Title: Course Notes: ICT Sustainability: Assessment and Strategies for a Low Carbon Future
Course: ICT Sustainability

Previously we looked at the science of climate change and how electricity used to run computers and telecommunications can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Now we look at estimates of how much ICT contributes to Equivalent carbon dioxide (CO_2e) to calculate the global ICT Carbon Footprint from use of telecommunications, data centres and desktop PCs.

The carbon footprint is an estimate of the amount of CO_2e emitted by activity, in this case the use of ICT. The carbon footprint can be estimated from the embodied energy used to produce the ICT product and the energy used to operate the equipment.

Embodied energy (or Embodied carbon) refers to the energy used to manufacture, and supply to the point of use, a product or service. This includes the energy necessary to extract the raw material, to transport, manufacturing, assembly, installation as well as disposal of the equipment. ICT professionals would not normally be required to carry out detailed analysis of embodied energy for specific products, but use estimates supplied for a class of products, such as desktop computers or laptops.

Operating energy is a measure of the energy used to operate the ICT equipment. This can be measured directly using an energy meter (electric meter) which measures the electrical energy used. Alternatively the energy use may be estimated from the power the equipment uses (specified in Watt), multiplied by the estimated amount of time the equipment will be used (in Hours) to give the energy (in Kilowatt hours).

A Greenhouse gas conversion factor can be used to convert energy consumed in kWh to kg of equivalent carbon dioxide. For example a computer using 200 W of power for 10 hours per day uses 2 kWh of energy. Multiplying by a conversion factor of 0.537 Kg CO_2/kWh produces a total of 1.074 Kg CO_2 per day.

Energy and greenhouse gas measures are only approximate. There have been attempts to estimate these for industry sectors, nations and the world.

Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia

The Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia (Philipson, 2010), estimated that ICT used 7% of all electricity generated in Australia and was responsible for 2.7% of the carbon emissions. Data centres made up 18.8%, PCs 15.8%, printers and imaging equipment 15.7% and servers 14.7%. Mobile phones and other portable devices, though widely used, accounted for only 1% of emissions

Now Read

- Chapter 1 "The time for change" and Chapter 2 "Taking direct action" of SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age (The Climate Group, 2008).
- Watch the 9 minute video "Green Planet: Episode 1 The Green Economy": Global climate change - is ICT part of the problem or part of the solution? (TelecomTV, 2009).
- Executive Summary and Recommendations from Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia (Philipson, 2010).

Questions

1. Greenhouse friendly policies: Some major organisations have made claims about their greenhouse friendly policies. For one organisation, from publicly available sources summarise:
  - Their energy strategy,
  - Any use of ICT in the strategy,
  - Any energy reduction targets
2. Greenhouse reduction strategies in your organisation: Describe any greenhouse reduction strategies in your organisation (or an organisation you are familiar with). Do these involve ICT? Are there measures or targets for CO_2e, embodied energy or energy use for telecommunications, data centres or desktop PCs?

Introduction

These are the notes for a course in assessment and strategy for ICT sustainability. The first half of the course is on how to assess the carbon footprint of the ICT operations of an organization and also the materials used in the design, manufacture and reuse and recycling of ICT equipment. The second half covers how to develop a strategy to reduce the environmental impact of ICT operations, and through ICT of other operations.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this subject the student can:

1. Evaluate the sustainability of IT services, devices and day-to-day operations of an organisation, including the carbon footprint and e-waste,
2. Prepare a sustainability strategy for IT in an organisation, covering both energy and materials use.

Competencies

The Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA 2011) provides a common reference model for the identification of the skills needed to develop effective Information Systems (IS) making use of Information & Communications Technology (ICT).

Green ICT Strategies targets SIFA Level 5 competencies: "ensure, advise ... Works under broad direction ... Influences organisation, customers, suppliers, partners and peers ... Performs an extensive range and variety of complex technical and/or professional work activities ... Advises on the available standards, methods, tools and applications ..." (SFIA, 2011).

Two skills have been selected, corresponding to the two learning outcomes:

Skills from SFIA

Sustainability assessment

The evaluation of the sustainability of operational or planned IT services, devices and day-to-day operations such as travel. The establishment of a model or scheme to track changes in consumption over time and to generate feedback to enable improvements in energy or resource efficiency. The identification of areas requiring attention, and the initiation of actions to change or control the procurement of energy or other resources, so as to improve sustainability.

From: Skill SUAS, Category: Business change, Subcategory: Business change management, SFIA (2011).

Sustainability strategy

The preparation of a sustainability strategy for IT, taking into account any established corporate strategy, to be used as a basis for policies and planning, and covering both consumption and sources of supply of energy and materials. Evaluation and inclusion, as appropriate, of political, legislative, economic, social and technological factors. Identification of major external standards, practices or schemes to be adopted. Consultation with identified relevant parties, either internal or external. Obtaining agreement to the strategy and the commitment to act upon it.

From: Skill SUST, Category: Strategy & architecture, Subcategory: Business/IT strategy and planning, SFIA (2011).

Pre-requisites, Co-requisites

It is assumed that the student has qualifications or experience equivalent to a university degree in ICT, or a related discipline, and is familiar with the use of the Internet, academic writing and referencing.

Content

The course consists of two parts, corresponding to the skills, with one topic per week:

Sustainability Assessment

1. The Politics, Science and Business of Sustainability
2. The Global ICT Footprint
3. Energy Saving - Data Centres and Client Equipment
4. Materials Use
5. Compliance Audit
6. Methods and Tools

Sustainability Strategy

1. Enabling ICT
2. Business Process Improvement
3. Improving Data Centre Energy Efficiency
4. Enterprise Architecture
5. Procurement
6. Energy Star Program and Quality Management

Workload

To complete the subject you will need to spend 8-10 hours each week reading, communicating with colleagues and tutors, and preparing assignments.

Evaluation Methods

There are two areas of assessment in the subject:

1. Contributions to weekly discussion forums and quizzes (formative assessment), approximately one-fifth of the assessment total.
2. Two assignments (summative assessment): one mid course and one at the end of the course (each divided into two parts), approximately four-fifths of the assessment total.

To pass the subject overall, it is necessary to pass in both areas of assessment. Note that the weighting of the assessment items and pass level is set by the particular educational institution offering the course.

Teaching Strategies

The course is divided into twelve weekly topics. The equivalent of eight printed pages of notes are provided each week. Further readings (which the notes have been prepared from) and questions for the student are also provided each week.

On-line learning is the main delivery method, moderated and supported by a tutor, mentor, student discussion forums and weekly feedback. Students are grouped in cohorts of six to twenty.

While designed for a distance education course, the materials are based on traditional lecture and tutorial formats. The notes could therefore be adapted for lectures and questions for face to face tutorials. A paper detailing the design and educational philosophy of the course is available (Worthington, 2012).

Specialist Features or Equipment

The subject is supported by a website where the online learning takes place. Learning materials plus discussion forums are available through this site. Set readings elsewhere on the web are linked from the site.

Course Designer

Tom Worthington is an independent ICT consultant and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Research School of Computer Science at the Australian National University, where he teaches ICT Sustainability, the design of web sites, e-commerce and professional ethics. He is also a member of the ANU Energy Change Institute and ANU Climate Change Institute. In 2010 Tom received the Canberra ICT Award for Education and in 2015 a National ICT Higher Educator of the Year "Gold Digital Disruptor Award" for his green course. In 1999 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society for his contribution to the development of public Internet policy. He has a Master of Education in Distance Education from Athabasca University and is the author of "Digital Teaching in Higher Education" (Worthington, 2017). Tom is a past president, Fellow and Honorary Life Member of the Australian Computer Society, a voting member of the Association for Computing Machinery and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

References

The notes for this course are published on paper and electronic formats (Worthington, 2017). Further readings, most of which are available on-line, are detailed in the notes. Students may be provided with a copy of the notes via a Learning Management System.

Changes from Previous Versions

These notes have been updated from "Green Technology Strategies: Using computers and telecommunications to reduce carbon emissions" (Worthington, 2009). Changes include:

1. Skills descriptions: Two SFIA sustainability skills have (SUST: Sustainability strategy and SUAS: Sustainability assessment) replaced the six ICT skills specified previously.
2. Structure: The course has been divided into two sections, each covering one of the two skills.
3. Assignment Titles: The descriptions of the two assignments have been changed to match the two skills.
4. Reference Changes: The number of links to external sources and also internal links (particularly to the Glossary) has been reduced, to avoid confusing the reader. The list of sources cited has been consolidated into one section at the back and Harvard style references used.
5. Title: ICT Sustainability has replaced Green ICT in the title, to match the skills descriptions used.

Minor changes to correct hypertext links were made in February 2012. In January 2013 some videos were added to the "reading" list and mention was made of the new Australian government's carbon pricing policy. For 2015 a rubrics were added for the assignments. For 2016 the weekly forums were changed to use peer assessment and automated quizzes were added (based on those developed for the Athabasca University undergraduate self-paced version by Mary Pringle. Also for 2016, the assessment scheme for the ANU version was changed to have weekly work not count above a grade of "Credit". For 2016 the assignments have each been split into two parts, with the student submitting a short description of how they are to address the problem, two weeks before the main assignment is due. Also a Tutor's Guide was added for 2016.

Sustainability Assessment

Objective: Investigate the principles of environmental sustainability and the science of climate change. Learn how to estimate the carbon footprint of ICT systems. Look at methods to reduce the footprint both of ICT systems directly and of other systems by using ICT.

Politics, Science and Business of Sustainability

The Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010 - 2015 (DEWHA 2010) defines ICT sustainability as:

"... the responsible acquisition, installation, use and disposal of information and communications technologies and services so as to utilise resources more effectively, improve efficiency and increase productivity, and reduce the environmental impact of operations. It also includes the effective use of information and communications technology to promote more sustainable practices in industry and the community. is the study and practice of using computers and telecommunications in a way which maximises positive environmental benefit and minimise the negative impact."

ICT sustainability (also known as Green IT or Green Computing) seeks to use computers and telecommunications in ways which maximise positive environmental benefit and minimise negative impacts. Energy efficiency of equipment is a major concern, but also the energy embodied in the equipment and the use of materials and how they are recycled. Green ICT seeks to guide technological implementation using accepted management practises, in support of business interaction.

ICT sustainability is an emerging discipline philosophically centred on a concern for sustainable development and seeks ways to implement that through ICT systems. Beyond the direct environmental impact of the equipment, the way it can be used to reduce the adverse impact of other systems is of concern. Typically ways to use ICT to reduce materials and energy, such as by replacing travel with electronic communications, is a consideration.

What are the effects, both negative and positive of ICT? How much are these currently considered when choosing computer equipment? How will this change with carbon trading and mandatory reporting of carbon dioxide emissions?

Keep in mind that ICT is only a business enabler in most organisations. How much do ICT professionals need to know about the business aims of the organisation to help with green ICT? Does anyone in the organisation know what the many components of the ICT system of the organisation (servers, application, network maintenance, email) are and how these contribute to the organisation's carbon footprint and waste material contribution? The organisation might currently measure its ICT operation in terms of dollars spent, person hours of effort, lines of code generated, Gflops or GBytes of storage. What metrics would be useful for measuring the organisations environmental impact?

Understanding climate science

... the majority opinion of the Australian and international scientific communities that human activities resulted in substantial global warming from the mid-20th century, and that continued growth in greenhouse gas concentrations caused by human-induced emissions would generate high risks of dangerous climate change.

A natural carbon cycle converts the sun's energy and atmospheric carbon into organic matter through plants and algae, and stores it in the earth's crust and oceans. Stabilisation of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere requires the rate of greenhouse gas emissions to fall to the rate of natural sequestration.

There are many uncertainties around the mean expectations from the science, with the possibility of outcomes that are either more benign - or catastrophic.

From: Garnaut (2008)

Professor Ross Garnaut was commissioned by Australian Federal and state governments to examine the impacts of climate change and recommend a policy framework to deal with it. His report provides an overview of the issues now being considered by the community.

ICT Sustainability includes social, economic and environmental concerns. A good example of this are the issues around Climate Change, and Global Warming, specifically with an expected long-term significant increase in the average temperature around the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported that during the 20th Century, the temperature has been increasing due to rising greenhouse gas concentrations. This is most likely due to human activity ("anthropogenic").

The major anthropogenic greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO_2), with concentrations increasing due to burning fossil fuels and deforestation. Most relevant to ICT is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas in electricity power stations to generate electricity, which is then used to power computers and telecommunications.

Effects

An increase in average global temperatures is expected to cause the retreat of glaciers, reduction in Arctic ice, and a rise in sea level, resulting in flooding. It is also expected to result in a change in regional weather patterns, with rain increased in some areas and reduced in others and an increase in storms. This is likely to result in changes in agriculture, water supply and extinctions of plant and animal species.

Responses

The two major responses to global warming are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adjust human activities to accommodate it. The primary international agreement on combating global warming is the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations. The primary method envisaged for implementation of the treaty is emissions trading, with companies purchasing credits to emit in a market, within limits set by government.

Now Read

1. The Policy Statement on Green ICT from the Australian Computer Society (ACS 2007).
2. Chapter 2 "Understanding climate science", of the Climate Change Review Final Report (Garnaut 2008). A nine minute video, "Professor Ross Garnaut discusses the challenges of climate change" (ANU, 2009) is also available.

