Workshop on Advanced Green IT and Internet of Things
19, 20 and 21 April 2016 (Internet of Things)
22, 25 and 26 April 2016 (Advanced Green IT).
 
       
  Green ICT    
       
 

ICT is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in our work and home and as our reliance on technology grows so too does our demand for energy and consequent level of CO2 emissions. Gartner has estimated that the IT industry is responsible for 2% of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to the impact of the airline industry. But, for the more advanced and technologically-centred economies of the US, Japan and Europe, the number is more likely on the order of 5 percent to 6 percent and growing at double-digit rates. Japan’s METI has forecasted that by 2025 ICT will consume 20 percent of all electricity in Japan


We should note that from a holistic view, “greening” ICT is not just about reducing direct power consumption. With a personal computer, for example, 60 to 80 percent or more of the lifecycle carbon footprint of the device comes in fact from the manufacturing of the device. IT equipment and consumer electronics are very energy and materials intensive in manufacturing, have short life spans and become toxic e-waste at the end of their useful lives.


Studies such as the recent GeSI SMART 2020 clearly show that more effective use of ICTs can deliver tremendous CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) savings.

 
 
 
 

What is Green ICT?
Green ICT refers to an approach in reducing the energy and other resources consumed and the emissions and other waste produced across the ICT lifecycle – from manufacture, procurement and use of ICT in an organisation to its re-use and aims to improve environmental sustainability of organisations. Specifically, Green ICT as applied to the use of ICT resources aims to:
  • Reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions during ICT use
  • Reduce environmental impact of disposal of ICT waste products

In addition to the above, Green ICT also explores how ICT applications can be used to help other sectors conserve and optimise energy usage.


How to go “Green” with ICT?
The greening of ICT systems can be achieved in many different ways, including:

  • Improving usage of what you already have: maximizing utilization of current IT assets and putting in place disciplined asset management policies;
  • Consolidating servers, data centres, storage into more efficient physical plants and hardware;
  • Using new technologies such as virtualization to improve use of all hardware assets.