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."

Bill Gates

Be the First to Build Greener Workflows!

Get exclusive early access to our carbon-aware infrastructure and start optimizing your AI and CI workflows for performance and sustainability. Join now and lead the way in reducing emissions.