Questions

1. Suggest 3 outcomes for this subject: List at least 3 outcomes you want and expect from this subject.
2. Effects and responses to climate change: Describe in up to three paragraphs, what effects Climate Change, and responses to it, may have on the organisation in which you work (or one you are familiar with). Use the following questions as a guide:
  - What industry is the organisation involved in?
  - What are its principal lines of goods or services? Do these contribute to greenhouse gas production?
  - Are there processes in place to reduce greenhouse gas production, or can you suggest some?
3. Search for articles and papers: Search for documents, articles, papers and videos about ICT Sustainability. List three and briefly say what they cover and why they are worth reading.

The Global ICT Footprint

Previously we looked at the science of climate change and how electricity used to run computers and telecommunications can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Now we look at estimates of how much ICT contributes to Equivalent carbon dioxide (CO_2e) to calculate the global ICT Carbon Footprint from use of telecommunications, data centres and desktop PCs.

The carbon footprint is an estimate of the amount of CO_2e emitted by activity, in this case the use of ICT. The carbon footprint can be estimated from the embodied energy used to produce the ICT product and the energy used to operate the equipment.

Embodied energy (or Embodied carbon) refers to the energy used to manufacture, and supply to the point of use, a product or service. This includes the energy necessary to extract the raw material, to transport, manufacturing, assembly, installation as well as disposal of the equipment. ICT professionals would not normally be required to carry out detailed analysis of embodied energy for specific products, but use estimates supplied for a class of products, such as desktop computers or laptops.

Operating energy is a measure of the energy used to operate the ICT equipment. This can be measured directly using an energy meter (electric meter) which measures the electrical energy used. Alternatively the energy use may be estimated from the power the equipment uses (specified in Watt), multiplied by the estimated amount of time the equipment will be used (in Hours) to give the energy (in Kilowatt hours).

A Greenhouse gas conversion factor can be used to convert energy consumed in kWh to kg of equivalent carbon dioxide. For example a computer using 200 W of power for 10 hours per day uses 2 kWh of energy. Multiplying by a conversion factor of 0.537 Kg CO_2/kWh produces a total of 1.074 Kg CO_2 per day.

Energy and greenhouse gas measures are only approximate. There have been attempts to estimate these for industry sectors, nations and the world.

Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia

The Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia (Philipson, 2010), estimated that ICT used 7% of all electricity generated in Australia and was responsible for 2.7% of the carbon emissions. Data centres made up 18.8%, PCs 15.8%, printers and imaging equipment 15.7% and servers 14.7%. Mobile phones and other portable devices, though widely used, accounted for only 1% of emissions

Now Read

- Chapter 1 "The time for change" and Chapter 2 "Taking direct action" of SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age (The Climate Group, 2008).
- Watch the 9 minute video "Green Planet: Episode 1 The Green Economy": Global climate change - is ICT part of the problem or part of the solution? (TelecomTV, 2009).
- Executive Summary and Recommendations from Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia (Philipson, 2010).

Questions

1. Greenhouse friendly policies: Some major organisations have made claims about their greenhouse friendly policies. For one organisation, from publicly available sources summarise:
  - Their energy strategy,
  - Any use of ICT in the strategy,
  - Any energy reduction targets
2. Greenhouse reduction strategies in your organisation: Describe any greenhouse reduction strategies in your organisation (or an organisation you are familiar with). Do these involve ICT? Are there measures or targets for CO_2e, embodied energy or energy use for telecommunications, data centres or desktop PCs?

Energy Saving - Data Centres and Client Equipment

Computers and telecommunications equipment contributed 1.52% to greenhouse gas emissions in 2005 (ACS 2007). Data centres and client equipment can be made more efficient to reduce these emissions.

Client Equipment

Client equipment (desktop computers and printers) consume more energy and materials than data centres. The Natural Edge Project (2008) suggests four steps to minimise energy and materials consumption in Client Equipment:

1. Assess energy consumption by monitoring client equipment
2. Consolidate operating client equipment only when necessary and removing unnecessary equipment
3. Innovate by:
  - Right-sized client equipment: do not buy more, or more powerful, equipment than needed
  - Power management strategies: Turn off client equipment when not needed and turn on power management options in the equipment.
  - Low-energy equipment: Select low energy component and equipment, such as processors, monitors, power supplies, RAM, flash memory and hard disks.
  - Eco-Labels: Look for equipment meeting low energy standards.
4. Manage and monitor the equipment and schedule high energy activities out of peak periods.

Data Centres

Data centers are centralised facilities built to house computer systems, telecommunications and data storage equipment. These may be equipped with power conditioning equipment, backup power supplies (uninterruptible power supplies: UPS) and air conditioning.

A shortage of data centre space and need for increased computer systems has resulted in increasing density of Data Centres equipment and consumption of large amounts of energy, both by the ICT equipment and the air conditioning needed to cool it.

The Natural Edge Project (TNEP, 2008) suggest seven steps for minimising energy and materials consumptionin Data Centes:

1. Determine the required services for the client environment.
2. Consolidate and virtualise servers, turning off unused equipment and reducing the amount of server hardware required.
3. Invest in low-energy IT equipment with power management technologies, low processors, efficient power supplies and low power storage.
4. Optimise the layout of the data centre equipment to reduce the cooling load.
5. Optimise airflow around equipment by orienting and spacing equipment to reduce hotspots.
6. Invest in low-energy cooling technologies, such as direct liquid cooling.
7. Practise energy conscious management by allocating accountability for energy consumption and costs, and providing reports.

Now Read

1. Client Equipment (Lecture 3) and Data Centres (Lecture 4) of the Sustainable IT Lecture Series (Natural Edge Project, 2008). Note: it is not necessary to undertake the "Required Reading" listed in the Natural Edge notes.
2. Browser Power Consumption, By Robert Hansen (2008).
3. Google container data center tour, Video from Google (2010).

Questions

1. Categorise the major uses of energy in your organisation: Categorise the major uses of energy in your organisation you identified last week into types of Client and Data Centre equipment. Include references to your sources of information (with links to any web based information).
2. Minimising energy and materials consumption for client equipment or data centres: Explain any recent examples of steps for minimising energy and materials consumption in you organisation's client equipment or data centres. This could be by techniques such as Assessment, Consolidation, Innovation, or Management, determining required services, consolidation, virtualisation, low-energy equipment, layout and airflow optimisation, low-energy cooling or energy conscious management.

Materials Use

Energy reduction is only part of making a Green ICT system, there is also the issue of use of materials and hazardous substances.

E-Waste

Electronic waste ("e-waste") is the material from unwanted electrical or electronic devices. Some e-waste can be sold for recycling and is described as "commodity" to distinguish it from "waste" which can't be reused. E-waste may contain toxic material is mostly not biodegradable.

Many countries have regulations covering e-waste, including bans from landfill in Europe. Metals, including gold and silver make some e-waste commercially viable to reprocess.

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (1989) is an international treaty limiting the movement hazardous waste between nations. Australia, the EU and many developed nations, apart from the USA, have ratified the treaty.

Australian Regulations

Australia implemented the Basel convention with the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act (Commonwealth of Australia, 1989). This regulates export, import and transit of hazardous waste within Australia. The Criteria for the export and import of used electronic equipment (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2005) assumes that electronic equipment is hazardous waste, until shown otherwise. Equipment to be re-used (after repair, refurbishment or upgrading) are not considered hazardous waste. Australian states have regulations on the disposal of hazardous waste.

Voluntary Programs

Byteback (2008) was an Australian partnership between Sustainability Victoria, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), Apple, Canon, Dell, Epson, Fujitsu, Fuji-Xerox, HP, IBM, Lenovo, and Lexmark. It allows individuals and small businesses to deposit unwanted computer equipment at Victorian locations. Similar programs operated other states. These were replaced with a National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme funded by industry, under the Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Regulations 2011 (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2012).

The Australian Computer Society has been operating a non-profit PC Recycling Group in South Australia, since 2000 (ACS, 2011).

EPEAT

The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT, 2008) is a US based system for evaluating electronic products against 51 environmental criteria.

The criteria for EPEAT are contained in "Standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products, Including Laptop & Desktop Computers & Monitors" (IEEE 1680-2006).

Products are ranked in three tiers:

1. Bronze: Meets 23 required criteria
2. Silver: Meets all required criteria plus at least 50% of the optional criteria
3. Gold: Meets all required criteria plus at least 75% of the optional criteria

Materials criteria are categorised as:

1. Reduction/elimination of environmentally sensitive materials,
2. Materials selection,
3. Design for end of life,
4. Product longevity/life cycle extension,
5. End of life management, and
6. Packaging.

Energy conservation using US EPA Energy Star and Corporate performance with adoption of ISO 14001 are also criteria.

Government Procurement using EPEAT

US Government agencies are required to procure products which meet 95 percent of the EPEAT criteria under "Executive Order: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management" (Bush, 2007).

The Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator (Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, 2008) was used to assess EPEAT. For 2007 reduction in use of primary materials was assessed at 75.5 tons, reduction in toxic materials of 3,220 tons, and avoidance in the disposal of 124,000 metric tons of hazardous waste.

The Calculator was sponsored by the U.S. EPA and estimates benefits, such as green house gas reductions, waste avoided, mercury eliminated for EPEAT purchases. Metrics used are:

1. Energy savings
2. Greenhouse gas reduction
3. Solid waste reduction
4. Primary material savings
5. Hazardous waste reduction
6. Toxic material reduction
7. Air emissions
8. Water emissions

The Calculator is provided as an Excel spreadsheet. Purchasing data input is the number and type of EPEAT products purchased. The tool calculates the environmental benefits from the EPEAT products in comparison with an average non-EPEAT product.

Now Read

1. Responsible Actions - Product Stewardship, The Natural Edge Project (2008b). Note: it is not necessary to undertake the "Required Reading" listed in the Natural Edge notes.
2. Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT, 2008). A one hour video "General EPEAT Orientation" (EPEAT, 2012) is also available.
3. Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator, Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment (2008).

Questions

1. E-waste policies in your organisation: Identify any e-waste or other ICT materials use policies in your organisation. Include references to any publicly released policies (with links to any web based information).
2. Materials and energy use issues with donating old computers: The Australian Computer Society runs a PC Recycling Group (ACS, 2011). Volunteers recondition old donated computers for use by non-profit organisations and worthy individual. What materials and energy use issues would arise for an organisation donating computers?

Compliance Audit

As part of their eco-management and audit scheme, the European Union (1993) defines an environmental audit as:

"... a management tool comprising a systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of the performance of the organization, management system and processes designed to protect the environment with the aim of:

(i) facilitating management control of practices which may have impact on the environment;

(ii) assessing compliance with company environmental policies;"

National Carbon Offset Standard

The then Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy released a National Carbon Offset Standard (2015). This sets minimum standards for calculating and auditing the carbon footprint of an organisation. The standard covers calculating the greenhouse gas emissions associated with an organisation's activities, product or service. It also includes the general principles of acquisition and retirement of carbon offsets.

Legislative and Standards Base

The Australian carbon auditing scheme is based on the international standards, particularly the ISO 14000 Environmental Management Standards:

1. ISO 14040: Environmental management - Life cycle assessment standard series
  - ISO 14040: Principles and framework
  - ISO 14041: Goal and scope definition and inventory analysis
  - ISO 14042: Life cycle impact assessment
  - ISO 14043: Life cycle interpretation
  - ISO 14048: Data documentation format
2. ISO 14064.1: Greenhouse gases standard series
  - ISO 14064.1: Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals
  - AS ISO 14064.2: Specification with guidance at the project level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emission reductions and removal enhancements (ISO 14062-2:2006, MOD)
  - ISO 14064.3: Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions

Also used is the Greenhouse Gas Protocol corporate accounting and reporting standard (GHGP, 2004).

The primary legislation is the "NGERA" National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act (2007) and the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Regulations (2008). The procedures for domestic offsets are derived from the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC 2006).

Elements of the Offset Standard

The National Carbon Offset Standard (2015) comprises:

1. Principles of carbon footprint calculation;
2. Organisation calculation of greenhouse gas emissions;
3. Product or service calculation of greenhouse gas emissions;
4. Verification of carbon footprint calculations;
5. Eligible offset units and their retirement; and
6. Public disclosure.

Carbon footprint calculation

Carbon footprint calculation principles

The calculation of the carbon footprint is based on the principles in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol corporate accounting and reporting standard (GHGP, 2004):

1. Relevance: Ensure the greenhouse gas inventory of an organisation, product or service appropriately reflects the greenhouse gas emissions attributed to that organisation, product or service.
2. Completeness: Account for and report all greenhouse gas emissions sources and activities within the defined boundary of the organisation, product or service. Disclose and justify any specific exclusions.
3. Consistency: Use consistent methodologies to allow for meaningful comparisons of greenhouse gas emissions over time. Transparently document any changes to the data, boundary, methods, or any other relevant factors.
4. Transparency: Address all relevant issues in a factual and coherent manner, based on a clear audit trail. Disclose any relevant assumptions and make appropriate references to the calculation methodologies and data sources used.
5. Accuracy: Ensure that the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions is systematically neither over nor under actual emissions, as far as can be judged, and that uncertainties are reduced as far as practicable. Achieve sufficient accuracy to enable users to make decisions with reasonable assurance as to the integrity of the reported information.

Carbon footprint calculation of an organisation

The steps for calculating the greenhouse gas emissions for an organisation are designed to be consistent with the NGER Act.

The boundary of an organisation defines the activities that an organisation should include in its carbon footprint calculation. This includes all corporate group members; and all facilities under the operational control of corporate group members.

Greenhouse gas emissions sources

Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are defined as in the Guidelines for National Greenhouse Inventories from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2006).

