Climate change is profoundly affecting nearly all aspects of life on earth, including human societies, economies, and health. Various human activities are responsible for significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including data centers and other sources of large-scale computation. Although many important scientific milestones are achieved thanks to the development of high-performance computing, the resultant environmental impact is underappreciated. In this work, a methodological framework to estimate the carbon footprint of any computational task in a standardized and reliable way is presented and metrics to contextualize GHG emissions are defined. A freely available online tool, Green Algorithms (www.green-algorithms.org) is developed, which enables a user to estimate and report the carbon footprint of their computation. The tool easily integrates with computational processes as it requires minimal information and does not interfere with existing code, while also accounting for a broad range of hardware configurations. Finally, the GHG emissions of algorithms used for particle physics simulations, weather forecasts, and natural language processing are quantified. Taken together, this study develops a simple generalizable framework and freely available tool to quantify the carbon footprint of nearly any computation. Combined with recommendations to minimize unnecessary CO₂ emissions, the authors hope to raise awareness and facilitate greener computation.

中文翻译：

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绿色算法：量化计算的碳足迹

气候变化正在深刻影响地球上生活的几乎所有方面，包括人类社会、经济和健康。各种人类活动是造成大量温室气体 (GHG) 排放的原因，包括数据中心和其他大规模计算来源。尽管由于高性能计算的发展，实现了许多重要的科学里程碑，但由此产生的环境影响却被低估了。在这项工作中，提出了一个以标准化和可靠的方式估计任何计算任务的碳足迹的方法框架，并定义了将温室气体排放量情境化的指标。开发了一个免费的在线工具，绿色算法 (www.green-algorithms.org)，它使用户能够估计和报告其计算的碳足迹。该工具很容易与计算过程集成，因为它需要最少的信息并且不会干扰现有代码，同时还考虑了广泛的硬件配置。最后，量化用于粒子物理模拟、天气预报和自然语言处理的算法的温室气体排放。总之，这项研究开发了一个简单的通用框架和免费可用的工具来量化几乎任何计算的碳足迹。结合建议以尽量减少不必要的 CO 和自然语言处理被量化。总之，这项研究开发了一个简单的通用框架和免费可用的工具来量化几乎任何计算的碳足迹。结合建议以尽量减少不必要的 CO 和自然语言处理被量化。总之，这项研究开发了一个简单的通用框架和免费可用的工具来量化几乎任何计算的碳足迹。结合建议以尽量减少不必要的 CO₂排放，作者希望提高认识并促进更环保的计算。