Green Energy & ICT: From Smart to Wise Strategies

B A S I C   L E V E L

Nowadays, new regulations are in preparation aiming to propose contact code information for specific fields and also for individuals to find alternative sources of energy.

Contents

 

The Green energy

Nowadays, new regulations are in preparation aiming to propose contact code information for specific fields and also for individuals to find alternative sources of energy. These alternative sources have to provide power for private and public buildings, and at the same time generate a low number of toxic compounds. The is the so-called” going green” approach. Different alternative types of energy have been designed, like solar and nuclear power, with the purpose to save the planet because the toxic emissions accompanying the production of the traditional ones are a huge problem since they affect badly world life.

Along with the widely investigated toxic actions of global warming in recent years, it is vague in parallel to the harm provided by other resources used in the production of food and maintenance of clean water. Society has referred to materials like coal, oil, and even kerosene to ensure the needed energy. The fossil fuels, coal, oil, and other resources used for power production emit harmful side effects. These fuels are non-renewable and contaminate the environment and the atmosphere, impacting the sources needed for the survival of the species inhabiting our planet. As these sources are naturally restricted, troubles for their shortages and access are growing, the worst among them is their harmful effect on the environment. So, the use of these conventional sources of energy contributes to global warming. Coal and oil outflow toxic gases into the environment, and in this way endanger general health rising respiratory problems, and diminish the quality of life.

Green energy will help to relieve and smoothen at least some of these problems, and the faster we move to renewable energy sources the better.

What is green energy?

Biosensors are sensors that transform bio-recognition processes through a physico-chemical transducer into observable signals, with electronic and optical techniques as two main transducers. The creation of biosensors addresses today’s rapidly rising need for clinical diagnostics. A combination of advantages is brought on by the use of biosensors. Biosensors, first, are highly sensitive. This is because biomolecules have a high affinity for their targets, for example, antibodies catch antigens with a dissociation constant at the nanomolar scale, and DNA – DNA interactions are so much stronger than antigen-antibody. Second, biological recognition is typically very selective. The enzyme and substrate are much like a lock and a key, for example. Such high selectivity frequently leads to biosensors that are selective. Third, the production of inexpensive, integrated, and ready-to-use biosensor devices has become relatively easy to develop due to the development of the modern electronic industry. The ability to detect pathogens or perform genetic analysis in hospitals is certainly improved by these biological sensors; more importantly, they are especially useful for small clinics and even point-of-care analysis.

For biosensors with clinical applications, a range of new techniques have been developed. Biosensors are, in general, analytical devices constructed of an element of biological recognition and an optical/electronic transducer. The biological element is responsible for the capture of solution analytes and the transducer transforms the binding event to a measurable signal variation. By the nature of recognition, enzyme-based biosensors, immunological biosensors, and DNA biosensors, could categorize the type of biosensors. In addition, electronic biosensors (electrical or electrochemical), optical biosensors (fluorescent, surface plasmon resonance, or Raman), and piezoelectric biosensors (quartz crystal microbalance) are available depending on the type of transducer.

Green energy products work

It is accepted that to be recognized as a green energy resource it should not produce pollution, such as is found with fossil fuels. This evidence indicates that not all sources used by the renewable energy industry are green. Thus, power generation that burns organic material from sustainable forests is mind as renewable but due to the CO2 production by the burning process, it is not green. Green energy sources are usually naturally completed, as set against fossil fuel sources like natural gas or coal, which are developed millions of years. Green sources also often avoid mining or drilling operations which can impair the ecosystems.

The future in energy consumption is focused on the exploitation of a mix of green, renewable, and conventional energy, regardless of the purchased product. Thus, all energy sources in the electric grid are mixed alongside the power transmission grid. For those keen to become green at home and do not possess opportunities for a solar panels array, the mentioned mix is the best way to reduce the carbon footprint associated with energy consumption. It is the most presumable way to rise the large-scale renewable energy investment and it gives more households and businesses access to green energy.

The types of green energy

The variety of green energy types are linked with the wide variety of sources (Fig. 1). Some of these types are better suited to specific environments or regions. As a source of energy, green energy often comes from renewable energy technologies such as solar energy, wind power, geothermal energy, biomass, and hydroelectric power. These technologies are acting through different processes.

Find an alternative energy source is the focus of many countries around the world. It is of strategic importance to discover natural and renewable options as an energy source. In some cases, it may be a simple decision to find appropriate architectural designs that keep buildings cool in the summer and warm in the winter. In another, an anaerobic design is used in energy-producing systems to replace fossil fuels with other resources. Thus, reducing carbon emissions, preventing environmental harm, and jobs-creating are just some of the advantages provided by investing in green energy.

Figure 1. The variety of green energy types

Going green means greater funding to solar, wind, and other renewable energy projects, creating technologies to better harness the renewable sources and make them more admissible for people.

Energy Consumption in ICT Sector

Currently, it is estimated that ICT consumes 1.15% of the total electricity supply. It is accounted that the total annual operational electricity consumption for ICT is 242 TWh in 2015. This sum comprises on-site generated electricity (27 TWh) and grid electricity (215 TWh). Besides, the global operational carbon emitted by the ICT sector in 2015 is about 169 M tonnes CO2. It is equivalent to 0.53% of the whole carbon emission by the energy sector (32 G tonnes) and 0.34% of global carbon emission (50 G tonnes) in 2015. The electricity consumption in the ICT network increased by 31% from 2010 to 2015. This subsummes185 TWh rise for 5 years, which is corresponding to 1% of the total electricity grid supply. The operational carbon emission growth has been 17% for this period.

Applying widely the 5G in near future, the rate of energy consumption increase is going to be even greater.

Green Energy Provisioning for ICT

Today, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is getting up one of the most important research subjects in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) due to the disturbing growth of indirect GHG emissions coming from the tremendous use of ICT electrical devices. Thus, solving the ICT GHG problem is linked to improving energy efficiency through energy consumption reduction at the micro-level.

Research in this field is focused on microprocessor design, computer design, power-on-demand architectures, and virtual machine consolidation techniques. The micro-level energy efficiency method will bring an overall rise in energy consumption due to the Khazzoom–Brookes postulate (also known as Jevons paradox) that says: “energy efficiency improvements that, on the broadest considerations, are economically justified at the micro-level, lead to higher levels of energy consumption at the macro-level”. Therefore, it could be reasonable that reducing GHG emissions at the macro level is a more appropriate solution. Large ICT companies, like Microsoft which consumes up to 27MW of energy at any given time, have built their data centers near green power sources. Unfortunately, a lot of computing centers are not placed close to green energy sources. For this reason, green energy distributed network is an emerging technology, allowing that losses incurred in energy transmission over power utility infrastructures are much higher than those caused by data transmission. This makes relocating a data center near a renewable energy source a more efficient decision unless bringing the energy to an existing location.

