Good article!

Another important topic is reducing software inefficiencies and bloat. I think that many applications use outdated data formats and inefficient storage methods. Many modern APIs use unnecessary bandwidth.

If software was more efficient, we would gain a lot of processing power. Software developers are getting lazy because of the increased computing power & bandwidth. Their applications work nicely even with the ineffiencies. But on a larger scale, they end up wasting huge amounts of CPU time globally, causing lost energy and pollution on the side.

Also, today's applications often have resource-intensive features that no-one seems to want. Just check the task manager of your OS to see what processes are running. That will prove my point.

Maybe there should be energy ratings for programs, just like there are energy ratings for refrigerators :D