The Green Premium: Investing in Sustainability
Understand how the Green Premium supports carbon reduction with every job run.
What is a Green Premium?
The Green Premium is an idea by Bill Gates.
Inspired by the question of "What is the difference in cost between a product that involves emitting carbon and an alternative that doesn't" continuing to say "This difference in cost is what I call the Green Premium, and understanding it is key to making progress on climate change.".
To summarize: The Green Premium represents the cost of choosing sustainable solutions over traditional, less eco-conscious alternative. It's the investment required to support the development and maintenance of carbon-aware technologies that help reduce the environmental impact of the digital world.
Bill's example of a Green Premium
"The average retail price for a gallon of jet fuel in the United States over the past few years has been around $2.22, while advanced biofuels for jets cost around $5.35 per gallon. The Green Premium is the difference between the two, which is $3.13, or an increase of more than 140 percent." - Lowering Green Premiums
The Green Premium of CarbonRunner vs other workflow runners:
The Green Premium highlights the difference in resources and costs between traditional, fossil-fuel-powered solutions and greener, carbon-aware alternatives. Here's how it applies to GitHub minutes:
The Cost Of Github's Green Premium
"Github includes 3000 free minutes, worth $24 whilst CarbonRunner does not. The difference between the two - $24 - is the green premium."
The Github per minute price is $0.008 whereas CarbonRunner has a price of $0.004—a 50% lower cost per minute. After 3000 minutes there is no green premium, in fact, it's the opposite, very very reasonably priced.
Traditional runners: Fossil-Fuel-Powered runners
- A traditional infrastructure, powered by fossil fuels, provides 2,000 free GitHub minutes to developers.
- This option is cheaper because it relies on energy sources that are artificially low-cost but contribute significantly to carbon emissions.
- Environmental Impact High emissions due to reliance on non-renewable energy sources.
Carbon-Aware Option: Powered by Sustainability
- At Carbon Runner, our carbon-aware infrastructure supports 1,000 free GitHub minutes as part of the Green Premium.
- This infrastructure prioritizes renewable energy and advanced optimization techniques to reduce emissions and operate sustainably.
- Environmental Impact At least a 90% reduction in emissions, contributing to a greener digital ecosystem.
Why Does It Matter?
The digital world has a carbon footprint, and as it continues to grow, so does its impact on the environment. By opting for the Green Premium, you're choosing a solution that prioritizes sustainability without compromising on performance or innovation. It's about making choices that align with a commitment to reducing emissions and embracing eco-friendly practices.
"Lowering these premiums is the only way to zero out emissions without making things significantly more expensive."
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