1. Scope 1 emission sources:
  - the combustion of fuel for energy;
  - the extraction, production, flaring, processing and distribution of fossil fuels;
  - industrial processes where a mineral, chemical or metal product is formed using a chemical reaction that generates greenhouse gases as a by-product; and
  - waste disposal - either in landfill, as management of waste-water or from waste incineration.
2. Scope 2 emissions sources: activities that generate electricity, heating, cooling or steam that is consumed by a facility but do not form part of the facility.
3. Scope 3 emissions are not defined in the draft standards and are not required to be included. Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions caused by the organisation, such as from business travel.

Greenhouse gas emissions factors and calculation methodology

1. Collect activity data relating to the greenhouse gas emissions sources within the boundary.
2. Calculate the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the sources using one of the options:
  - default emissions factors from the National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA) Factors (Department of Environment, 2015);
  - direct measurement using: industry practices or standards for sampling, or using continuous or periodic emissions monitoring.
3. Apply the calculation to a specified period of time, such as 12 months.
4. Assess the uncertainty of greenhouse gas emissions estimates.

Carbon footprint calculation of a product or service

The draft standards requires the use of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in accordance with ISO 14040, reporting:

1. Scope;
2. System boundary;
3. Greenhouse gas emissions sources within the system boundary;
4. Greenhouse gas emissions factors and calculation methodology;
5. Inventory analysis; and
6. Calculated greenhouse gas emissions attributable to each stage of the life cycle of the product or service.

Verification of carbon footprint calculations

The draft standard cites the ISO 14064 series for verification and auditing and requires independent verification and review an entity accredited under ISO 14065.

Carbon offsetting

Eligible offset units

Units accepted for carbon offsetting are:

1. Australian carbon pollution permits;
2. Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) except long term (ICERs) and temporary (tCERs);
3. Emission Reduction Units (ERUs); and
4. Removal Units (RMUs).

Domestic abatement projects may also be applied.

Public disclosure

A publicly available annual report is required, detailing: total greenhouse gas emissions generated, records of abatement and quantity and the type of credits purchased.

Public statements

Organisations can make public statements, such as:

"The greenhouse gas emissions generated from this product have been calculated and offset in accordance with the National Carbon Offset Standard";

"We are committed to offsetting our carbon footprint consistent with the National Carbon Offset Standard"; and

"This offset meets the National Carbon Offset Standard".

External Auditors for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme

The Register of Greenhouse and Energy Auditors is maintained by the Clean Energy Regulator (2016). Organisations with emissions of 125 kilotonnes of CO_2-e or more, are obliged to have their annual emissions report independently audited.

Australian Government Carbon Emissions Strategy 2011

On 10 July 2011, the then Australian Government released its Clean Energy Future strategy (Commonwealth of Australia, 2011), including an initial carbon price of $23 per Tonne. The price was to increase by 2.3% per year for three years, after which a trading scheme with a market price was to be introduced. The carbon price was only to be levied on very large carbon emitters, with numerous exemptions and compensation for industry sectors and individuals. It was unlikely that any IT companies will be large enough emitters to be included in the scheme, but IT systems would be needed to assess and audit emissions and implement strategies for reductions.

Australian Government Carbon Emissions Strategy 2013

In December 2013 a new Australian Government released a Green Paper on a new "Emissions Reduction Fund" (Department of the Environment, 2013). This envisaged replacing the previous government's carbon trading scheme with a reverse auction. Under this scheme, businesses submit bids for carbon reduction and the lowest bid is selected. The new scheme took effect from 1 July 2014. The existing standards are used for measuring and auditing the new strategy.

GHG Protocol Corporate Standard

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP, 2004) provides guidance on the inventory development process: Accounting and Reporting Principles, Business Goals and Inventory Design, Setting Organizational Boundaries, Setting Operational Boundaries, Tracking Emissions Over Time, Identifying and Calculating Emissions, Managing Inventory Quality, Accounting for GHG Reductions, Reporting Emissions, Verification of Emissions, and Setting Targets.

The standard details the internal processes needed and preparing for an independent verifier (auditor). The information needed by an auditor are similar to that detailed in the Australian standards.

GHGP Calculation Tools

GHGP provide sector and industry-specific tool-kits for calculating greenhouse gas emissions. No toolkit is provided for ICT based industries. However, a toolkit is provided for the Service Sector (GHGP, 2010).

Environmental Claims for Ubiquitous Broadband

In Environmental Load Reduction Effects of Ubiquitous Broadband Services (Sawada, Origuchi and Nishi, 2007), three researchers from NTT estimated the CO_2e emissions reduction from using broadband. ICT is assumed to reduce the environmental load by making the movement of people and things more efficient and replacing physical media, such as paper and compact discs with on-line transmission. The researchers then calculated the energy consumed by the network to replace physical goods. The result was an estimated reduction of at 46% for wired networks and 79% for wireless, for each subscriber.

The researchers carried out their calculations for NTT's B-FLET optical fiber service and FOMA mobile communication service (provided by NTT DoCoMo). The total reduction in CO_2 emissions of all users in 2005 was calculated to be 3.14 million tons.

Evaluation method

The amount of CO_2 emitted in the acquisition of raw materials, manufacture, use, and disposal were calculated. Users were surveyed as to their use of the Internet services. ICT services and actions were classified into nineteen categories and their energy use evaluated.

Daily Internet usage time for the optic fibre service was estimated at 27.53 minutes per person per day and 36.54 minutes per person per day for the wireless service.

An example of the energy use estimates is a music-downloading service. The energy used by the data centre holding the music, the network and the terminal the user uses much be considered. The corresponding purchase of CDs at a retail store involves CO_2 emissions from CD manufacture, distribution, and disposal, as well as the purchaser's trip to the store.

However, for wired services it was information services, including government web pages and social networking which were found to have the largest environmental savings, not e-commerce. 79% (120 kg-CO_2e/year). For wireless service it was telephone, videophone, email, and accessing national and local government information which had the greatest effect. It should be noted that NTT included voice telephone calls as a broadband service, although it could be argued that a non-broadband, or even analogue phone service would give similar results.

Now Read

1. Department of Climate Change and Energy National Carbon Offset Standard (2010).
2. Environmental Load Reduction Effects of Ubiquitous Broadband Services (Sawada, Origuchi and Nishi, 2007).

Questions

1. Which activities are in Scope?: Which activities of your organisation produce Scope 1, 2 or 3 greenhouse gas emission sources, as defined in the National Carbon Offset Standard?
2. Five principles for calculating a carbon footprint: The five principles in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for calculating a carbon footprint are: Relevance, Completeness, Consistency, Transparency, and Accuracy. How would you suggest using ICT to assist your organisation convince an independent auditor that these principles has been complied with?
3. Does broadband reduce carbon emissions?: Three researchers from NTT have claimed emissions reductions from the use of broadband of 46% (wired) and 79% (wireless) per subscriber per year. They include savings from the use of email in place of paper mail and music downloads instead of buying CDs from a store. How would you use the National Carbon Offset Standard to check this actually reduced emissions?

Methods and Tools

Methods and tools can be used in the planning, development, operation, management and maintenance of systems for Energy saving and to plan Materials Use.

Analysis of ICT in energy use

The Climate Group, provide three appendices for their SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age (2008):

1. Scope, process and methodology,
2. The Direct Impact Assumptions,
3. The Enabling Effect Assumptions.

These technique can be used both for estimating the carbon footprint of ICT and how it may be used to reduce emissions in other sectors by using ICT.

The analysis measures emissions CO_2e, assuming, the ICT sector covered:

- Personal Computers (PCs) and peripherals: workstations; laptops; desktops and; peripherals such as monitors and printers
- IT services: data centres and their component servers; storage and cooling
- Telecoms networks and devices: network infrastructure components; mobile phones; chargers; broadband routers and IPTV boxes.

The study excluded consumer electronics in the home: TVs, video, gaming, audio devices and media players. Specialised electronic devices, such as medical equipment was also excluded. Different assumptions would need to be made for organisations in specific industry sectors. As an example, a games software developer could not exclude computer games and a hospital not exclude medical devices.

Staged study

The Climate Group carried out three phases of their study:

1. Quantify the global impact of ICT: Models were developed for the direct footprint and the indirect (enabling) opportunities.
2. In-depth case studies: Emissions reduction opportunities using ICT were developed.
3. Assessment of imperatives for stakeholders: Workshops were conducted to investigate opportunities and barriers for: technology providers, technology users, investors and regulators.

Direct ICT impact (footprint) methodology

The Climate Group used published estimates of global emissions and penetration rates of ICT devices and infrastructure. Estimates of population growth were then used to calculate future emissions in 2020. Data was from public studies; academic and industry literature; the team experts, consumer surveys and interviews with external experts.

The analysis attempted a "cradle-to-grave" estimate of carbon emissions: manufacture, transport, use and disposal of equipment.

Embodied carbon: CO_2e in manufacturing of ICT components was calculated from public and company data. Embodied energy in end-of-life treatment: disposal, landfill and recycling, was included where data was available.

Energy consumption of the components based on publicly available company data. An emissions factor was used to calculate the carbon emissions from energy consumption. The emissions from electricity generation vary depending on the technology used. The Climate Group divided the world into regions and used a different emissions factor for each region. Transmission losses in the electricity grid were similarly estimated.

Market growth and penetration of devices to 2020 was based on industry reports and internal analysis. Growth in use of ICT and general industrial growth is more significant in developing areas of the world.

Enabling impact methodology

The Climate Group used a cost curve to identify emissions abatement solutions ranked by cost. The study concentrated on areas where emissions are significant: power; manufacturing; industry; transport; residential and commercial buildings; forestry; agriculture; and waste disposal. ICT applications were then assessed for use in reducing in emissions abatement on the cost curve. Four uses for ICT were then selected for detailed analysis.

Direct impact assumptions

The Climate Group were undertaking a high level global analysis and therefore used some very general assumptions in their analysis. As an example: 20% of desktops are workstations, Workstations consume 2.5 times desktop in all modes, Commercial usage of a computer is 14 hours/day versus consumer usage of three hours/day, Three types of servers: 200, 500, 6000W/unit. These assumptions are listed in Appendix 3: "The Enabling Effect Assumptions" of the report (The Climate Group, 2008). An analysis for an organisation may use locally developed estimates or actual measures, but may also use these same assumptions, in order to enable a direct comparison.

Enabling effect assumptions

The Climate Group made assumptions as to the effect ICT could have on other industry areas. As an example, it was assumed that on-line media would replace DVDs and CDs. This assumed seven billion DVDs and 10 billion CDs globally were sold per year, with 1 Kg CO_2e per CD/DVD and all this would be replaced with network delivery of content by 2020. Similarly electronic documents were assumed to reduce paper use by 25%. Organisation based studies should be able to use better estimates or local measures of disk and paper use.

Estimating Power Management Savings for Computers

The Foundation for IT Sustainability (FFITS) provide instructions to Activate power management on Windows 7 (FFITS, 2011). The Consortium for School Networking provide an Energy Usage Calculator (CoSN, 2010).

FFITS provide instructions to configure power management for operating systems including Apple Mac, Microsoft Windows XP and Vista. They recommend setting computers to enter system standby or hibernate after 15 to 30 minutes of inactivity and set monitors to enter sleep mode after 5 to 20 minutes of inactivity. On laptops, these need to be activated in the AC power profile, as well as battery power) profile.

The CoSN Energy Usage Calculator (2010) prompts for the number of items of computer equipment, power use for each and the price of electricity, Hours in Workday and Days in Work week. Defaults are provided for the Active Power and Sleep Power (in watts) used by monitors and PCs. Estimates of the proportion of units power managed, Units Turned Off After Work are used and Tons CO2 are calculated.

It should be noted that the CoSN Energy Usage Calculator (2010) uses US defaults for the conversion factor for estimating carbon dioxide emissions from electricity used. The conversion factor varies from state to state in Australia and country to country around the world, depending on how electricity is generated. As Australia uses predominately coal fired power, an Australian calculator will give a higher estimate than a US calculator, where less coal is used.

Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia in 2010

The estimate of Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia (Philipson, 2010), divided ICT use into two categories: Households and Enterprises. The number of household users was derived from national statistics. The number and size of enterprises was obtained from national statistics, with industry categories used to estimate the likely intensity of ICT use.

Now Read

1. Scope, process and methodology (Appendix 1), The Direct Impact Assumptions (Appendix 2), and The Enabling Effect Assumptions (Appendix 3) of SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, by The Climate Group (2008)
2. Activate power management on Windows 7 (FFITS, 2011)
3. Energy Usage Calculator (CoSN, 2010)
4. Methodology from Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia (Philipson, 2010).

Questions

1. Use an energy usage calculator: Use an energy usage calculator to estimate the power use and greenhouse gas emissions of your organisation's computers. List the assumptions you made.
2. Assumptions about energy use: The Climate Group made many assumptions about energy use by computers in their SMART 2020 report. Identify one of the "The Direct Impact Assumptions" (Appendix 2) which does not apply in your organisation, region or industry sector. What figures would you use and why?

Sustainability Strategy

Objective: Prepare a sustainability strategy for IT in an organisation, covering both energy and materials use.

Identify existing, new and emerging hardware, software and communication technologies for energy saving and materials reuse in ICT, and relate these technologies to ICT as it is used in organisations. Apply improved ICT technology and practices into organisational processes, strategic planning and management. Incorporate Green ICT in the strategic requirements of the business. Recommend alternative solutions which reduce environmental impact. Write green ICT requirement documents for products and services. Ensure that processes meet sustainability and quality standards.

Enabling ICT

ICT systems can reduce energy and materials use by improving the efficiency of business systems by replacing the movement of goods with information (dematerialisation), improve the efficiency of machines (smart motor systems), logistics, buildings and grids.