Management and technical policies will be a decision to arrange virtualization, which helps to move virtual infrastructure resources from one site to another based on power availability. This will facilitate the use of renewable energy within the ICT network providing an ‘Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)’ management tool.

Green ICT and ways of Greening ICT

Green ICT is a broad concept, which lacks a general definition. This concept includes the energy efficiency of equipment such as computers, servers, and monitors. Occasionally, it mentioned the production of ICT equipment as well as the recycling. In other cases, it includes ways in which ICT can be used to mitigate the environmental impact of other sectors. 

  • Defining Green ICT

Green ICT has been defined in the literature as “the using of IT resources in an energy-efficient and cost-effective manner” or “an initiative to encourage individuals, groups, and organizations engaged in the use of ICT to consider environmental problems and find solutions to them”. Green ICT is dealing with the environmental impact of the ICT sector itself. ICT for Green reveals how ICT can be applied to make other sectors greener. The ICT sector gives about 2% of the world’s GHG emissions, mainly due to the emissions from the aviation segment. Although, this figure does not look so much, some authors consider that ICT sector emissions are the highest growing one with rising rates of 6% annually. Besides, the environmental impact of ICT is largely neglected, aviation begins to pay attention to the environment decades ago, but the ICT sector has only started to take care of the environment nowadays. Concerning the Green ICT, the main ICT used are presented in Fig. 2. For each of these categories of equipment, there are different options, which can be made to reduce the environmental impact. When discussing the environmental impact of ICT, the most debated topic is energy efficiency. Meanwhile, there is also a question about such estimation of materials used for production, and the way to be done.

Measuring the energy efficiency is the easiest metric to estimate the effect of green ICT, because of the simple way to determine the energy consumption. More energy can at times be used during the equipment production in comparison to its entire lifespan and this is the case for PCs. When producing computers, several metals like aluminum, arsenic, copper, and lead are used. Some of them are hazardous and create needs for handling the equipment, especially during the recycling. It is claimed that 70% of all hazardous wastes are e-wastes. There are regulations for e-waste recycling in a lot of countries, but informal recycling offers a cheap way to deal with this waste and unfortunately is practiced a lot.

Figure 2. Main categories of ICT used.

  • Going green in ICT

The term ‘green’ is used in everyday language to refer to environmentally sustainable activities. Also, the term ‘green’ repeatedly is used as being sustainable. Both concepts are closely linked but are not identical and to be green is only a part of being sustainable. The United Nations commonly discuss three aspects of sustainable development: the social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The term ‘green’ fits the environmental aspect because both are often interrelated. From an environmental point of view, it is well understood and reasonable especially in the case of linking ‘green’ ICT with economic growth. Thus, there is a reason that sustainability becomes a factor for the rapid growth of the ICT sector; it favors economic growth, ensures wide access to new technologies, and enhances the efficiency of other sectors.

The sustainability or its environmental issues definition given in the UN report “Our Common Future” said that sustainable are those processes that “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs“.

To be ‘green’ in the ICT sector is partly about taking informed solutions for the way of the use of natural resources.

A good illustration of the term “sustainability “is the way of how today’s living can impact the lives of future generations in terms of lack of some natural resources, health problems for those working with production and recycling, as well as the impact on the future generations. So, dealing with ICT there are different ways to become green.

It is necessary to define ‘green’ technologies and ‘green’ behavior. Green technologies involve parts like virtual servers, allowing a higher rate of utilization to realize a saving of energy of up to 85%, compared to standard PCs. However, the technology that is used inefficiently will not be green. In this way, the employees can have a big importance on the environmental trace. Turning off the equipment after leaving the office, and using technology to make green other parts of life, like hosting video conferences instead of traveling, or sharing different equipment like printers between departments, are examples of green bearing in the workplace.

Being ‘green’ in the ICT sector and information management is not precisely the same as being ‘green’ in other sectors. Each sector possesses its environmental issues and mitigation strategies. The ICT sector is peculiar, as causing greening of other sectors and it is not sure how the large contribution can be obtained for reduction of the emissions and achieving a better environment. Nevertheless, this environmental impact of ICT should not be overestimated. To be ‘green’ in the ICT sector is necessary to become aware of production way and the use and recycling the ICT equipment to be obligatorily sustainable. One of the most important aspects of ‘green’ ICT are those concerned with conserving energy, and other resources, such as paper and rare elements. Rare and hazardous materials are used in the production of ICT equipment. Hazardous materials offend not only the environment but also the people working with the manufacture of ICT equipment and its recycling. All these things are linked with ICT and information storage having the biggest impact on the environment. If all equipment is used optimally, it is reasonable to diminish the impact on the environment as well as possibly to save finances. 

  • The Importance of being ‘green’

Nowadays to be ‘green’ is significant as a business strategy, which is due partly to consumer understanding of environmental protection. Environmental management is a part of the strategic approach for several successful companies, to involve a new concept of ‘green’ management to answer this strategy. Besides, investing in ‘green’ innovations and environmental protection is beneficial to companies from a financial point of view. Being ‘green’ could increase a company’s competitive advantage, as well as bring new market opportunities, and thus make ‘green’ companies more profitable.

At the same time, the dangers of the so-called ‘green-washing’: “the focus must move away from an emphasis on image to an emphasis on substance” are a serious warning. Thus, ‘green-washing’ is the term assigned to companies that try to get the face of being ‘green’, but apply cosmetic measures, rather than actual changes in the way the organization operates. So, if organizations want to make a real ‘green’ change, it can get a positive effect on society. The greening of organizations can bring new investments to improve the environmental situation, creating jobs and wealth. It is considered that investments in ‘green’ ICT can give short-term economic support. 

  • Benefits of going green

A major chance to support greening is cost scanting. Observing the ‘green’ information technology, it becomes clear that data centers and servers dispose a large amount of energy for keeping run and cooing down. ICT resources cannot be used in their full capacity (a utilization rate is about 12.5%). This figure indicates lack of efficiency in the ICT sector. It is found that 86% of the needs can be arranged by 26% of the current energy utilization and this indicates a big room for cost improvement. Also, another part of ICT can propose considerable saving opportunities in usage in an environmentally friendly way. When turning off printers, as well as other energy-consuming equipment, whenever they are not exploited, resources can be saved and the environmental impact can be reduced.

Besides these options, it is acknowledged that moving towards a ‘green’ knowledge society will require structural changes, suggesting that governments should help to enable this process, and doing so benefits for the society as a whole will be realized.

