By Guest: Frank Karlitschek (LinkedIn)
Company: Nextcloud
Show Name: The Source
Topic: Open Source, Data Sovereignty
The conversation around sustainability in tech often focuses on hardware — from efficient chips to renewable-powered data centers. But as Frank Karlitschek, Founder and CEO of Nextcloud, explains in this TFiR clip, software itself plays a major role in global energy consumption. That’s why Nextcloud’s recent recognition with the Blauer Engel (Blue Angel) ecolabel marks a major shift in how the industry views environmental responsibility.
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The Blue Angel — Germany’s official eco certification program — has existed for over 50 years, historically applied to appliances such as fridges, ovens, and washing machines. For the first time, the organization extended its criteria to cover software and cloud platforms. And Nextcloud not only became the first recipient but also helped shape how those criteria were defined.
Karlitschek recounts how Nextcloud collaborated with the German government to create a standardized way to measure software energy efficiency — something that had never been done before. “We discussed how to compare different software products, how to define metrics for energy use, and how to make the results meaningful,” he said.
The result is more than just an award. It’s a framework that could influence how future software is designed, deployed, and evaluated. Karlitschek notes that while devices like toasters once defined the Blue Angel’s mission, today’s biggest energy consumers are data centers and AI models. Recognizing this shift, Nextcloud’s certification aims to spark an industry-wide push toward greener software practices.
For Nextcloud, sustainability isn’t a marketing exercise — it’s an extension of its open source values. The same transparency and accountability that guide its approach to privacy and decentralization now extend to environmental responsibility.
As cloud workloads expand and AI adoption surges, energy-efficient design will become as critical to digital infrastructure as security or scalability. Nextcloud’s leadership in this space sets a precedent for what responsible innovation should look like.