The Climate Group detailed how these techniques could be used to reduce carbon emissions Chapter 3 "The enabling effect" and 4 "The SMART 2020 transformation" of their SMART 2020 report (2008).

Dematerialisation

Dematerialisation substitutes low carbon alternatives for high carbon products and services. Typical examples are replacing traveling to meetings with teleworking via computer and videoconferencing. Paper invoices can be replaced with electronic ones, reducing the use of paper and the energy needed to transport the paper.

However it cannot be assumed that every ICT system will result in a smaller energy use or that users will use the systems as expected. A server for e-commence may use more energy than the paper it is replacing. Teleworking may stimulate more face-to-face meetings for participants, rather than displace them.

Smart Motor Systems

Electric motors used in industry contribute a significant proportion of carbon emissions. Computer controlled variable-speed drives (VSD) can be used to reduce the power provided by the motor to the requirements of the task, thus saving energy and reducing emissions. The US Army use computer control of power generation to reduce fuel use at base camps (US Army Logistics Innovation Agency, 2013).

Smart Logistics

Logistics is the study of the management of the flow of goods from the point of production to consumption. Logistics was an early adopter of ICT systems. New techniques use Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to individually track items of inventory, Geographical information systems (GIS) to plan deliveries and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for Real time fleet tracking. UPS use GIS to plot efficient routes for parcel deliver (UPS, 2010).

Smart Buildings

Building Automation Systems (BAS) use a network of sensors to monitor conditions in a building and adjust the mechanical and lighting systems to minimise energy use using techniques such as Occupancy-based lighting and Demand control ventilation. The term 'smart buildings' is used more broadly to cover the design and construction of buildings using ICT. This can use Modeling and simulating energy consumption, Building design and simulation software. Buildings can also be equipped with technology to allow collaboration with remote workers, minimising the need for meeting rooms.

Smart Grids

Smart grids use ICT to control the delivery of electricity from suppliers to consumers to minimise energy loss and cost. This can be used to optimise the use of existing distribution and long distance transmission grids for distributing energy from existing large plants and for alternative energy production from small local solar, wind and cogeneration plants. Smart meters allow for consumers to adjust their energy use depending on cost and so be encouraged to reduce overall use.

Now Read

- Chapter 3 "The enabling effect" and Chapter 4 "The SMART 2020 transformation" of The Climate Group SMART 2020 report (2008).
- Smart and Green Energy (SAGE) for Base Camp, Video (U.S. Army Logistics Innovation Agency, 2013).
- Geospatial Technology Saves Fuel, Reduces Miles, Video (UPS, 2010).

Questions

1. Uses of energy in your organisation: Identify the major uses of energy in your organisation. Include references to your sources of information (with links to any web based information).
2. Energy saving in your organisation: Describe where dematerialisation, smart motor systems, logistics, buildings or smart grids could be in your organisation. Detail any examples where they are used.

Business process improvement

In "Enabling ICT", we looked in general terms at how ICT systems can be used to make organisations more sustainable. Now we will look in more detail at Business Process Improvement (BPI): a systematic approach to optimising the functions of an organisation. BPI is a general purpose tool, but in this case we are applying it to the use of ICT in organisations to reduce energy and material use.

Three steps to BPI

1. Define strategic goals: What is the purpose of the organisation? What business is it in? Why does it do what it does?
2. Determine the stakeholders: Who are the customers and other important groups for the organisation?
3. Align processes to goals: Identify business processes which can achieve the organisation goals.

Business processes

Business processes (methods) are related, systematically structured activities (tasks) to produce a specific service or product for a particular group of customers.

Three types of business processes:

1. Management: governing the operation of the organisation.
2. Operational: The core business of the organisation. Can include Purchasing, Manufacturing, Marketing, and Sales.
3. Supporting: Ancillary to the core processes, such as: Accounting, Recruitment, Technical support.

Each business process should address a customer need and result in need fulfilment. A process can consist of sub-processes. The analysis of processes and sub-processes can be carried on down to the activity level.

Analysis of Business Processes is intended to eliminate any activity which does not add value for the customer. A well designed business process should increase effectiveness and increased efficiency. Normally these are measured in terms of financial measures (cost reduction and revenue). However, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction and materials use can be used as sustainability measures.

Techniques such as Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) can be used for diagramming business processes in a workflow. BPMN is intended to be readable for both technical and business users.

High level models are used purely to describe business processes, whereas detailed models may able to be executed using specialised software.

BPI for non-radical change

Claims have been made for BPI making radical changes in the performance of organisations. In the case of greenhouse gas emissions the target of, for example, a 15% reduction in emissions may be on performance of an organisation, rather than a series of incremental changes.

BPI for Energy Reduction

BPI makes use of measurable results and benchmarks. The process owners, need to be identified and measures of success/failure of the process set. In addition to the success/failure levels, "control limits" for the process provide a check on if a process is meeting the desired customer objectives.

In the case of Green ICT, measures such as energy use or greenhouse gas emissions may be used. A problem with accountability energy measures for data centres has been the split in responsibilities between facilities management services providing the building and the ICT or data centre management who run the computers in the building. The facilities manager may be responsible for the electricity bill for the building the data centres is housed in, but unable to make decisions as to the computer equipment purchased and thus not make decisions to reduce that expenditure.

Methodology of BPI

1. Define the existing structure and processes.
2. Determine what outcomes would add value to the organisation.
3. Reorganise processes, resources and work force.

ICT Examples

Telstra has estimated that use of telecommunications could reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions 5% by 2015. Three examples from Tesltra are:

1. Efficient deployment of field work forces with GPS: Wireless broadband and GPS can be used to schedule personnel between jobs at remote sites to reduce the distance travelled. As well as reducing fuel used (and therefore greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles) this also reduces unproductive time while staff are travelling.
2. Flexible working for knowledge workers: Knowledge workers can work remotely using broadband at home or a satellite office and use wireless broadband to work at customer premises. This saves in office space.
3. Replacement of business air travel with video conferencing: Telstra claims that high definition video conferencing can replace business air travel. The widespread availability of higher speed broadband allows higher quality video and for companies to set air travel reduction targets.

Now Read

1. Business process, Business Process Modeling Notation, Wikipedia (2011).
2. Using Telecommunications to Reduce your Organisation's Carbon Footprint, Guerin (2008).

Questions

1. Business process issues with replacing paper invoices: On the face of it, replacing paper invoices with ones sent by email and paid with Internet banking should provide environmental benefits. In terms of business processes, what needs to be considered before making this change?
2. Energy saving from replacing paper invoices: Consider what energy saving, greenhouse reductions and materials savings there could be from replacing paper invoices with electronic ones. Consider what might be the environmental downsides of electronic invoices.

Improving Data Centre Energy Efficiency

The Australian Minister for Finance, released a Review of the Australian Government's Use of Information and Communication Technology (known as "The Gershon review"), 16 October 2008. The Gershon review provided high level proposals of how ICT operations should be managed in a large organisation and recommended the consolidation of data centres.

The European Commission issued a Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency in 2008 (updated in 2016). The EU Guidelines provide a detailed approach to implementing and assessing the energy saving in a data centre.

Evidence-based approach to ICT review

Sir Peter Gershon's review of Australian government ICT, including data centres provides a useful overview of ICT planning for a large organisation (Gershon 2008). Sustainability of ICT is covered in Recommendation 7 of the report. However, many other sections of the report are relevant to planning for sustainability.

The Gershon review employed an evidence-based approach, first assessing the current situation, to determine the scope and possible areas for improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.

Three phases of review:

1. Evidence gathering: Submissions were invited from key stakeholders in agencies and industry (112 submissions received). A survey was sent to 100 government agencies for ICT expenditure data: costs per desktop, websites, networks. Key applications including: human resources, financial management and grant management systems were quantified.Data was requested on energy consumption.
2. Consultation: Video conferences were held with agency heads as key stakeholders. Meetings were held with government ministers, agency staff and industry. Three visits were made to sites: one overseas and two to data centres in Canberra.
3. Analysis and reporting: Additional data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002-03 Government Technology Survey, was used with meeting and survey data for findings. Recommendations were developed to address the findings and a report produced.

Seven Findings

The review identified the seven key findings:

1. Weak governance of ICT issues (ICT Governance) across the organisation was found, limiting the evaluation, direction and monitoring of projects.
2. Weak Agency governance was also found to be weak. There was limited organisational capability to commission and manage ICT projects.
3. Limited scrutiny: Agencies tended to take a "business as usual" (BAU) attitude to ICT funding, with inadequate scrutiny.
4. ICT Skills Building: While the ICT skills of staff were considered important, there was limited action to build these.
5. No Whole-of-government strategic plan for data centres: Each agency was was found to plans its own requirements for data centres, resulting in an estimated unnecessary extra $1B expenditure over 15 years.
6. Marketplace: The government ICT marketplace was found to be inefficient and ineffective. High transaction costs with onerous procurement processes and slow decision making was found. Prescriptive statements of requirement, which limits the range of solutions proposed by vendors were found.
7. Sustainability agenda: There was a significant disconnect between the Government's overall sustainability agenda and its ability to understand and manage energy costs and the carbon footprint of its ICT estate.

It should be noted that only the last of these findings "Sustainability agenda", mentions green ICT explicitly. However, they all have an effect on the ability of an organisation to incorporate sustainability in its planning. The report's primary finding was that the autonomy of the individual government agencies were the problem.

Key recommendations

The recommendations correspond to the key findings:

1. Strengthen pan-government governance: The report recommended a Ministerial Committee on ICT (equivalent to a company board committee), a Secretaries' ICT Governance Board (SIGB) to address key business issues with ICT and to limit opt-out from whole of government arrangements to those approved by the Ministerial Committee.
2. Strengthen Agency Governance: Use of common methodologies, including ITIL, were recommended. This is to including business domain activities (requirements definition and benefits realisation) as well as ICT.
3. Tighten the management of ICT business as usual funding: A reduction of 15% in ICT budgets was recommended with cross-agency and external benchmark comparisons to identify possible efficiency improvements. ICT Review Teams would identify the drivers of agency BAU costs, server utilisation and data centre efficiency and reduce the use of contractors.
4. Enhance the management of the APS ICT skills base: A whole-of-government ICT career structure was proposed, along with a whole-of-government strategic ICT workforce plan, identifying skills issues, recruitment, training, development and skills shortages.
5. Data Centres: Consolidation of the physical data centre infrastructure was recommended: buildings, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and power supply. However, the report recommended keeping agencies' ICT equipment and databases in separately controlled and managed areas.
6. Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the ICT marketplace: The report recommended whole-of-government panel arrangements for ICT commodity-based procurements and volume sourcing for software (including e-auctions). Strategic management of key suppliers would be used to deal the dominance of large suppliers.
7. Sustainability of ICT: The report proposed a whole-of-government ICT sustainability plan, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA), to manage the carbon footprint of the Government's ICT activities.

Most of these recommendations effect the ability to increase the sustainability of of ICT in the organisation. Stronger governance arrangements should make it more feasible to have Green ICT included in the business planning and reporting.

A reduction in the "business-as-usual" budget would allow for initiatives in energy saving. Enhanced skills base would allow for green ICT training. Consolidated data centres would allow for more energy efficient cooling and power management practices. A more effective marketplace would allow suppliers to offer more innovative approaches to energy reduction and materials reuse.

One problem with the recommendations is the proposal to keep agencies' ICT equipment and databases in separately controlled and managed areas. This would limit the ability to share computer servers between agencies, thus reducing the amount of hardware needed and allowing it to operate at a more power efficient higher level of utilisation. The use of virtualisation, where hardware is physically shared, but logically partitioned, may be an acceptable. Also not covered by the report is the use of shared web based applications, where agencies can use the same applications, running on the same shared servers, but have only their own data presented to them via a web interface.

The issue of the dominance of large suppliers. is an issue for Green ICT. Implementing particular approaches to sustainability will be difficult , if these are not supported by the main suppliers. However, the report does not address the use of standards and open source design as a way to avoid vendor lock in. This is particularly useful for Green ICT with the use of formal standards and industry sponsored labelling of equipment and software.

The sustainability recommendation is discussed in detail below.

Sustainability of ICT Recommendation

The last recommendation of the report, Recommendation 7, deals with Sustainability of ICT. This is intended to address Key Finding 7, which was a disconnect between the Government's sustainability agenda and its ability to implement this for ICT. The report concentrates on management of energy costs and the carbon footprint of ICT. Other aspects of sustainability, such of materials use, toxic waste disposal and the use of ICT to reduce energy use in other processes is not addressed.

Disconnect in the sustainability agenda

Only 23 out of 72 agencies indicated they had an energy plan, of these, 13 included an ICT energy component in the plan. Only six agencies provided meaningful ICT energy use data.

For agencies which provided responses on ICT energy, consumption increased by 3%, from 162.4 gigawatts in 2006-07 to 167.6 gigawatts in 2007-08. But in the same period ICT energy costs increased 16%, from $18.1 million in 2006-07 to $21.0 million in 2007-08. This would suggest that cost of energy could be a significant incentive for agencies to introduce energy saving measures.

ICT sustainability plan

In response to the The Gershon review, an Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan was prepared by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2010).

Six mandatory environmental standards were set for to the purchase of ICT equipment and consumables by Australian government agencies:

1. EPEAT Silver
2. ENERGY STAR
3. Product take-back with reuse/recovery for mobile devices, toner cartridges and ICT equipment
4. Copy paper with minimum 50% recycled content
5. ICT suppliers to comply with the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Measure (UPM NEPM)
6. Suppliers adopting an ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS)

Agencies are required to submit their annual ICT energy consumption data to the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO).

EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, issued a European Code of Conduct on Data Centres Energy Efficiency in 2008 (updated 2016). These are intended to reduce, and assess the reduction, in the energy consumption in data centres.

The Code of Conduct is voluntary. It assumes that data centres have typically been designed with large tolerances for operational and capacity changes and this results in power consumption inefficiency. Only a small fraction of the power consumed by the data centre is actually used by the IT systems, most is used up by redundant power and cooling systems.

Focus of the Code of Conduct

1. IT Load: consumption of energy of the IT equipment in the data centre
2. Facilities Load: mechanical and electrical systems (chiller plant, fans, pumps) air conditioning units.

The Code of Conduct considers the data centre as a complete system, to optimise the IT system and the infrastructure together as 'facility efficiency'.

Data centre infrastructure efficiency Measure

The code defines one metric:

Data centre infrastructure efficiency (DCiE):

DCiE = (Main IT equipment energy consumption)/(Total facility energy consumption) * 100

A higher figure indicates better energy efficiency. A measure of 50% would indicate half the energy consumed by the data centre was used by the IT systems (a typical figure for existing centres). A theoretical figure of 100% would indicate that all the energy consumed by the data centre was used for IT (unlikely to be achieved).

Further metrics are under development:

IT productivity metric: An indicator of how efficiently the IT equipment provides useful IT services. This requires some measure of output of the centre, such as number of standard transactions performed, per unit of energy.

Total energy productivity metric: Relating the useful IT services to the total energy consumption of facility.

Best Practices for Data Centres

The Best Practice Guidelines are a companion to the EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres to assist with measures to improve the energy efficiency

Expected Minimum Practices

A subset of the best practices are are defined as the expected minimum level of energy saving activity. These are the easiest techniques to apply to an existing data centre. Some practices are categorised as applying to New Software, Expected during any new software install or upgrade, for New IT Equipment, Expected for new or replacement IT equipment, During retrofit. Numeric values, indicating the effect of the measure are included.

Data Centre Utilisation, Management and Planning

The first measure covers management of a data centre:

- Group involvement: Establish an approval board containing representatives from all disciplines (software, IT, M&E). Require the approval of this group for any significant decision to ensure that the impacts of the decision have been properly understood and an effective solution reached. For example, this could include the definition of standard IT hardware lists through considering the M&E implications of different types of hardware. This group could be seen as the functional equivalent of a change board. Expected: Yes. Value: 3

Embedded energy is then considered:

- Consider the embedded energy in devices: Carry out an audit of existing equipment to maximise any unused existing capability by ensuring that all areas of optimisation, consolidation and aggregation are identified prior to new material investment. Expected: Yes. Value: 2

Matching resilience to business requirements is then recommended:

- Build resilience to business requirements: Only the level of resilience actually justified by business requirements and impact analysis should be built. 2N infrastructures are frequently unnecessary and inappropriate. Resilience for a small portion of critical services can be obtained using DR / BC sites. Expected: During retrofit. Value: 3
- Consider multiple levels of resilience: It is possible to build a single data centre to provide multiple levels of power and cooling resilience to different floor areas. Many co-location providers already deliver this, for example, optional 'grey' power feeds without UPS or generator back up. Expected: During retrofit. Value: 3
- Lean provisioning of power and cooling for a maximum of 18 months of data floor capacity: The provisioning of excess power and cooling capacity in the data centre drives substantial fixed losses and is unnecessary. Planning a data centre for modular (scalable) expansion and then building out this capacity in a rolling program of deployments is more efficient. This also allows the technology 'generation' of the IT equipment and supporting M&E infrastructure to be matched, improving both efficiency and the ability to respond to business requirements. Expected: During retrofit. Value: 3

The provisioning recommendations then go into increasing levels of technical detail.

In purchasing new IT equipment, it is recommended that energy efficiency be considered (this assumes the data centre and the equipment in it are run by the one entity):

- Multiple tender for IT hardware - Power: Include the Energy efficiency performance of the IT device as a high priority decision factor in the tender process. This may be through the use of Energy Star or SPECPower type standard metrics or through application or deployment specific user metrics more closely aligned to the target environment which may include service level or reliability components. The power consumption of the device at the expected utilisation or applied workload should be considered in addition to peak performance per Watt figures.
- Multiple tender for IT hardware - Basic operating temperature and humidity range: Include the operating temperature and humidity ranges of new equipment as high priority decision factors in the tender process. The minimum range, at the air intake to servers, is 18-27C and 5.5C dew point up to 15C dew point & 60% RH. The current relevant standard is the ASHRAE Recommended range for Class 1 Data Centers as described by ASHRAE in '2008 ASHRAE Environmental Guidelines for Datacom Equipment'.

McKinsey & Company on Data Centre Efficiency

McKinsey & Company in "Revolutionizing Data Centre Efficiency" (Kaplan, Forrest and Kindler, 2008) recommend the appointment of an Energy Czar and transferring financial accountability of data center assets from Corporate Real Estate to the CIO. These recommendations are driven by an economic analysis which concludes that ongoing server proliferation is resulting in far more expense power and cooling costs which must crowd out other IT initiatives unless IT gets a bigger slice of corporate revenue.

Some of the report's findings:

1. Data Centres (DC) make up one quarter of total ICT costs and rapid growth in the number and size of data centres creates two problems:
  - Large cost: both Capital Expenditure (CapEx) and Operational Expenditure (OpEx) for Data Centres is large, quickly growing portion of total IT budget.
  - Large CO_2e: For many organisations, Data Centres are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
2. Causes for inefficiencies:
  - Poor planning of demand and capacity,
  - Asset management failings,
  - Energy Disconnect, with Boards, CEOs and CFOs not holding the CIO accountable for energy use or greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Solutions for inefficiencies
  - Integrate asset management as is done for corporate security,
  - Mandate true Total Cost of Ownership (TCO),
  - Appoint CIOs and internal "Energy Czars" (technology and operations mandate) to double energy efficiency by 2012.
4. Metrics to measure efficiencies
  - The study proposes the Corporate Average Data Efficiency (CADE) metric for data centres across the corporate footprint,
  - Industry groups to dialog with regulators to establish a benchmark or metrics to measure the individual and combined energy efficiency of corporate, public sector and 3rd party hosted data centres (for example, a similar benchmark is already implemented in the US automotive industry called 'CAFE').

Now Read

1. Executive Summary, Chapter 5: Recommendations, and Sustainability of ICT, from the Gershon Review (Gershon 2008)
2. Participant Guidelines and Registration Form (2016) and Best Practice Guidelines (2016) from the European Commission's European Code of Conduct on Data Centres Energy Efficiency
3. Revolutionizing Data Centre Efficiency, from McKinsey & Company (Kaplan, Forrest and Kindler, 2008).

Questions

1. Apply EU Code of Conduct for data centre energy efficiency: Sir Peter Gershon recommended consolidating data centres. Could consolidation of data centres be applied to your organisation, or an organisation you are familiar with? Consolidation will not necessarily increase efficiency. How would you apply the EU Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for data centre energy efficiency?
2. How could ICT reduce government energy use?: The Gershon report discussed only energy saving targets for energy use by ICT systems. The "SMART 2020" report (The Climate Group's, 2008), also looked at how ICTs could improve energy efficiency in power transmission, buildings and the transportation of goods. Give an example of how ICT could reduce energy use in government business.

Enterprise Architecture

Sustainability needs to be incorporated into the models and plans used improve business performance. One of the strategic tools for business is Enterprise Architecture (EA).

The Australian Government Information Management Office, in their Australian Government Architecture (AGIMO, p. 290, 2011) define Enterprise Architecture (EA) as:

"The explicit description and documentation of the current and desired relationships among business and management processes and information technology. An EA describes the ‘current architecture’ and ‘target architecture’ to include the rules and standards and systems life cycle information to optimise and maintain the environment which the agency wishes to create and maintain by managing its ICT portfolio. The EA must also provide a strategy that will enable the agency to support its current state and also act as the roadmap for transition to its target environment. These transition processes will include an agency's capital planning and investment control processes, agency EA planning processes and agency systems life cycle methodologies."

Neil Ward-Dutton in his blog posting on Real-world Enterprise Architecture part I: journey vs destination (2007a) argues that it should not focus too much on the technical nature of EA outputs (diagrams and reports) and concentrate on communicating with business people and stakeholder engagement. In Part 2 (2007b) he argues that large organisations are rarely truly centralised and actually use a federated style of IT work.

Models

For its Reference Models, AGIMO (p12, 2011) adapted the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) of the United States Government, which has five areas:

1. Performance Reference Model (PRM)
2. Business Reference Model (BRM)
3. Service Reference Model (SRM)
4. Data Reference Model (DRM)
5. Technical Reference Model (TRM)

Performance Reference Model (PRM)

The Performance Reference Model (PRM) shows the relationship between input and output of the process being modelled and allows both to be measured and reported. AGIMO define:

- Measurement Domains: Inputs; Processes and Activities; Outputs; Usage;
and Outcomes (AGIMO, p13, 2011)
- Measurement Indicators: "... specific, quantifiable measures defined by the implementing agency to suit the measurement purpose and the measurement domain in which it resides." (AGIMO, p51, 2011)

Business Reference Model

The Business Reference Model (BRM) provides a functional view of the operations and its services of an organisation. This need not follow the existing organisational structure as it should reflect what the organisation provides its clients, not how it is currently structured. AGIMO (p. 102, 2011) uses a modified form of the US Federated Enterprise Architecture Business Reference Model (FEA-BRM). This is intended to provide a of whole-of-government approach to providing services. AGIMO identifies three levels in its BRM:

1. Business Areas: which describe government functionality and activities surrounding the operations of government
2. Lines of Business within each business area: which relate to government functions at the middle level of the BRM hierarchy
3. Business Capabilities under each Line of Business (LoB): which relate to government sub-functions, at the lowest level of the BRM hierarchy.

Service Reference Model (SRM)

The AGIMO Service Reference Model classifies Service Domains and within these Service Types used to build the ICT system (AGIMO, p. 165, 2011):

1. Customer Services
  - Customer Relationship Management
  - Customer Preferences
  - Customer Initiated Assistance
2. Process Automation Services
  - Tracking and Workflow
  - Routing and Scheduling
3. Business Management Services
  - Management of Process
  - Organisational Management
  - Investment Management
  - Supply Chain Management
4. Digital Asset Services
  - Content Management
  - Document Management
  - Knowledge Management
  - Records Management
5. Business Analytical Services
  - Analyses and Statistics
  - Visualisation
  - Knowledge Discovery
  - Business Intelligence
  - Reporting
6. Back Office Services
  - Data Management
  - Human Resources
  - Financial Management
  - Assets/Materials Management
  - Development and Integration
  - Human Capital / Workforce Management
7. Support Services
  - Security Management
  - Collaboration
  - Search
  - Communication
  - Systems Management
  - Forms Management

Data Reference Model (DRM)

A Data Reference Model defines the information used across an organisation (AGIMO, p. 191, 2011). As an example of the data description for "person" and "event" entities:

- Person is shown as personidentifier shown as an integer; fullName shown as a string; birthDate shown as a Date; age shown as an Integer; address shown as a String; etc.
- Eventis shown as eventidentifier shown as an Integer; eventType shown as a String; eventDate shown as a Date; eventTime shown as Time; etc

This allows different agencies of the Australian Government to share data on people and events.

Technical Reference Model (TRM)

The Technical Reference Model defines the ICT to be used t implement what is described in the other models (AGIMO, p. 246, 2011). This can be as detailed as defining which web browser will be used, or with the use of standards.

Now Read

1. Ward-Dutton's Real-world Enterprise Architecture part I (2007a) and Part II (2007b).
2. Chapter 2, Reference Model Overview, (AGIMO, pp. 12-18, 2011).

Questions

1. Enterprise Architecture for sustainability: EA has a bewildering range of models and diagrams to describe the business of an organisation. Pick one model or diagram from the EA of your organisation, or one you are familiar with and explain how sustainability goals can be advanced using it. If you do not have access to EA for an organisation, use the Australian Government Architecture Reference Models (AGIMO, 2011).
2. Centralised and decentralised use of ICT: Documents such as the Australian Government Architecture Reference Models (AGIMO, 2011), imply an organisation has just one way of working. But Neil Ward-Dutton in his blog "Real-world Enterprise Architecture part II" (2007b) says that large organisations are rarely truly centralised and actually use a federated style of IT work. Give examples from your organisation, or an organisation you are familiar with, of centralised or decentralised use of ICT and its implications for energy savings strategies.

Procurement

Environmental benefits can come about by selecting the right ICT products and services. How do you ensure that your hardware, software and services suppliers provide green products?

The Australian Government's Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines (2008) stated that:

"Procurement encompasses the whole process of acquiring property or services. It begins when an agency has identified a need and decided on its procurement requirement. Procurement continues through the processes of risk assessment, seeking and evaluating alternative solutions, contract award, delivery of and payment for the property or services and, where relevant, the ongoing management of a contract and consideration of options related to the contract."

Large organisations, will typically have complex procurement policies with detailed processes. Some of the Procurement Principles considered by the Australian Government were: Value for Money, Competition, Efficient and Effective Use of Resources, and Accountability.

Sustainability considerations may be included in each stage of the calculations. Costs will be effected where, for example, higher efficiency power supplies are required. Consideration might be given to purchasing smaller quantities of equipment to be used more intensively. The equipment may need to be to a higher quantity, to allow for more intensive use, as well as requirements for materials to meet recycling and hazardous materials standards. The source of the equipment may play a larger role with the energy use in delivery being considered. As well as the direct benefit of the product to the organisation, its effect on the environment and the community generally needs to be considered. Purchasing arrangements may go beyond conventional legal contracts and involve long term partners, which commit one organisation to another.