No conventional definition of ‘green’ ICT exists. ‘Green’ topics could be approached from the perspective of a ‘problem’ (focusing on reducing the emission) or from the perspective of a ‘solution’ (focusing on new green solutions). This is reflected in the approach to ‘green’ ICT. This approach is presented in Fig. 3. It encompasses two segments: greening of ICT and greening with ICT.

Figure 3. The approach to ‘green’ ICT

Greening of ICT in a narrower sense refers to ICTs with low environmental burdens, but using ICT as an enabler reduces environmental impact across the economy outside of the ICT sector. Green ICT, as greening with ICT, is a new concept and even the leading countries and stakeholders have only about few years of experience. It is important to note that both the traditional ‘problem’ approach and the new ‘solution’ approach are needed. Pollution needs to be regulated and companies need incentives to address their emissions. However, ensuring that the new generation of solution providers get the right incentives is equally important.

Reduction of energy consumption and gas emission

ICT can contribute to the reduction of energy consumption and gas emissions through:

  • Inventing innovative energy saver systems, technologies and ‘smart’ devices, using ‘smart energy management’;
  • Applying energy saver policies using renewable sources, solar energy and photovoltaic, wind energy, bio-fuel, bio-climatic technology, anti-pollutants technology, etc.
  • Recycling and reducing e-waste such as old IT systems, chips, PC, hardware, printers, mobile phones, etc.

About 40% of the total energy consumption is due to households. That is why, innovative ‘smart houses’, constructed by green materials, and green architecture exploiting innovative energy sensors are needed. In this context, ICT systems can achieve to measure, manage and reduce electricity consumption and air-conditioning requirements. During the last decade, technical and industrial product manufacturers were essentially obliged to change the direction of their energy consumption, as a result of the economic crisis in addition to the increased environmental awareness of the public. The concern is taken by the producers towards energy reduction via every computing device, from the laptops and mobiles to the data centers, and will be presumably successful. Consumers show their preference for smart devices, new less energy-consuming technologies, renewable energy sources, and updated, more efficient cooling systems with improved energy management software. These products are equipped with official certification to meet or exceed efficiency guidelines.

  • Ways of Greening ICT

It is possible to use ICT in a way that reduces stress on the environment in comparison to the traditional ways. This can be done through new technologies, techniques, and strategies that allow the consumption of less energy and resources. An important part of the ICTs job is to save information. The need for storage is rapidly increasing because of the growth of Internet usage, new laws and regulations, arranging the rules for keeping the information, and scientific computing. The final part of the stored information is collected in data centers. These data centers use enough energy to partially shift the positive effects that ICT can have on society, for which it is claimed that “a fraction of energy savings in ICT and networks could lead to significant financial and carbon savings”. To reach energy efficiency in information storage, it is necessary to choose hardware with better energy efficiency or saving energy methods for the equipment use, which are suggested below.

During the last few years, there is a tendency of awareness rising regarding the impact of modern societies on the environment. A lot of environmentally important factors like energy consumption or e-waste are caused by the application of ICT but at the same time, this technology also could solve some other environmental issues. The dual nature of the issue is approached from an integrative perspective with the creation of the Green Computing concept. It is introduced in 1992 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency starting the ‘Energy Star’ programme. In the beginning, it was enforced on various products such as computer monitors, television sets, and air conditioners. The first well-known result of green computing was the sleep mode option of computer monitors consuming low energy in case user activity is lacking after a certain period. Today green computing gathers a lot of other concepts like confirming computer hardware using, virtualization software, cloud computing or, magnify the energy efficiency of data centers. Green Computing gathers technologies that can contribute to both decreasing the environmental impact of ICT (‘Green IT’ – greening of ICT) and applying information systems (IS) diminishing the environmental impact of ICT consumables (‘Green IS’ – greening by ICT). This integrative vision combines two complementary approaches, presented in Fig. 4.

Figure 4. The integrative vision for Green Computing

The practical implementation of the Green IT and Green IS can be clarified through the following conceptual value models.

Green IT: Value Model

The Green IT value model can assist to reach the goal of environmental sustainability. This conceptual model is grounded on four elements, as shown in Fig. 5.

Figure 5. The Green IT value model

Green IS value Model

The Green IS value Model is important for Green IS acceptance and its impact on the firm’s environmental enforcement. While companies are under permanent suspense from different regulators, clients, and competitors, some of them are ready to cancel efficiency and effectiveness for environmental issues. Green IS investments to fulfill sustainable business experiences are intended to raise turnover and/or income.

Green IS adoption by a company staff (senior managers) is investigated and explained through a model that describes perception as determined by three basic factors. Three types of strategic initiatives have to be taken into account for IS adoption. All of them are depicted in Fig. 6.

Figure 6. The Green IS value Model

This model could be put into action through a strategy for application of variety of technologies and techniques, like video and teleconferencing, emission management systems, etc.

A framework for management and application of Green IT and Green IS can be established that encompass variety of technologies offering opportunities for reducing the negative environmental impacts in activities by producers and consumers that use ICT. Among these Green Technologies are the following.

Cloud computing

A lot of organizations apply a new computing paradigm – cloud computing, to optimize usage and minimize the cost of their computer servers. In this way, previous costs linked with setting up the IT infrastructures are omitted. Cloud computing allows linking shared infrastructure and balancing IT resources for computing tasks in real-time while reducing gas emissions and maintaining the levels of service. Cloud computing relies on sharing of hardware and software resources that are shared by multiple users and dynamically reallocated per demand. This ‘green’ technology removes ultimately the need for a company to have an on-premise data center, which has a positive effect on the natural environment and its resources. To date, many vendors provide Green IS-focused cloud services and are experiencing significant financial growth rates per annum.

Computer power management

To save energy in computing, a common action is turning off the equipment in case it is not in operation. There is a so-called open industry standard “Advanced Configuration and Power Interface” (ACPI 2) that represents an advanced Green IT practice. It allows direct power control of the computer operating system and its underlying hardware. This standard automatically rules out components like monitors and hard drives when the inactive period of the equipment takes place. The computer power savings device includes different sleep modes of the monitor, hard disk, system standby and hibernation, and different CPU power states.

Data Center Design

Data centers consume a big percentage of energy, more than 100 times than standard commercial buildings. Thus, the efficient energy recycling design of data centers, like recycling of waste heat, gives a considerable positive impact on energy safety and can be used in the following areas:

  • IT systems: increase hardware usage (through virtualization, see below); allow computer power savings modes; buy energy effective tools (e.g., computer power supplies, computer processors, solid-state storage devices, terminal servers);
  • Main power systems: power management parts (hardware and software devices for optimizing work and power); rising the usage of renewable energy; use of natural light instead of electricity;
  • Cooling systems;
  • Air management.

