Quantifying Green IT: Architectural Complexity and Runtime Power Dynamics for Web Frameworks

The energy footprint of software is an increasingly critical factor in green computing, yet the role of web framework architecture remains under explored. Building on the Accidental Complexity Score (ACS) and previous ADRN-2 findings, this study provides a cross-language analysis of eight web frameworks across PHP, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript. Using Intel RAPL telemetry on a hardware-normalized dual-server setup, this study isolates the architectural complexity contribution of each framework.
By introducing Software Median Power Overhead (SMPO) and Software Complexity Power Jitter (SCPJ), this research demonstrates that minimalist frameworks maintain near-baseline energy consumption with high stability, whereas full-featured frameworks impose architectural penalties and intermittent power spikes. These results confirm that software design is a primary determinant of energy efficiency. Future work should extend this analysis to include memory usage and caching mechanisms to provide a holistic assessment of the environmental impact of software complexity.