Colloquium: The carbon footprint and energy consumption of LOFAR

© ASTRON

The sustainability and carbon footprint of astronomy is getting more and more attention. The development, construction and operations of our research infrastructures are important contributions to the total environmental impact of the astronomy community, but this has not been analyzed in great detail yet.

In this colloquium I will present the energy consumption and carbon footprint of LOFAR. The analysis uses a life cycle approach on all its components and processes, starting from its early development to the operations today. Based on those results, the environmental impact of some of typical LOFAR observations will be presented as well as the carbon footprint of an astronomer presenting a publication using a typical LOFAR observation at a conference.

The analysis serves as the baseline from which we can set out actions to reduce the environmental impact of LOFAR including the development of innovative and sustainable technology.