IT Virtualization

The IT virtualization refers to the separation of IT resources through server virtualization and storage virtualization. The server virtualization means operation of many logical computer systems on one physical hardware, and the storage virtualization means summing physical storage from many network memory-tools, on which to be put a single storage device managed from a central console. The IT virtualization decreases costs for hardware, diminishes energy consumption and physical space use. At the same time, it refines software testing and spreading and rises the versatility of hardware investments. Also, it can help in work-sharing: the servers are either busy or put in a low-power sleep state. Thus, virtualization is one of the main approaches for organizations to implement environmental sustainability into IT practices and business.

Material recycling and e-waste

Exploring proper recycling of IT techniques, e-waste is reduced and harmful elements like lead, mercury, and cadmium are discarded from the natural environment. Then it they can be reused and de novo production might be omitted. The process of materials recycling is feasible nearly for any computing device and accessory, such as hard disks, printer cartridges, and batteries. In this way, persons and business organizations can extend the life of IT equipment by upgrading tools instead of just changing them.

Smart grid and smart matters

The Smart Grid technology encompasses hardware and software that ensures more effective exploitation of actual infrastructures for the generation of electricity, its transmission, and distribution. This is an updated version of the electricity delivery system, automatically acting on information flows. The task is to make better the efficacy, safety, and sustainability of the yielding and spreading of electricity by load balancing and peak load management. Devices on the network possess sensors to collect data (power meters, voltage sensors, fault detectors, etc.). Such a device is the Smart Meter, that makes use of digital communication between devices connected to the grid. The collected data relates to energy production and consuming behaviors of both suppliers and consumers. In that sense, real-time information exchange between producers and consumers helps to better control energy demands and reduces the need for energy surplus during peak hours. Tools on the network have sensors to gather data (power meters, voltage sensors, fault detectors, etc.). They read the energy (electricity, gas, etc.) consumption in defined periods and daily sends data back to the public utility e.g., for monitoring and cost estimation. It can also be used to provide information about energy consumption and to set real-time energy prices to consumers. A key feature is automation technology that lets the public utility adjust and control each device from a central location. Benefits include handling alternative sources of electricity (e.g., solar and wind power), smart control for eco-friendly buildings, and in due course integrating electric vehicles onto the grid.

The future ICT trends: from green to wise

Within the ICT industry, there are two main segments:

  • Telecom infrastructure, i.e., telecom networks comprised of base stations and access points that provide connectivity to devices (human-centered or machine-centered);
  • Mobile devices/terminals, that are communicated by connecting to the infrastructure (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, sensors, actuators, vehicles, drones, etc.).

In the future, billions of devices/terminals will be connected to millions of base stations. Although both segments (network infrastructure as well as devices/terminals) would benefit from renewable energy, the role of renewable energy is much greater in the network segment due to the following reasons:

  • Energy consumption of base stations (telecom infrastructure) is much greater than the energy consumption of devices/terminals;
  • Global network coverage is important to realize the envisioned networked society and internet of things;
  • Base stations have a larger size and are expensive. It is affordable to integrate a renewable energy system with each base station.
  • Base stations need reliable and continuous power provision unlike devices (e.g., mobile phones) that can be charged whenever power is available.

To comprehend the future green ICT trends, it is important to understand not only the history of green but also the history of ICT. For the last 20–30 years the ICT infrastructure has been built, the performance and density will continue to improve and increase. However, a turning point has now been reached. The current threshold is similar to the turning point all industrial eras have experienced. During the installation phase, new solutions are used to increase the efficiency in the old system, during the deployment phase the new system reaches maturity, allowing it to deliver entirely new solutions. Initially, the transformation happened in the “information sectors”, within e.g., music, video or book sectors, etc., and now we start to see the first signs of a serious change in the “heavy sectors”, such as car and mobility, construction, agriculture, and retail sectors, as well as in basic business models.

The shift from improving existing systems to providing new solutions is supported by two trends of ICT development and ‘green’ ICT that are important to understand.

  • (1) the ICT companies are now influential economic players. For the first time in history, an ICT company – Apple – was the largest company in the US. Apple overtook Exxon Mobile, demonstrating that ICT companies can no longer be ignored by policymakers.
  • (2) the ICT companies are now part of a ubiquitous network that is connecting almost everyone and almost everything on the planet. Nowadays, more people are connected than during any other time in human history. By 2020, there are about 50 billion connected devices, and the society is gaining access to data and experience transparency that is fundamentally different from what any society has ever experienced before.

One of the major challenges is that the new ‘green’ ICT solutions have to compete in a regulatory environment encompassing regulations created for the 19th-century industrial structure. It has also to deal with the predispositions among people unfamiliar with the speedy development of ICT solutions. In fact, the current technological development is so fast that society members of any kind – from policymakers to business leaders, to economic experts are witnessing how the whole procedure – from an idea to full-scale implementation, is taking place just for few decades. To clarify the situation, the phases of a long-term disruptive solution must be studied. At the beginning, something triggers an idea that spreads, e.g., the first personal computers. These brought about next ideas, such as paperless offices, virtual meetings, etc. All these activities excited people. After a while, working prototypes were introduced and many companies invested in very expensive prototypes of videoconference equipment. The technology was too new and no viable business model was used, instead, these prototypes were bough and managed by the companies themselves. Progressively, many decision-makers had been excited by the idea of ICT as a disruptive force in different areas, that they finally thought it would never come to happen.

A trend today is that policymakers do not consider significant changes that will be made by ‘green’ ICT. Many are still planning to invest in new coal power plants because they use the same economic model as they used previously. For instance, Siemens Germany has announced that they support a 25% target for renewables and are ending their nuclear power business.

Conclusions

The history of ICT’s development shows that society now is at an inflection point where ICT solutions move towards creating new solutions instead of making old systems better. Two important trends concerning ICT development could be pointed out:

  • (1) The fact that ICT companies now are economically powerful and serve as a source of both economic and political capital.
  • (2) ICT solutions and companies now are so abundant that new clusters of solutions providers can emerge. It is important to understand what ICT solutions actually can deliver.

‘Green’ ICT includes the use of ICT solutions to support smart growth. Consequently, to observe ‘green’ ICT, the context of current ‘green’ ICT trends should be comprehended. While until the 21st century, ‘green’ was seen as nature conservation or pollution control, a significant shift took place at the beginning of the 2000s. A focus moved from a problem perspective (pollution control) to a solution perspective and a new generation of business leaders saw the opportunity to link the need for resource efficiency and sales of new products and services.