ICT procurement is typically indirect procurement. That is ICT procurement activities concern "operating resources" for the organisation's operations. This contrasts with direct procurement, where raw materials are used in making some other product.

Procurement process

Procurement may involve a Tendering process, with potential suppliers submitting bids. Usually the potential supplier which submits the lowest bid which complies with the requirements is accepted. However, other criteria in addition to price may be used to assess tenders. Green ICT requirements may be included in the requirements and/or could be included in the criteria used for assessment.

Procurement steps

1. Information Gathering: There may be a search conducted for potential suppliers and to see what products are available. A formal Request for Information (RFI), may be issued, describing what purchases are intended and asking for information from suppliers. This might be used to see what environmental standards suppliers are able to supply to.
2. Supplier Contact: A Requests for Quotation (RFQ) or Requests for Tender (RFT) may be advertised publicly, or sent to a limited set of suppliers suppliers.
3. Background Review: The products or services offered are assessed against criteria set down in the RFT. This may require examination of claims of conformance to standards by the supplier or testing of samples of the equipment or service. In the case of Green ICT this might require testing power consumption of equipment, or verifying claims of conformance with independent standards, or tests conducted with independent test labs.
4. Negotiation: Negotiations are undertaken, usually with one selected supplier or a short list.
5. Fulfilment: An order is made and payment made. For a large order the payments may be staggered.
6. Consumption, Maintenance and Disposal: The performance of the supplied product and after sales service is assessed. For ICT products there are usually maintenance contracts and the supply of maintenance, ensuring an ongoing relationship with the supplier. Green ICT considerations may include provision for return of the product to the supplier at the end of its useful life for disposal or refurbishment.
7. Renewal: At the end of the supply contract, the supplier's performance is evaluated. With ICT equipment is likely that further equipment will be ordered from the same supplier, if satisfactory.

Green Procurement Policy

Large organisations are likely to have a formal Corporate Sustainability or Green Procurement Policy intended to apply to products and services, including ICT. The policy will include a general statement of aims, including a commitment to improve the environment, reduce the environment impacts and promote sustainable development. This is done by integration of environment performance in the procurement process.

As an example of green procurement Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) provide on their web site:

1. Corporate Sustainability Report 2009-2010 (2011a)
2. eWaste Management Policy (2011b)
3. Environmental Policy (2011c)
4. Green Procurement Policy (2011d)
5. Waste Reduction Policy (2011e)

Policies can have different levels of enforcement. The Queensland Government's Operational Concept - Sustainable procurement (2008) include a requirement for agencies to set sustainability targets and report against them annually, but leaves the actual targets to the agencies to set.

Energy Efficiency in Government Operations (EEGO)

The Australian Government's Energy Efficiency in Government Operations (EEGO) Policy (2006) aims to improve energy efficiency of Government operations.The policy required annual reporting of energy performance by agencies and portfolio energy intensity targets from 2011.

While use of an Australian version of the US EPA Energy Star program is required for appliances, the EEGO policy is in the main referring to buildings, and so doesn't cover desktop PCs and other ICT equipment in buildings. The policy refers to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) undertake scoping studies to identify energy efficiency opportunities for computer centres, but there are no reports on progress with this.

Department of the Environment Tender

The Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts issued a request for tender for Desktop PCs and servers included extensive and Provision of Desktop, LAN, Helpdesk, and Midrange Services (2008). Suppliers were required to include details of power consumption, cooling requirements and ewaste disposal. The RFT included mandatory Energy Star specifications and a silver rating, on the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) specifications.

The department warned they may test equipment in the tender process or later. The supplier was required to commit to report annually on minimising environmental impacts, specify packaging waste specifications and look at recyclable and biodegradable packaging, as well as have a take-back program for packaging.

Apart from energy efficiency requirements, the tender required printers which can use 100% recycled content paper (but without any specific standard for paper being specified).

The Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Request for Tender for Supply and maintenance of IT equipment (2008) included similar environmental standards to the Environment tender, but did not make energy saving mandatory. Tenderers were required to detail the heat output and power consumption of desktop PCs and Laptops configurations and how the claims were independently verified.

A later Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) Request for Tender for IT Hardware (2008) included energy saving requirements for up to 400 notebooks and 100 desktops computers. The tender document included a requirement to supply details of "Energy Rating" with: Energy Star Compliant, EPEAT rating or similar, Energy Consumption. Details of energy consumption was required for computers when: On and Operating Sleep, Standby, Switched Off but power point on. However, the energy efficiency rating was not a mandatory requirement of the tender.

US Government Computer Power Management Purchasing Policy

The US Energy Policy Act (2005) required US federal agencies to procure products, including ICT, complying to the US EPS ENERGY STAR. Executive Order 13423 (Bush, 2007) required the agencies to activate the "sleep" features of ENERGY STAR on computers and monitors and requires agencies to buy EPEAT (2008) registered products.

Now Read

1. Procurement Principles, Department of Finance and Deregulation (2008). Note that these were replaced by the Commonwealth Procurement Rules in 2014.
2. Green Procurement Policy, Tata Consultancy Services Limited (2011d)
3. Operational Concept - Sustainable procurement, Queensland Government (2008).

Questions

1. Procurement process in your organisation: Describe the Procurement process in your organisation, or or an organisation you are familiar with. Is there a Tendering process, with formal assessment criteria? Describe any Green Procurement Policy in your organisation. If there is no such policy, outline what could be in such a policy.
2. Australian government environmental criteria: Three Australian government agencies issued Requests for Tender in 2008 for ICT equipment, with slightly different environmental criteria. Why do you think this happened? Would it be feasible for your organisation to use the same criteria as the Australian Government?

Energy Star Program and Quality Management

Quality management can be used to ensure that sustainability is considered as part of performance in the design, development and implementation of ICT products and services. Quality Improvement looks to change a process to improve the reliability of achieving an outcome. Quality Control is carried out to maintain reliability of achieving an outcome. Quality Assurance is used to provide enough confidence that the set requirements for quality are met.

Quality is an abstract concept. To make it more concrete, the issue of measuring and improving the energy efficiency of desktop computers, servers and data centres equipment is discussed. The most widely recognised standards for ICT energy efficiency are the US EPA's Energy Star Program (2010).

The US government mandated the implementation of Energy Star V4 program in July 2007 under the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). Energy Star Version 5.0 Program Requirements for Computers (2008), requires that a small desktop computer use no more than 148 kWh of electricity per year. Energy Star specifications are also being developed for also developing Computer Servers Specifications (2011a) and Data Center Energy Efficiency Initiatives (2011b).

Quality Standards

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) Quality Management System (QMS) set of standards was first released in the late 1980s. These give guidelines for performance improvement and provides a measurement framework for improved quality management. The most commonly cited quality standard is "Guidelines for performance improvement" (ISO 9004:2000).

US Energy Star Program

Energy Star: Computer Key Product Criteria, Version 5 (2008) covers Desktop PCs, Notebooks and Thin Clients. Some issues remain with the specification:

- Qualification Laboratory Requirements: The specification assumes testing of equipment. EPA supports self-certification of test labs, whereas the European and Australian approach tends to use government accredited test centres.
- Full Network Connectivity/Proxying: Network Connectivity of computers effects their energy use and had to be clarified for tests.
- Categories: Products are divided into categories, with maximum power levels for each category. As an example, the graphics capability of computers is an issue (more graphics require more power).

Definitions

Energy star defines different power and efficiency limits to different categories of computers. Also some components of computers are separately rated. Therefore the definition of types of computers and components are important to the specification:

- Computer: A device which performs logical operations and processes data. Computers are composed of, at a minimum: (1) a central processing unit (CPU) to perform operations; (2) user input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, digitizer or game controller; and (3) a computer display screen to output information. ...

Components

- Computer Display: A display screen and its associated electronics encased in a single housing, or within the computer housing (e.g., notebook or integrated desktop computer) ...
- Discrete Graphics Processing Unit (GPU): A graphics processor with a local memory controller interface and a local, graphics-specific memory.
- External Power Supply: A component contained in a separate physical enclosure external to the computer casing and designed to convert line voltage ac input from the mains to lower dc voltage(s) ...
- Internal Power Supply: A component internal to the computer casing and designed to convert ac voltage from the mains to dc voltage(s) ...

Computer Types

- Desktop Computer: A computer where the main unit is intended to be located in a permanent location ...
- Small-Scale Server: A computer that typically uses desktop components in a desktop form factor, but is designed primarily to be a storage host for other computers. ...
- Game Console: A standalone computer-like device whose primary use is to play video games. ...
- Integrated Desktop Computer: A desktop system in which the computer and computer display function as a single unit which receives its ac power through a single cable. ...
- Thin Client: An independently-powered computer that relies on a connection to remote computing resources to obtain primary functionality. ...
- Notebook Computer: A computer designed specifically for portability and to be operated for extended periods of time either with or without a direct connection to an ac power source. ...
- Workstation: A high-performance, single-user computer typically used for graphics, CAD, software development, financial and scientific applications among other compute intensive tasks. ...

Operational Modes

The specification sets different power consumption levels for different modes of operation of the types of computers. Earlier versions of the specification only measured power consumption when the computers were not carrying out useful work. Measures when the computer in use are introduced with the new version and a Typical Energy Consumption (TEC) estimating the typical electricity consumed by a product in normal operation over a year.

- Off Mode: The power consumption level in the lowest power mode which cannot be switched off (influenced) by the user ...
- Sleep Mode: A low power state that the computer is capable of entering automatically after a period of inactivity or by manual selection. ... Sleep mode most commonly correlates to ACPI System Level S3 (suspend to RAM) state. ...
- Idle State: The state in which the operating system and other software have completed loading, a user profile has been created, the machine is not asleep, and activity is limited to those basic applications that the system starts by default.
- Active State: The state in which the computer is carrying out useful work ...

Internal power supplies for computers are required to be at least 85% efficient at 50% of rated output and 82% efficient at 20% of rated output. It should be noted as a result that, as with data centre provisioning, purchasing computers with excess electrical capacity will reduce efficiency.

The allowed total energy consumption for a year for Desktop computers ranges from 148 to 234 kWh, depending on the category and for Notebooks from 40 to 88.5 kWh. There are adjustments to these for memory, graphics and storage. It should be noted that therefore specifying a higher performance computer than needed could result in higher energy use while still meeting the Energy Star requirements.

Energy Star Program for Computer Servers

The ENERGY STAR Computer Servers Version 2 (2011) defines a Computer Server as:

"A computer that provides services and manages networked resources for client devices, e.g., desktop computers, notebook computers, thin clients, wireless devices, PDAs, IP158 telephones, other Computer Servers and other networked devices. ...".

As with the specification for desktop equipment, different Computer Server Types are defined, including Blade Servers and High Availability Servers. Also Other Data Center Equipment, including Network Equipment and Storage Equipment are defined.

As with the desktop specification an emphasis is placed on the efficiency of Computer Server Power Supplies. But only one Operational State is defined for servers: Idle. Unlike desktop equipment which may be left on doing no useful work and so may switch to a low power state, it is generally assumed that servers will be constantly busy.

Now Read

1. US Department of Energy's History of ENERGY STAR (2010) and Energy Star: Computer Key Product Criteria, Version 5 (2008),
2. International Standards Organisation Quality management systems - Guidelines for performance improvements AS/NZS ISO 9004:2000 (pages 1 to 12).

Questions

1. Describe the Quality Management process of your organisation: Describe the Quality Management process of your organisation, or or an organisation you are familiar with. Is the organisation formally certified under ISO 9001, or some other system? How might such a process be used for furthering Green ICT aims?
2. Matching computer power to the user's needs: Version 5.0 of the ENERGY STAR Specification for Computers sets different power limits for different types of single user computers: Desktop, Integrated Desktop Computer, Thin Client, Notebook, Workstation. Outline a policy for your organisation proposing to lower energy use and costs, by matching the computer to the user's needs. What would be the energy and cost savings for your organisation over three years?

Appendixes

SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age

Report summary

This is an excerpt from SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, by The Climate Group (2008):

The ICT sector has transformed the way we live, work, learn and play. From mobile phones and micro-computer chips to the internet, ICT has consistently delivered innovative products and services that are now an integral part of everyday life. ICT has systematically increased productivity and supported economic growth across both developed and developing countries. But what impact do pervasive information and communication technologies have on global warming? Is it a sector that will hinder or help our fight against dangerous climate change?

To answer these questions, this report has quantified the direct emissions from ICT products and services based on expected growth in the sector. It also looked at where ICT could enable significant reductions of emissions in other sectors of the economy and has quantified these in terms of CO_2e emission savings and cost savings.

Aside from emissions associated with deforestation, the largest contribution to man-made GHG emissions comes from power generation and fuel used for transportation.

It is therefore not surprising that the biggest role ICTs could play is in helping to improve energy efficiency in power transmission and distribution (T&D), in buildings and factories that demand power and in the use of transportation to deliver goods.

In total, ICTs could deliver approximately 7.8 GtCO_2e of emissions savings in 2020. This represents 15% of emissions in 2020 based on a BAU estimation. It represents a significant proportion of the reductions below 1990 levels that scientists and economists recommend by 2020 to avoid dangerous climate change^1. In economic terms, the ICT-enabled energy efficiency translates into approximately ... ($946.5 billion2) of cost savings.^3

It is an opportunity that cannot be overlooked. Our analysis identifies some of the biggest and most accessible opportunities for ICT to achieve these savings.

