Green ICT
ICT in UK higher and further education has a large carbon footprint. It is estimated that in the sector there are one and a half million computers, 250,000 printers and 240,000 servers which collectively produce 500,000 tonnes of CO2 a year and in 2009 cost the sector around £116m in ICT related electricity bills.
The environmental impacts of ICT are not just in their energy use while in service. The whole lifecycle of ICT procurement and use consumes energy and resources both in manufacture and transportation to end users, and more in disposal – which itself can leave a legacy of waste, some of it toxic.
PowerMan
The Environment Team has been working with IT Services to implement PowerMan on all of our computers. This will enable us to turn off machines that are not being used and save energy as well reduce UEL's carbon footprint.
Student and staff computers have been set up for the monitor and disks to power down after 10-15 minutes (reactivated on any keyboard or mouse input). After certain periods of inactivity, computers will go into sleep mode and then automatically switch off. Watch this space for further information of how much energy and CO2 has been saved by implementing this project!
For further information on UEL's PowerMan policies for staff and students please see our IT Services webpage.
Greening data centres at UEL
IT services have been working on a project to improve efficiency and save energy in server rooms at both campuses. Old servers have been consolidated and replaced with fewer servers which are more reliable, powerful and use less energy. This has saved £2,532 in electricity costs and 21 tonnes of CO2 emissions in just one month, which is the equivalent energy required to boil 1.2 million cups of tea!
The importance of IT-related energy and environmental issues are increasing within the HE sector and beyond. For more information about greening data centres visit the Sustainable Information Technology in Tertiary Education website.
Printing Efficiently and Greener
Printing Efficiently and Greener (PEG) is part of the Greening ICT programme funded by the Joint Information Services Committee (JISC).
The overall aim of PEG is to investigate how barriers to Green ICT can be overcome within a HEI, especially in terms of cross-departmental working and implementing staff behavioural change programmes. This will be achieved by looking at the specific issue of improving the efficiency of printing to deliver a long-term sustainable solution. Rather than just merely implementing changes at an operational level, this project aims to increase understanding of a consultative approach to behavioural change.
UEL worked with environmental charity Global Action Plan and London South Bank University on the project which ran from January 2010 - December 2010.
You can read FAQs associated with the project and check out the PEG blog for the latest news and useful links to the world of Green ICT.
Latest Update
This pilot has now ended and a summary guide to efficient printing has been produced: PEG Guidelines for an Efficient Green Printing Scheme 2011
Project Documents
- Site Audit of Imaging Devices
- Staff Printing Survey results
- Knowledge, Behaviours and Attitudes towards printing at UEL
- PEG Project Communications Campaign Recommendations
- Department-specific Desktop Printer Audit
- Printer Switch Off Stickers
- 'Think before you print' poster
Contact
Sara Kassam, Sustainability Manager
Email: greenthing@uel.ac.uk
Tel: 020 8223 4047
Insight
Resources