A parallel shift is observed in the ICT development. It moves from improving existing systems to providing new solutions. New ICT solutions were created to support energy efficiency and ‘green’ growth. One of the most popular examples for ICT-driven solutions are the e-books, smart grids, electric cars, online meetings, etc.

It’s positive that many citizens have begun to realize the concept of human-caused climate change and resource depletion. They consider as well the imperative necessity of acting on this matter. This understanding has led many people to make changes of their personal lifestyle. The “living green” tendency includes many aspects such as green constructions, renewable energy use, energy-saving at home, the extended use of eco-friendly products, a recycling approach. Here to add are the so-called sustainability checklists, designed to help households to assess how sustainable they are, and to offer suggestions for increasing home sustainability. Moreover, clever use of e-services can be a tool for less energy consumption in everyday life and at work. For instance, this is the case of paper use – the nowadays correspondence is substituted by digital formats using the Internet and smart devices. The production and distribution of new products and services show the tendency for minimization of the needed energy, estimated by carbon footprint. Another example is the substitution of traditional conferences with online ones that impose a direct positive effect on environmental protection and reduction of the GHG emissions because of reduced transportation services. It is reported that teleconferences can avoid the production of approximately 540.000 tn CO2 per year; this is the cost of the air transportation of people.

The use of ‘Green’ ICT tools and services through broadband/5G Internet contributes to the environmental and societal welfare with the decrease of cost and time to access government offices (24/7 services), energy savings (no transportation), and restriction of pollute emission (carbon footprint). Similarly, in the sector of e-commerce and e-business new innovative business solutions are in favor of either the entrepreneur or the final customer.

Test: LO4 Basic level

Welcome to your LO4-basic level questions

References

Green Energy & ICT: From Smart to Wise Strategies

ADVANCED  L E V E L

Nowadays, ICT plays an important role in the environment protection and fighting climate changes. It has attracted considerable attention of diverse types of international forums.

Contents

 

Introduction

Nowadays, ICT plays an important role in the environment protection and fighting climate changes. It has attracted considerable attention of diverse types of international forums. Temperature and sea level rising, as well as the floods incidents and storms are undoubtfully impacting climate change, and influencing also the balance of the ecosystems, water and food supply, public health, industry, agriculture and infrastructure. The measures to combat climate change are focused on strategical aims like: i) energy efficiency enhancement; ii) increase the part of energy used from renewable sources and assure the trustworthiness of energy supplies; iii) ensure the supply of energy products and services, and sustainable production of green products.

The energy market today is undergoing serious reforms due to the introduction of new advanced energy technologies. They cause continuous environmental problems, rising needs for European and international cooperation. In this aspect, various intergovernmental agreements have been concluded to sharp and harmonize the organizational and legislative framework of the energy markets. Along the increasing attention for global climate change and related to the energy markets, the green Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has been proposed as one, in which the environmental impact is taken into account in the design of new systems and technologies.

The topics of “Green informatics” and “Green ICT’’ are frequently discussed and the interest in ICT’s potential needs to be better appreciated and to focus the attention it deserves. The Green Informatics includes design, construction, and information diffusion techniques and offers optimization of environmental governance, in its efforts to save the natural environment. In this way, it contributes to successful management of the natural resources regarding sustainability, taking into account as well the energy requirements, in particular the alternative energy sources.

The web technology and broadband Internet along with web-based projects are penetrating in a great speed our society and a huge amount of information moves across the WWW worldwide. The Green Informatics are ICT tools, services and technologies deal with green practices and green manners either in the ICT industrial sector or with the ICT users. This can contribute also to the preservation and recovery of the environment as well as to the promotion of the quality of human life. Thus, the concept for ‘’Green Informatics’’ has turned into a synonym to eco-friendly technology and software tools like Virtualization, Recycling and Telecommuting.

At present, ICT unifies the electronic services (e-services) – broadband network infrastructure – mobile services, and wireless technologies. This mergence led to the development of instruments, products, services and technologies with increased social network opportunities, available 24/7, worldwide in all sectors of human life.

Broadband has been the entrance to the networking economy. Its abilities to convert the daily processes into work and life opens new business prospects for development nowadays, when a lot of countries are fighting to save their economies during global economic crisis.

The services for stabile permanent access to Internet assure reliable delivery with a great speed of Internet of high quality almost all over the world. Part of the web-based products commonly used to assure e-services are e-learning, e-working, e-banking, e-voting, e-government, e-commerce, e-shop, e-research, e-medicine and e-payment. Recently, useful mobile broadband services (m-services) adapted to the needs of the people were set up. They combine elements of user-generated content with network-based promotion. Through modification of economic and social measures, the mobile technologies support the sustainable development through green banking, green commerce, green governance, green constructions, etc.

The global trends in green ICT development

In order to understand the global green ICT trends, the current dynamics and directions of different sub-trends should be understood. The context of current green ICT trends should be explained, including the evolution of green trends and the background of ICT. From the perspective of green ICT, it is important to distinguish three different green trends, each of them alive today, but with different logic and history.

Local conservation

The first green movement (1860-1960) followed the idea that nature was static and should be protected against Industrialism. The main focus was on the creation of national parks, nature was primarily seen as an object of study and a place for recreation. Protecting nature just because it is beautiful and because it offers a place for recreational time spending is still a major part of the green agenda in many countries. This type of link to green ICT can be seen even today when companies plant trees to improve their image. There are still companies who think that a donation to a conservation project is a key part of their green work and many of the major environmental NGOs still approach ICT companies as a source of funding for conservation projects.

Pollution control and corporate social responsibility

During the period 1960-2000, a different trend is shaped, as instead of protecting individual natural areas, companies and policymakers considered the industrialization as on a collision course with the planet. This trend saw companies mainly as a source of environmental problems therefore, rules and regulations were created to minimize the negative impact of companies. The response of most companies was to establish environmental health and safety (EHS) staff and corporate social responsibility/public relations (CSR/PR) staff. Focus was on the end-of-pipe technologies and communication. Many companies, and especially business associations, considered environmental regulations as a threat to their business and this perspective still exists in many processes related to green issues. Several governments still define green or environmental technology as the end-of-pipe technology. The renewable energy is ever increasingly similarly regarded. But some include transformative low-carbon ICT solutions, such as teleworking, e-books, smart control systems for buildings, even though these are of key importance to reduce emissions and the need for natural resources.