- Smart motor systems: A review of manufacturing in China has identified that without optimisation, 10% of China's emissions (2% of global emissions) in 2020 will come from China's motor systems alone and to improve industrial efficiency even by 10% would deliver up to 200 million tonnes (Mt) CO_2e savings. Applied globally, optimised motors and industrial automation would reduce 0.97 GtCO_2e in 2020, worth ...($107.2 billion).^4
- Smart logistics: Through a host of efficiencies in transport and storage, smart logistics in Europe could deliver fuel, electricity and heating savings of 225 MtCO_2e. The global emissions savings from smart logistics in 2020 would reach 1.52 GtCO_2e, with energy savings worth ... ($441.7 billion).
- Smart buildings: A closer look at buildings in North America indicates that better building design, management and automation could save 15% of North America's buildings emissions. Globally, smart buildings technologies would enable 1.68 GtCO_2e of emissions savings, worth ... ($340.8 billion).
- Smart grids: Reducing T&D losses in India's power sector by 30% is possible through better monitoring and management of electricity grids, first with smart meters and then by integrating more advanced ICTs into the so-called energy internet. Smart grid technologies were the largest opportunity found in the study and could globally reduce 2.03 GtCO_2e , worth ... ($124.6 billion).

While the sector plans to significantly step up the energy efficiency of its products and services, ICT's largest influence will be by enabling energy efficiencies in other sectors, an opportunity that could deliver carbon savings five times larger than the total emissions from the entire ICT sector in 2020.

These are not easy wins. There are policy, market and behavioural hurdles that need to be overcome to deliver the savings possible. For example, Chinese factory managers find it difficult to stop producing long enough to implement more efficient industrial processes because they risk losing revenue and competitiveness.

Logistics efficiency is hampered by fragmentation in the market, which makes it difficult to coordinate across the sector to achieve economies of scale. Even with the latest technologies implemented, buildings are only efficient if managed properly. In India, there is no coordinated national roadmap for smart grid implementation and more needs to be done to build the cross-functional and cross-sectoral capabilities needed to design and implement innovative business and operating models and deliver new technology solutions.

In addition to the savings possible by supporting other sectors to become more energy efficient, there are also potential energy savings from dematerialisation or substitution - replacing high carbon physical products and activities (such as books and meetings) with virtual low carbon equivalents (e-commerce/e-government and advanced videoconferencing). Our study indicates that using technology to dematerialise the way we work and operate across public and private sectors could deliver a reduction of 500 MtCO_2e in 2020 - the equivalent of the total ICT footprint in 2002, or just under the emissions of the UK in 2007. However, these solutions would need to be more widely implemented than they are today to realise their full abatement potential.

This is the opportunity the ICT sector has in the fight against climate change. But it does come at a cost. Emissions from the sector are estimated to rise significantly over the coming years - from 0.5 GtCO_2e today to 1.4 GtCO_2e in 2020 under BAU growth.5 This growth assumes that the sector will continue to make the impressive advances in energy efficiency that it has done previously. However, meeting the sheer scale of demand for products and necessary supporting services in emerging markets such as China and India and continuing to deliver the services to increase productivity growth in the developed world will effectively outweigh the adoption of the current wave of efficiency benefits per product or service. There is also the possibility that the speed of introduction and the impact of new ICT technology or the mass adoption of social networking could cut carbon emissions in ways currently impossible to predict.

While the sector plans to significantly step up the energy efficiency of its products and services , ICT's largest influence will be by enabling energy efficiencies in other sectors, an opportunity that could deliver carbon savings five times larger than the total emissions from the entire ICT sector in 2020.

Getting SMART

The scale of emissions reductions that could be enabled by the smart integration of ICT into new ways of operating, living, working, learning and travelling makes the sector a key player in the fight against climate change, despite its own growing carbon footprint. No other sector can supply technology capabilities so integral to energy efficiency across such a range of other sectors or industries.

But with this potential comes responsibility. Emissions reductions in other sectors will not simply present themselves; the ICT sector must demonstrate leadership on climate change and governments must provide the optimum regulatory context. This report outlines the key actions needed.

These actions can be summarised as the SMART transformation. The challenge of climate change presents an opportunity for ICT to first standardise (S) how energy consumption and emissions information can be traced across different processes beyond the ICT sector's own products and services. It can monitor (M) energy consumption and emissions across the economy in real time, providing the data needed to optimise for energy efficiency. Network tools can be developed that allow accountability (A) for energy consumption and emissions alongside other key business priorities. This information can be used to rethink (R) how we should live, learn, play and work in a low carbon economy, initially by optimising efficiency, but also by providing viable low cost alternatives to high carbon activities. Although isolated efficiency gains do have an impact, ultimately it will be a platform - or a set of technologies and architectures - working coherently together, that will have the greatest impact. It is through this enabling platform that transformation (T) of the economy will occur, when standardisation, monitoring, accounting, optimisation and the business models that drive low carbon alternatives can be developed and diffused at scale across all sectors of the economy.

The ICT sector can't act in isolation if it is to seize its opportunity to tackle climate change. It will need the help of governments and other industries. Smart implementation of ICTs will require policy support including standards implementation, secure communication of information within and between sectors and financing for research and pilot projects.

This report demonstrates the potential role the ICT sector could play in mitigating climate change. It is now up to policy makers, industry leaders and the sector itself to make sure this potential is realised. The stakes couldn't be higher.

1. The Stern Review suggested that developed countries reduce emissions 20-40% below the 1990 levels would be a necessary interim target based on IPCC and Hadley Centre analysis. Source: Stern, N (2008), Key Elements of a Global Deal on Climate Change, London School of Economics and Political Science, http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/climateNetwork/publications/KeyElementsOfAGlobalDeal_30Apr08.pdf
2. All currency conversions to US$ based on exchange rate one Euro = $1.57757, obtained at http://xe.com on 9th June 2008.
3. ... ($872.3 billion) in energy and fuel saved and an additional ... ($143.5 billion) in carbon saved ... for a total of ... ($1,015 billion) savings.
4. All value figures here include a cost for carbon of Euro 20/tonne. See Appendix 3 for detailed assumptions.
5. The scope of this analysis includes whole life emissions from PCs and peripherals, data centres, telecoms networks and devices.

From: SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, by The Climate Group (2008).

EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres

This is an excerpt from: Best Practices for the EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres, European Commission (2008).

Introduction from the code:

This Code of Conduct has been created in response to increasing energy consumption in data centres and the need to reduce the related environmental, economic and energy supply security impacts. The aim is to inform and stimulate data centre operators and owners to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner without hampering the mission critical function of data centres. The Code of Conduct aims to achieve this by improving understanding of energy demand within the data centre, raising awareness, and recommending energy efficient best practice and targets.

This Code of Conduct is a voluntary initiative aimed to bring interested stakeholders together, including the coordination of other similar activities by manufacturers, vendors, consultants and utilities. Parties signing up will be expected to follow the intent of this Code of Conduct and abide by a set of agreed commitments.

Environmental Statement Electricity consumed in data centres, including enterprise servers, ICT equipment, cooling equipment and power equipment, is expected to contribute substantially to the electricity consumed in the European Union (EU) commercial sector1 in the near future. Western European electricity consumption of 56 TWh per year can be estimated for the year 20072 and is projected to increase to 104 TWh per year by 2020.

The projected energy consumption rise poses a problem for EU energy and environmental policies. It is important that the energy efficiency of data centres is maximised to ensure the carbon emissions and other impacts such as strain on infrastructure associated with increases in energy consumption are mitigated.

Problem Statement

Historically, data centres have been designed with large tolerances for operational and capacity changes, including possible future expansion. Many today use design practices that are woefully outdated. These factors lead to power consumption inefficiencies. In most cases only a small fraction of the grid power consumed by the data centre actually gets to the IT systems.

Most enterprise data centres today run significant quantities of redundant power and cooling systems typically to provide higher levels of reliability. Additionally IT systems are frequently run at a low average utilisation Over provisioning, ensuring availability and associated costs were previously considered a negligible risk to business performance because energy costs were relatively small in comparison to the IT budget, and environmental responsibility was not considered to be the remit of the IT department. However, with rising energy prices this is no longer the case, and the issue of energy consumption at the individual data centre level is becoming increasingly important as operational energy expenditures and ecological impact of the energy consumed begins to play an ever important role in overall cost of ownership of data centres.

Preliminary evidence and the increasing willingness of manufacturers and vendors to compete on the basis of energy efficiency in data centres confirms that there are efficiency gains (for example simply by using existing power management technologies) still to be realised without prohibitive initial costs that can lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Businesses are also becoming increasingly aware of their environmental impacts and the need to reduce these.

Many data centres operators are simply not aware of the financial, environmental and infrastructure benefits to be gained from improving the energy efficiency of their facilities.

Even awareness does not necessarily lead to good decision making, simply because there is no framework in place for the operators to aspire to. Making data centres more energy efficient is a multidimensional challenge that requires a concerted effort to optimise power distribution, cooling infrastructure, IT equipment and IT output.

Many activities have been initiated within the industry and there are numerous vendor specific products and services on offer. However, there is a risk of confusion, mixed messages and uncoordinated activities. Independent assessment and coordination - tailored to European conditions such as climate and energy markets regulation - is required to lower the barriers of access to and application of these energy saving opportunities.

A voluntary scheme within the EU such as the Code of Conduct will provide a platform to bring together European stakeholders to discuss and agree voluntary actions which will improve energy efficiency.

To help all parties address the issue of energy efficiency, data centre owners and operators, data centre equipment and component manufacturers, service providers, and other large producers of such equipment will be invited to participate in the Code of Conduct, by signing this Code of Conduct.

This Code of Conduct proposes general principles and practical actions to be followed by all parties involved in data centres, operating in the EU, to result in more efficient and economic use of energy, without jeopardising the reliability and operational continuity of the services provided by data centres.

1. The commercial sector is also referred as the tertiary sector and it includes both private and public building hosting data centre. In this case energy consumption of data centres of companies in the industrial sector is included.
2. This is based upon the Draft UK Market Transformation Programme European Enterprise Server installed base model, and assumes an upper bound ratio of 1:2 between electricity consumed by the server equipment within the data centre or server room, against that consumed by cooling equipment and through power losses. The lower bound ratio of 1:1 gives total electricity consumption close to 37 TWh. The upper and lower bound ratio is based on several different sources of measurements of electricity consumption in the data centre.
3. These include the US DoE, the US EPA Energy Star, the Green Grid association, Climate Savers Computing Initiative, the IEEE E-Server project ...

From: Best Practices for the EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres, European Commission (2008).

National Carbon Offset Standard

This is an extract from the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency National Carbon Offset Standard (2010). For terms and definitions, see the Glossary in separate appendix:

Introduction

The Australian Government has committed to introduce an emissions trading scheme in the form of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). The CPRS is designed to meet Australia's emissions reduction targets in a flexible and cost effective manner while supporting an effective global response to climate change.

The CPRS will impose a carbon price across most of the economy which will drive emissions reductions over time to achieve the targets set by the Government. The Government recognises that many businesses and individuals will wish to voluntarily do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The National Carbon Offset Standard ('the Standard') is intended to ensure that consumers have confidence in the voluntary carbon offset market and the integrity of the carbon offset and carbon neutral products they purchase. It provides guidance to businesses who wish to make their organisation carbon neutral or develop carbon neutral products in a way that achieves emissions reductions, through the purchase and retirement of carbon offsets that are beyond those achieved by the CPRS and achievement of Australia's national emissions reduction targets.

To be carbon neutral commonly means that the net emissions associated with a product or an organisation's activities are equal to zero. For an organisation or product to become carbon neutral, it is generally accepted as best practice that an organisation would:

1. measure its carbon footprint;
2. reduce emissions; and
3. offset any residual emissions.

Through this approach a company's investment in measurement of its carbon footprint can serve multiple goals. When greenhouse gas emissions are measured and reported, they are generally better managed.

Best practice also requires that an organisation make transparent to the public steps taken to measure, reduce and offset emissions so that any carbon neutral claims can be objectively assessed.

The Standard specifies:

- the types of carbon offsets that constitute genuine, additional emissions reductions in the context of the CPRS;
- the general principles and requirements for calculating the carbon footprint of a product or organisation;
- requirements for transparent recording of the carbon footprint, measures taken to reduce emissions and the amount reduced and the emissions amount offset and the type of carbon offsets purchased and retired; and
- requirements for auditing the veracity of carbon footprint calculations and offset claims.

A robust and transparent audit model is fundamental to provide confidence in offset projects and carbon neutral claims. Independent audit validates the eligibility and robustness of offset project methodologies, the amount of emissions reductions offset projects achieve, and the accuracy and completeness of carbon footprint calculations.

The Standard has been designed to be program neutral. The administrative framework for supporting the Standard will stipulate specific process and reporting requirements associated with the generation of offsets and the certification of carbon neutrality.

Normative reference

The Standard contains provisions which are based on existing Australian and international standards and Australian legislation. The editions of these documents, as referenced below, were current at the time of publication.

