Sustainable Quantum Computing: Opportunities and Challenges of Benchmarking Carbon in the Quantum Computing Lifecycle

TL;DR

Quantum computing's environmental footprint across its production, operation, and end-of-life remains underexplored, risking unsustainable growth. The authors propose Carbon-aware Quantum Computing (CQC), a lifecycle framework to compute total $CO_{2e}$ as $Total_{CO_{2e}} = Embodied_{CO_{2e}} + Operational_{CO_{2e}} + Application_{CO_{2e}}$, and to identify reduction opportunities at each stage. They detail operational energy measurement, embodied carbon in production and disposal, and application-centric offsets, highlighting research questions and data needs. The paper calls for a cross-disciplinary sustainable quantum computing subfield and a coordinated effort among academia, industry, and policymakers to realize carbon-neutral, fault-tolerant quantum platforms and sustainability-focused applications.

Abstract

While researchers in both industry and academia are racing to build Quantum Computing (QC) platforms with viable performance and functionality, the environmental impacts of this endeavor, such as its carbon footprint, e-waste generation, mineral use, and water and energy consumption, remain largely unknown. A similar oversight occurred during the semiconductor revolution and continues to have disastrous consequences for the health of our planet. As we build the quantum computing stack from the ground up, it is crucial to comprehensively assess it through an environmental sustainability lens for its entire life-cycle: production, use, and disposal. In this paper, we highlight the need and challenges in establishing a QC sustainability benchmark that enables researchers to make informed architectural design decisions and celebrate the potential quantum environmental advantage. We propose a carbon-aware quantum computing (CQC) framework that provides the foundational methodology and open research questions for calculating the total life-cycle carbon footprint of a QC platform. Our call to action to the research community is the establishment of a new research direction known as, sustainable quantum computing that promotes both quantum computing for sustainability-oriented applications and the sustainability of quantum computing.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: Sustainable Quantum Computing: The need for proactive benchmarking of the environmental effects of quantum computing across its entire lifecycle: production, use, and disposal is critical.
• Figure 2: Difference between a bit and a qubit and different qubit states.
• Figure 3: Key QC hardware blocks and their illustration in photonic and superconducting QC platforms.
• Figure 4: Materials and minerals used in 1) physical qubits, 2) cryogenic cooling, 3) qubit controls and data processing.
• Figure 5: QC has the potential to support many of the UN SDGs and create huge negative carbon footprint offset.