Solutions, transformative change, and profit

At the early 21st century the need for transformative change and sustainability moved to a new phase. Instead of biologists and environmental organizations identifying problems, a new generation of stakeholders started to present solutions. This new trend of green thinking was the result of a number of converging trends (see Fig. 1). In addition, the new generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders see the opportunity to link the need for dramatic resource efficiency with the sales of new products and services. Instead of approaching green as a threat that only demands an incremental improvement in existing systems, these entrepreneurs have realized that new smart solutions, which challenge existing business models and ways of providing services, are ready. Underlying this shift is ICT development and its targeting of new areas. E-books, smart grids, electric cars, video conferencing and mobile applications are just a few examples of ICT driven solutions.

Figure 1. Converging trends of green thinking

This trend of green thinking often creates significant pressure within existing structures in respect to the older trends on multiple levels. An overview of the different scopes and approaches related to business and policymakers is presented in Fig. 2. It is a matrix that illustrates the strains between the different institutions with different roles, as well as the pressure due to the discrepancy between the problem perspective and the solutions perspective.

In the upper half of the matrix, companies focus on society needs and apply sustainability as a driver for innovation and profit. The actions within this part would be possible because of the unified efforts of entrepreneurs, business leaders and strategic players within the government. However, green alone is rarely the key driver due to the discrepancy among various stakeholders: governments, NGOs, media, etc. It is hard to implement greening with ICT solutions, since they require collaboration between multiple stakeholders. The result is a lot of green initiatives that focus only on ICT companies, as the source of emissions. Besides, companies that are solution providers implement a number of green solutions, but neither the solutions are called green nor the people using these solutions are aware of the green benefits from them. Thus, a shift from the traditional ‘problem’ approach to the new ‘solution approach’ is needed.

Figure 2. Current and future green thinking trends. Legend: A – Local conservation; B – Pollution control and corporate social responsibility; C – Solutions, transformative change, and profit

The first green movement (1860-1960) followed the idea that nature was static and should be protected against Industrialism. The main focus was on the creation of national parks, nature was primarily seen as an object of study and a place for recreation. Protecting nature just because it is beautiful and because it offers a place for recreational time spending is still a major part of the green agenda in many countries. This type of link to green ICT can be seen even today when companies plant trees to improve their image. There are still companies who think that a donation to a conservation project is a key part of their green work and many of the major environmental NGOs still approach ICT companies as a source of funding for conservation projects.

World directions in green ICT policies

An analysis of the global trends in green ICT has been performed with the purpose to find out what are the predominant trends in green ICT policies at global scale from medium- and long-term point of view. The analysis was carried out applying a desk research approach. First, relevant documentation related to green ICT was identified and, second, based on this documentation, the corresponding green ICT related policy trends at the EU and global level were outlined. The documentation set encompasses variety of EU and OECD strategy documents (e.g., OECD Green Growth Strategy, EU 2020 strategy, Digital Agenda etc.), as well as on researches and case studies performed before.

Green ICT advancement: global level policy

Both green ICT and greening with ICT comprise a new concept that has been on the economic and societal agenda since a decade. The area of greening with ICT is so new that it is hardly possible to launch a good practice for a single country to be securely followed. Most policymakers, major researches and business groups unambiguously declare that the greening with ICT is significantly important. However, the real programmes and policies at governmental level, NGOs’ work, research at universities, business initiatives, etc. are rather concentrated on the direct effects then on the long-term impacts.

A number of studies have shown that the majority of the initiatives at both governmental and business level focus on greening of ICT not greening with ICT. A study, performed by the OECD, published in June 2009 showed that most “Green ICT” initiatives concentrate on the direct effects of ICTs themselves rather than tackling climate change and environmental degradation through the use of ICTs as an enabling or “smart” technology”. The OECD analysis showed that the government programmes include initiatives to consider the enabling effects of ICTs. The ICT applications used for the dissemination of environmental information, for smart transportation, grids, and buildings are the most commonly promoted. However, software for energy optimization or smart engines have been less indorsed.

There is a gap between the policymakers and ICT companies that want to support a good image in front of the society, who focus on greening of ICT, and the needs for implementation actions that will lead to greening with ICT. In this context, solutions are necessary to be implemented by the institutions and frameworks in the form of new rules and regulations to support greening with ICT.

There is a variety of opportunities and challenges ahead the policy makers and businesses stakeholders along this implementation. To be best understand, these possibilities and challenges must be considered in respect to the main ICT players contributing to both greening of ICT and greening with ICT ideas. These interrelations are depicted in Fig. 3.

It can be seen that the majority of policy makers, foremost researches and business groups definitely indicate that the greening with ICT is meaningfully more important than greening of ICT.

The new concept of greening with ICT most commonly does not require only business relations but policy makers that create a new legislative framework and relevant guidelines for its implementation. However, currently the real initiatives of the business and the actual policies still focus on greening of ICT, persuading the direct effects of it.

Figure 3. Main ICT players contributing to greening of ICT and greening with ICT ideas

A global trends analysis has been performed to make an overview of the long-term tendencies in global policy making in respect to green ICT. A representative selection of the most relevant and comprehensive documents worldwide has been evaluated. It is assumed that within last two decades, greening with ICT has moved ahead from being an almost fiction idea into being an important subject. In the 1990s, greening with ICT matter has not been included in global strategy documents or policy making. The role of ICT in sustainable development had shaped clearly among thought leaders at the beginning of the new 21st century. However, it was still more or less overlooked by both the policy makers and the business. The reason for this underestimation was grounded on the fact that the executive power was given to leaders from ministries of environment, and their efforts, and solutions, were sector-focused.

However, at that time the changes in policies on strategy level has started to officially recognize the businesses as an active party in solutions development; the power of ICT in supporting a more environmentally sustainable development was also acknowledged. Most governments and organizers that had mainly focused on the building of ICT infrastructure and the standards and rules its operation requires, embarrassed the new idea that ICT could be used to support an environmentally sustainable development. Accordingly, the companies have started to be seen as solution-generators that contribute to accelerate sustainable development instead of pollution-makers, which should reduce their emissions.

Starting from 2007, first attempts to include governments and businesses in a discussion about greening with ICT were organized. A year later, the chair of G8 brought green ICT to the forefront of the discussions’ agenda for the first time. The G8 leaders united around the immediate necessity the world to diminish carbon emissions, contributing strongly to global warming, by at least 50 percent by 2050. It was then the issue of green ICT was opened and OECD and EU confirmed the tendency through increased focus on greening with ICT.

In this way, greening with ICT has been acknowledged as a policy area. However, between the new ideas generated and their practical realization, there is still an “implementation gap. Since not all the ideas become reality and the shift from words to actions does not take place very smoothly, the businesses are facing serious challenge how and when to make their contribution to the greening with ICT trend.

