Ada Carbon Monitoring Documentation

This documentation covers the implementation of carbon monitoring for the Ada platform.

Ada Platform: https://ada.stfc.ac.uk/

What is Carbon Monitoring?

Carbon monitoring systems:

  1. Measure - Determine how much CO2 (or CO2 equivalent) was released by computing workloads
  2. Collect - Store that data over time for analysis
  3. Display - Show users their carbon footprint with actionable insights

What is the Ada Platform?

The Ada platform is a service for members of STFC, providing:

  • Virtual machines powered by the R86 data centre at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
  • Remote data analysis for ISIS Neutron and Muon Source
  • Workspaces for CLF (Central Laser Facility)
  • Training environments for scientific computing

Who Uses Ada?

Scientists from:

  • ISIS - Neutron and muon research
  • CLF - Laser physics research
  • Diamond - Synchrotron research
  • Training - Scientific computing courses

What Are Workspaces Used For?

  • Running computationally intensive analysis
  • Accessing pre-installed scientific software
  • Remote access to facility data

Architecture Overview 

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        ada-ui                               │
│                   (Svelte Frontend)                         │
│  ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Dashboard  │ │   Heatmap   │ │  Intensity Forecast │   │
│  └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────────────┘   │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │ API calls
                         ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       ada-api                               │
│                  (FastAPI Proxy)                            │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │ Proxy
                         ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│               ada-carbon-monitoring-api                     │
│                     (FastAPI)                               │
│  ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────┐   │
│  │ Calculators │ │   Clients   │ │      Models         │   │
│  └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────────────┘   │
└───────┬─────────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────┘
        │                 │                   │
        ▼                 ▼                   ▼
┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────┐
│  Prometheus   │ │   MongoDB     │ │  UK Carbon Intensity    │
│ (CPU metrics) │ │  (via ada-db) │ │        API              │
└───────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └─────────────────────────┘

Key Features

Carbon Dashboard

  • Summary Cards - Energy (kWh), Carbon (gCO2eq), Workspaces, CPU time
  • Carbon Intensity Forecast - UK grid forecast with best 3-hour window
  • Heatmap - GitHub-style year view of daily carbon
  • Stacked Bar Chart - Busy vs idle breakdown by day/month/year
  • Equivalencies - Miles driven, smartphone charges, trees, etc.

Attribution

  • User Attribution - Track carbon by workspace owner
  • Group Attribution - Track carbon by cloud project + machine type

Carbon Calculation 

Energy (kWh) = (12W × busy_seconds + 1W × idle_seconds) / 3,600,000
Carbon (gCO2eq) = Energy (kWh) × Carbon Intensity (gCO2/kWh)

Documentation Sections

Section Content
Green Computing Basics Carbon concepts and reduction methods
Software Used Technology stack
Backend API architecture and endpoints
Frontend Svelte component reference
API Reference Complete API documentation