficiency indicator for data centers. PUE only provides information about the energy efficiency of the data center infrastructure (air conditioning, power supply, etc.), if this is specified by the data center at all, we can also collect this information. Currently, we have no other way of quantifying quality. In the future there will probably be a methodology called [https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/kpi4dce-20 KPI4DCE].
 
Server operators who claim to use renewable energies, but at the same time and by other means invest in fossil energies, cannot in our view make an ecologically sustainable contribution and are destroying their acquired status themselves - we do this in order to bring more reality, transparency and quality into play. In simpler terms, we unfortunately have to remain suspicious of all the greenwashing and marketing promises. Finally, we refrain from an exact and hardly realizable rating, because a lot of factors have to be considered and cannot be read out technically yet.
 
"[https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/tree/master/whitelist acceptlist]" means that we set a gray status to a green status by ourself. We just need to put our wished entry (instances adress like "chaos.social") to the [https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/blob/master/acceptlist/instances.md instances.md]. Currently it looks like this:<syntaxhighlight>
social.vikings.net
music.selea.se
video.selea.se
synapse.selea.se
blogs.linux.pizza
blogi.arjoranta.fi
</syntaxhighlight>But don't forget to add your infos to the [https://framagit.org/greenfediverse/green-instances/-/tree/master/additional-info additional-info] section, otherwise someone will set your green status back to gray, because there is no transparent research and proof. If a instance (server/data center) is marked as gray, this means that there were no result from TheGreenWebFoundation API, technically it is a "0". When a instance is green, technically a "+1" was coming from the GWF. Btw, there is no -1 for a not green status, just "+1" and "0". At the moment only single instances (not whole webhoster) can set to green. If you can't find your instance, you should visit https://the-federation.info/info and register your instance here, because we use their API to get all the instances for our database. If you are registered there, but the GWF won't give you a result for your instance, then the accept-list is the way.


Maybe our collected information can thus lead to a more conscious decision when choosing a server - in the hope that in the future no one will use servers that are powered by harmful energy.
Maybe our collected information can thus lead to a more conscious decision when choosing a server - in the hope that in the future no one will use servers that are powered by harmful energy.


You can use and implement the script as you like - feel free to experiment with it. [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)]
You can use and implement the script as you like - feel free to experiment with it.  


GreenFediverse is and will be a non-commercial and open project!
GreenFediverse is and will be a non-commercial and open project!


💚✊
💚✊