Greening with ICT strategy is growing more stable to become a significant element in the mainstream policy making. The global climate meeting in Durban, 2011 and the Rio+20 conference in 2012 were the first forums that indicated this. More and more leading countries want greening with ICT to become a part of the global agenda for planet saving. They recognize competitive advantage in developing and exporting greening with ICT solutions, and the greening with ICT is already deeply integrated into their policy making.

The leaders in greening with ICT

In general, all main international stakeholders are key players in the greening with ICT area. At present, however, there is no a single leader; by contrast, there are many players that are focused on the process of greening with ICT with varying intensity and success. Indisputably, OECD and the European Commission are very important stakeholders but many innovative ideas have been emerging from independent business coalitions. Thus, there is a tendency for greening with ICT by economic clusters that focus on implementation at a local level.

The modern industrial society is built through organization of the society around certain economic sectors. These sectors were created by establishing new clusters in the pre-industrial society, and nowadays are called industries, even though they are combinations of several different skills. Crossing the era of the post-industrial / knowledge-based economy, the society needs new clusters to guarantee the new supply chains with new materials and new productions methods, the to secure the new business models with fresh ideas.

An example for this transition and the advancement of the clusters to a leading position is the energy sector, in particular the renewable energy. In renewable energy sector traditional utilities failed to deliver solar and/or wind solutions. It is because a collaboration between construction companies and architecture one and new solutions are necessary, and they often require new business models.

Usually, the ICT companies are very often at the center of the new clusters. However, their largest customers most commonly are one of the biggest polluters. This is a great challenge to the ICT companies and they have to be transformative to issue new solutions that support the business clusters with innovative greening with ICT solutions.

Alternative approaches to greening with ICT

Traditional green strategies are hardy effective for generation of greening with ICT solutions. In fact, most greening with ICT solutions result from smart strategies that are in search of resource efficiency and innovation in diverse economic areas, e.g., construction, transport, power supply, etc. This requires an approach to greening with ICT subordinated to the global development, discarding synergies and old stakeholders / methods. This very approach is a non-green one, although it also targets greening with ICT. A good example for a non-green approach is the use of procurements, both public and done by companies. As a rule, the companies face “green” and “ICT” trough a one-sided and limited approach; they focus on greening of ICT. This is because ICT companies (those who are selling) have products to put on the market and make profit from them, and CIOs (those who purchase) are trapped by old-fashioned ways of thinking and are besides, are not responsible for solutions like teleworking, virtual meetings and development of new business models.

Both the providers and the requesters of “greening with ICT” solutions very often do so without knowing and/or taking care about the green benefits of the action. Two of the most typical examples of such lack of knowledge/care are Amazon and Apple. Bothe companies are great promoters of greening with ICT; Amazon has contributed largely to the dematerialization of world’s books and magazines, and Apple has dramatically changed world’s music industry and made it more resource efficient. In the same way, smaller companies like Skype and Viber have progressively transforming the business models and habits without regarding their green activities.

The lack of cooperation and understanding between those that know and value the ICT opportunities (ICT companies and CIOs) and those that make new products and services is a big challenge. The problems are multiplied by the lack of strategies and definitions of greening with ICT. Some innovative “smart” solutions are considered “green” regardless of the actual results of their performance. For instance, the development and exploitation of smart grids is a trend where the transformative potential of the new ICT solutions, such as smart grids, is jeopardized by the traditional stakeholders that rule the agenda: the power utilities label their solutions as “smart”, although they continue to use old business models and large-scale utility structures.

In brief, greening with ICT solutions is mainly directed by smart strategies not by green demand or green policies.

The green informatics contribution to green energy

Green informatics contribute to the environment and environmental sustainability in the following areas:

  • Reduction of energy consumption and carbon footprint along production and use;
  • Diffusion of information, education, and training to rise environmental awareness;
  • Environmental projects and networks promotion through communication;
  • Sustainable environmental governance.

Reduction of energy consumption and carbon footprint along production and use

The massive introduction of ICTs in everyday life has resulted among others in the increase of greenhouse effect, due to the ‘carbon footprint’ increasing. As per definition, carbon footprint (CF), known as well as ‘Carbon profile’ comprises the overall amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (e.g., methane, laughing gas, etc.) associated with a product, along its supply-chain, end-life recovery and disposal. In respect to ICT, it refers to the energy needed and the pollution generated in ICT production processes and within the ICTs use (Fig. 4). The total amount of CO2 emissions from the ICT industry progressively counts upstream. At the same time, ICT applications are recognized to possess enormous potential in contributing to different performances across the economy and society. They are the right tool of the strategies for the global environmental protection.

Figure 4. Carbon footprint in megatones of CO2 from ICT sectors. Source: Bronk et.al., 2010

Diffusion of information, education, and training to rise environmental awareness

Diffusion of information, education, and training with the purpose to rise environmental awareness is an approach applied worldwide to help people be up-to-date and understand environmental issues and environmental policies.

The wireless/mobile) internet access is irreplaceable as a tool of information delivery for populations that are isolated or remoted and that lack an access to traditional channels, such as TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.

There are numerous of internet sites, blogs, forums, social network groups, internet polls, etc. dedicated to delivery and sharing environmental information. These information sources are operating from local to international scale, and act as an open tribune for everyone to participate, to offer and share opinion.

Learning and training contribute to enhancement of people’s knowledge, skills, and awareness. Suitable learning/training software packages are those offering presentations and educational games, and educational e-services such as e-classrooms, e-learning, ODL, web-based learning, LLL, etc.

Projects promotion through environmental networks communication

The application of ICT for communicating different projects within environmental networks can be a useful approach for their successful implementation at local, regional, national, and transnational level. The accomplishment of environmental projects requires as a prerequisite effective communication among participants of various stakeholders, protected through innovative green informatics tools and services. Namely, green informatics makes safe information flow for the purposes of quick and reliable communication. Environmental networks comprise various stakeholders, all integrated through ICT-mediated communication (Fig. 4).

Sustainable environmental governance

Green ICTs have turn into a key factor for public sector’s performance because it promotes the advancement in the delivery of information and services and encourages the citizen participation in the decision-making process. In this way ICT helps the government to become transparent, responsible, and operative. The e-governance strategies, initiatives, and developments are grounded on the ICTs. In particular, the governance of natural ecosystems, natural resources and agriculture has to manage a wide range of connections between different environmental elements and decisions of local, regional, national, and international importance, and has to coordinate diverse administrative objects and players, and ICTs helps a lot for execution of these complex tasks.

Figure 5. Impact of green informatics to environmental networks communication

Advanced cooperation for green ICT solutions

ICT impacts green and sustainability

EU has launched the initiative ‘ICT for sustainable growth’, a specific process that focuses on greening with ICT (in addition to greening of ICT). It has determined six policy areas of major priority that focus on Energy Efficiency, Water Management and Climate Change Adaptation (Fig. 6). Thus, it contributes to the development of a more sustainable Europe solving environmental problems and ensuring the sustainable environmental management.

The contribution of Green Informatics to the preservation and improvement of natural environment and resources is focused on the building of surveillance systems that aim to protect and restore natural ecosystems. In addition, it promotes ecosystems potential deployment and introduces prevention actions for its maintenance. For instance, forests and agricultural land are important to climate change mitigation because of the significance of their carbon stock and also for their exchange of greenhouse gases between the atmosphere, soil, and vegetation. The harvest of trees to supply book and newspaper industries leads to the emission of millions metric tons of CO2 annually. Thus, the innovative tele-detection for forest fires, monitoring and alarm systems, GIS technology, etc., all contribute to sustainable forestry management.

Figure 6. ‘ICT for sustainable growth’ six policy areas.

The organization, access and management of the information in the environmental databases is an important factor within decision-making process. Since environmental projects have to manage huge multivariable data sets of interdisciplinary character (meteorological, geographic, biological, economic, etc. data), this has been successfully achieved through ICTs applications and is called environmental monitoring. The main procedure of environmental monitoring is presented in Fig.7. It is a useful tool that integrates geospatial technologies aiming to sustain agricultural and environmental observation networks and deploy agricultural and environmental applications

Figure 7. Wise management to environmental sustainability – Green Informatics contribution

The DSSs use defined parameters to provide wise management aiming to environmental sustainability and helping decision making process towards sustainable environmental management. These are Environmental databases, GIS, time-series, multi-variant, and multi-criteria analysis, expert systems, etc.

ICT and the Economy-Defining Technologies (EDTs): KBE/KBBE

The innovative technologies that constitute the principal technological basis of an economy, are called Economy-Defining Technologies (EDTs). EDTs are always inherent to the corresponding economy, and ICTs are definitely such technology.

Knowledge has always played a central role in any economy. However, in the Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE) knowledge has been liberated from its temporal and spatial constraints because of the ICTs. This is what allows knowledge to unfold its powers as a universal resource, leading to the KBE.

Grounded on this concept, OECD defines the KBE in the following way: “The knowledgebased economy is an expression coined to describe trends in advanced economies towards greater dependence on knowledge, information and high skill levels, and the increasing need for ready access to all of these by the business and public sectors.”

Knowledge takes predominance for both individuals and organizations in the KBE.

The Knowledge-Bases Bio-Economy KBBE presents a wide range of challenges to ICT. However, the area with potential highest impact of ICT for KBBE is the general and synthetic biology along the dimensions of education, research, and industry applications.

The needs of ICT-driven innovations, which are able to reduce energy and materials used while enhancing the efficiency of business systems, can generate wide opportunities for companies’ businesses. The said innovations include software applications (e.g., virtualization technology to implement power savings), and hardware applications (e.g., server with energy-saving properties). In addition, essential industrial infrastructure must be active in order to capitalize on the expanding global market for ICT-based solutions planned for improving the energy efficiency as well as tackling the climate change concerns.

Besides the economic benefits, adopting Green ICT practices in business operations can easily deal with climate change issues that are associated with greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, it also described that Green ICT can play a crucial role in helping to promote the low carbon economy around the world. The ICT industry can also produce a green image while behaving as a responsible global citizen.

Green ICT and education

Green ICT at Higher Education Institution

Currently global warming and climate change are in the front of societal agenda. They turned into a common subject of discussion globally. Climate change consequences arise huge environmental problems and impact energy and industrial policies worldwide.

Green ICT, as a system of initiatives and strategies that reduce the environmental footprint of technology, is able to respond to the needs for implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. Hence, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are forced to implement more sustainable approaches to ICT use. This necessity is introduced by the government, stakeholders and society as a whole. Green ICT implementation at University level has developed as key factor to reach the cost-effective solutions and sustenance of ICT.

Moreover, the HEI have deep moral responsibility to increase knowledge, skill and awareness, with the aim to create a sustainable future. Their role in mainstreaming society towards sustainability is indisputable. However, at the same time, they are facing some barriers in Green ICT practical implementation. Therefore, Green ICT is a multifaceted subject, which importance is progressively increasing towards understanding the role of ICT is enabling sustainable practices. For instance, green research and development activities can contribute to reducing environment impact of society by dropping the impact of ICT installations in telecommunication and data-centers, customer offices, homes through greening of ICT. At the same time, the impact of society can be reduced by providing various kinds of ICT services through greening by ICT. Thus, HEI need to transform education within sustainability prospect to be able to educate undergraduates to become the ICT engineers our future needs.

Green ICT practices in HEI

The SMART 2020 report stressed upon the capacity of ICT to monitor and maximize energy efficiency, not only within its own sector but also outside it, resulting in considerable emission and footprint reduction. Studies performed to analyze and review the evolution of Green ICT practices in different HEI have proven that the proper ICT deployment contributes to sufficient reduction of GHG emissions. HEI follow environmental sustainability (ES) practices to complete the strategic plans for environmental sustainability through organization of virtual classrooms, digitalization of paper documents, performance of video conference to reduce travel, use alternative clean sources of electrical power, etc.

 Constrains for Green ICT Practices in HE

There are various factors that obstruct the implementation of sustainability initiatives of HEI, associated mainly with institutional barriers. These constraints are complex: from old-fashioned contracts of educators, to shortage of equipment, finance and trained tutors, to inadequate environmental teaching methods, lack of motivation towards ‘green behavior’ of teaching staff and students in their approach of using ICT (e.g., by reducing print volumes, using conference calls to reduce unnecessary travel, etc.).

The main constraints that act as barriers in implementation of Green ICT at HEI are listed in Fig. 8.

Figure 8. Constrains for Green ICT implementation at HEI

Green ICT impact at governmental level

Governments are one of the primary users of ICT and impact substantially the ICT industry. Due to its potent influencing power, the governments must play a leading role in acceptance of Green ICT technologies, improving its operational efficiency, and encouraging societal environmentally-aware and sustainable culture. Thus, it is essential for the governments to establish close collaboration with the ICT industry, and there are several areas that the governments have to seek for better opportunities for the Green ICT implementation. These are outlined in Fig. 9.

Figure 9. Areas for governmental collaboration with the ICT industry and Green ICT implementation

Test: LO4 Advanced Level

Welcome to your LO4-advanced level questions

References