- Australian Standard (AS) ISO 14064 series, including:
  - AS ISO 14064 Greenhouse gases Part 1: Specification with guidance at the organisation level for the quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals (AS ISO 14064.1:2006)
  - AS ISO 14064 Greenhouse gases Part 2: Specification with guidance at the project level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emission reductions and removal enhancements (AS ISO 14064.2:2006)
  - AS ISO 14064 Greenhouse gases Part 3: Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions (AS ISO 14064.3:2006)
- International Standard ISO 14040 series, including:
  - ISO 14040: Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Principles and frameworks (ISO 14040:2006)
  - ISO 14044: Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Requirements and guidelines (ISO 14044:2006)
- International Standard ISO 14065: Greenhouse gases - Requirements for greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies for use in accreditation of other forms of recognition (ISO 14065:2007)
- Other international standards that are based on the ISO 14040 series.
- The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, including:
  - GHG Protocol - A corporate accounting and reporting standard (revised edition)
  - The GHG Protocol for Project Accounting
- The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (NGER Act) and supporting legislation and documentation, including:
  - National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Regulations 2008 (NGER Regulations)
  - National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Measurement) Determination 2008 (NGER (Measurement) Determination)
  - National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Guidelines (NGER Guidelines)
  - National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Technical Guidelines (NGER Technical Guidelines)
  - National Greenhouse Account Factors

All standards and legislation are subject to revision. Where referenced by the Standard, organisations should ensure that they apply the most recent edition.

Carbon offsets

3.1 Eligible offset units

Voluntary retirement of the following units will be accepted under the Standard for the purposes of voluntary carbon offsetting:

1. Australian Emissions Units (AEUs);
2. Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) except long term (lCERs) and temporary (tCERs);
3. Emission Reduction Units (ERUs);
4. Removal Units (RMUs);
5. Voluntary Emissions Reductions (VERs) issued by the Gold Standard*;
6. Voluntary Carbon Units (VCUs) issued by the Voluntary Carbon Standard*;

- Where credits are issued for reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) and other agriculture forestry and land use (AFOLU) projects, they must apply methodologies approved under the Standard.

1. Offsets generated from emissions sources in Australia not counted toward Australia's Kyoto Protocol target, where they meet eligibility criteria and use a methodology that has been approved under the Standard.

The Government reserves the right to amend eligible offset units as required to reflect carbon market developments both internationally and domestically. The list of eligible offset units will be reviewed regularly and is expected to change over time.

Further information on processes for having methodologies approved will be provided under the supporting administrative framework for the Standard.

3.2 Generation of domestic offsets

Proponents may propose methodologies for offset projects and develop offset projects within Australia from emissions sources not counted toward Australia's obligations under the Kyoto Protocol target.

Emissions sources currently not counted toward Australia's obligations under the Kyoto Protocol target and eligible for the generation of domestic offsets under the Standard are:

- Forest management (forests established before 1990);
- Revegetation (establishment of woody biomass that does not meet forest criteria); and
- Cropland and grazing land management (net greenhouse gas emissions from soil, crops and vegetation).

Emission sources not counted toward our International Target will be subject to outcomes in international negotiations and, similar to domestic arrangements, are likely to change over time.

3.2.1 Domestic offset eligibility criteria

In order for domestic offset methodologies and projects to be considered eligible under the Standard they are required to occur within Australia and be:

1. Additional

Greenhouse gas emissions reductions generated by the project must be beyond what would be required to meet regulatory obligations under any Australian laws or regulations or undertaken as part of 'business-as-usual' investment. The level of additional emissions reductions generated by an offset project is the difference between the emissions associated with the project ('project emissions') and emissions under a business-as-usual scenario.

The administrative framework supporting the Standard will provide further guidance on how to apply additionality principles.

1. Permanent

Greenhouse gas emission reductions must be permanent. In the case of sinks, this requires that the carbon stored is sequestered and will not be released into the atmosphere in the future.

1. Measurable

Methodologies used to quantify the amount of emissions reductions generated must be robust and based on a defensible scientific method. Methodologies must clearly define a boundary for the emissions reduction project, emissions sources and emissions factors and activity levels. They must specify the calculation of a baseline emissions forecast reflecting business-as-usual and the means of comparing it to expected emissions from the project to determine the carbon offsets generated. The methodology must specify the uncertainty associated with the calculation of offsets generated. It should also specify the risks associated with achieving the forecast abatement and how they will be managed.

1. Transparent

Consumers and other interested stakeholders must be able to examine information on domestic offset projects, including the applied methodology, emissions calculations and project monitoring arrangements, by accessing a publicly available website.

The information provided should clarify data sources, exclusions, inclusions and assumptions.

1. Independently audited

Eligibility of methodologies, offset projects and greenhouse gas emissions reductions generated must be audited by an independent third party. Existence of a conflict of interest should be determined.

Further information on audit requirements is provided under the Audit section.

1. Registered

Emissions reduction units generated must be registered and tracked in a publicly transparent registry.

Carbon footprint calculation

4.1 Carbon footprint calculation principles

The calculation of the carbon footprint of an organisationor product should be performed in accordance with the following principles, which are based upon those outlined in the GHG Protocoland adopted under the NGER System. These principles are consistent with those outlined under the other Australian and international standards referenced throughout the Standard, including the AS ISO 14064 and ISO 14040 series.

1. Relevance: Ensure the greenhouse gas inventory of an organisation, or the carbon life cycle assessment of a product, appropriately reflect the greenhouse gas emissions attributed to that organisation or product.
2. Completeness: Account for and report all greenhouse gas emissions sources and activities within the defined boundary of the organisation or product. Disclose and justify all exclusions.
3. Consistency: Use consistent methodologies to allow for meaningful comparisons of greenhouse gas emissions over time. Transparently document any changes to the data, boundary, methods, or any other relevant factors.
4. Transparency: Greenhouse gas information should be compiled, analysed and documented clearly and coherently so that auditors may evaluate its credibility. Disclose any relevant assumptions and make appropriate references to the calculation methodologies and data sources used.
5. Accuracy: Ensure that the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions is systematically neither over nor under actual emissions, as far as can be judged, and that uncertainties are reduced as far as practicable. Where uncertainty is high use conservative values and assumptions. Achieve sufficient accuracy to enable users to make decisions with reasonable assurance as to the integrity of the reported information.

4.2 Carbon footprint calculation of an organisation

An organisation should apply the following steps in order to calculate its carbon footprint.

1. Prepare a greenhouse gas inventory following the guidance outlined in sections 4.2.1 to 4.2.5 and in accordance with current domestic and international standards.

- The Australian standard AS ISO 14064.1:2006, NGER Act and supporting documentation, and GHG Protocol provide guidance for organisations on how to prepare a greenhouse gas emissions inventory.
- Other international standards that draw on the ISO 14064 series may also be applied.

1. Prepare a greenhouse gas emissions inventory report, which contains the following components:

- the organisation boundary;
- greenhouse gas emissions sources associated with the organisation boundary;
- greenhouse gas emissions factors and calculation methodology;
- activity and emissions data collected;
- assumptions used;
- all exclusions and their justification; and
- final calculated greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the organisation boundary.

4.2.1 Defining the boundary of an organisation

The boundary of an organisation defines the activities that an organisation should include in its carbon footprint calculation. The organisation may choose to measure the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the whole organisation or only a part of the organisation. In all cases, the organisation boundary chosen should be transparently documented and disclosed when making assertions relating to the achievement of carbon neutrality by the organisation.

If an organisation wishes to calculate the carbon footprint for the entire organisation, it could choose to use the following definition of an organisation's boundary, based on the definition used in the NGER Act:

1. An entire organisation's boundary includes:
  - all corporate group members; and
  - all facilities under the operational control of corporate group members.
2. An organisation's corporate group members include:
  - the controlling corporation;
  - subsidiaries;
  - joint ventures; and
  - partnerships.
3. A corporate group member will have operational control over a Facility if it has the authority to introduce or implement any or all of the following for that Facility:
  - operating policies;
  - health and safety policies; or
  - environmental policies.

An organisation requiring further guidance on using this definition to set its organisation boundary should refer to the NGER Act and associated subordinate legislation and guidelines.

Other boundary approaches consistent with the NGER Act are described in the NGER Guidelines. These include:

- Business unit;
- Facility;
- Sub-facility; or
- Activity.

The GHG Protocol outlines additional corporate level boundaries not covered by the NGER Act that are also suitable for calculating a carbon footprint for carbon neutrality purposes. They are the equity share and financial control approaches.

4.2.2 Emissions sources associated with the organisation boundary

1. An organisation should calculate all direct emissions (scope 1) and indirect emissions from the use of electricity, heating, cooling or steam (scope 2) attributable to sources within its chosen boundary. Scope 1 emission sources are outlined in the NGER (Measurement) Determination and comprise:

- the combustion of fuel for energy;
- the extraction, production, flaring, processing and distribution of fossil fuels;
- industrial processes where a mineral, chemical or metal product is formed using a chemical reaction that generates greenhouse gases as a by-product; and
- waste disposal, either in landfill, as management of wastewater or from waste incineration.

Scope 2 emissions result from activities that generate electricity, heating, cooling or steam that is consumed by a Facility, but do not form part of the Facility.

1. An organisation should consider calculation of other indirect (scope 3) emissions, which occur outside the boundary of a Facility as a result of activities at a Facility. This provides the organisation with a more comprehensive view of the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to its activities.

At a minimum, an organisation should include scope 3 emissions from the following sources:

- business travel of its employees;
- disposal of waste generated by the organisation; and
- use of paper in the course of its business.

Other scope 3 emissions to be considered include:

- extraction, production and transport of purchased fuels;
- extraction, production and transport of purchased materials or goods;
- disposal of wasted generated in the production of purchased fuels, materials and goods;
- outsourced activities; and
- cost of equipment, consumables, building lease, repairs, maintenance and communications.

In considering the calculation of scope 3 emissions, an organisation should refer to the GHG Protocol which provides the following guidelines for determining the relevance of scope 3 emissions sources:

- the scope 3 emissions from a particular source are large or believed to be large relative to the organisation's scope 1 and scope 2 emissions;
- the scope 3 emissions from a particular source contribute to the organisation's greenhouse gas risk exposure;
- the scope 3 emissions from a particular source are deemed critical by key stakeholders; and
- the organisation could undertake or influence the potential reduction of scope 3 emissions from a particular source.

An organisation should transparently document and disclose which scope 3 emissions have been included in its carbon footprint when making any assertions about emissions reductions.

1. An organisation should calculate emissions of the six greenhouse gases included under the Kyoto Protocol.

4.2.3 Emissions factors and calculation methodology

1. An organisation should collect activity data relating to the greenhouse gas emissions sources related to its boundary.
2. An organisation should calculate the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the emissions sources associated with its boundary. Greenhouse gas emissions from scope 1 and scope 2 emissions sources should be calculated in accordance with the methods and guidance provided in the NGER (Measurement) Determination. Options for calculating scope 1 emissions include:

- Method 1 - using default emissions factors derived from the latest version of the National Greenhouse Account Factors;
- Method 2 - a method using industry sampling and Australian or international standards listed in the NGER (Measurement) Determination or equivalent for analysis;
- Method 3 - a method using Australian or international standards listed in the Determination or equivalent standards for both sampling and analysis of fuels and raw materials. Method 3 is very similar to method 2, but it requires compliance with Australian or equivalent documentary standards for sampling; and
- Method 4 - direct measurement using continuous or periodic emissions monitoring.

Some guidance on calculation of scope 3 emissions for limited categories of emissions sources is provided in the National Greenhouse Account Factors and GHG Protocol.

1. An organisation should assess the uncertainty of its direct (scope 1) greenhouse gas emissions estimates in accordance with the NGER (Measurement) Determination.

4.2.4 Emissions attributable to the organisation

1. An organisation should apply the calculation approaches set out in 4.2.3 (b) to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to emissions sources associated with its boundary during a specified period of time (e.g. a 12 month period).
2. Collectively, the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to each emissions source will provide an estimate of the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the organisation boundary during the specified period of time.

4.3 Carbon footprint calculation of a product

The following steps should be applied to calculate the carbon footprint of a product.

1. Undertake a carbon life cycle assessment (LCA) with reference to the guidance provided in sections 4.3.1 to 4.3.4 and in accordance with current international standards.

- International standard ISO 14040:2006 and ISO14044:2006 provide guidance on how to undertake a LCA.
- Other international standards based on the ISO 14040 series may also be applied.

1. An organisation should prepare a LCA report for its product, which contains the following components:

- scope, including the system boundary;
- greenhouse gas emissions sources within the system boundary;
- all assumptions and exclusions;
- greenhouse gas emission factors and calculation methodology;
- inventory analysis; and
- calculated greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the life cycle of the product.

4.3.1 Defining the scope, including the system boundary

1. The scope of the LCA report should include a description of:

- the product and its function;
- the functional unit;
- all assumptions made in the LCA;
- the measurable parameters and system boundary of the product over its entire life cycle. The system boundary is best displayed as a flow chart (for example figure 2, ISO 14040:2006).
- An organisation should incorporate all relevant stages of the life cycle of the product in the LCA system boundary. Any decision to omit life cycle stages, processes, inputs or outputs must be clearly stated, and the reasons for and implications of their omission justified. Potentially relevant stages to be included and assessed in the life cycle of the product include:

the acquisition of raw materials and their transport to the production stage;

the production of the product;

transport, warehousing distribution and sale;

use of the product (including maintenance); and

product reuse, recycling, incineration and landfill disposal.

4.3.2 Emissions sources within the system boundary

1. An organisation should consider the following sources of greenhouse gas emissions from within the system boundary of the product, with reference to the potentially relevant stages of the life cycle listed above:

- greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the transformation, production, processing and acquisition of raw materials;
- greenhouse gas emissions resulting from manufacture, production and final assembly;
- greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the operation of premises;
- greenhouse gas emissions resulting from all methods of transport;
- greenhouse gas emissions resulting from warehousing and sales;
- greenhouse gas emissions resulting from services that form an integral part of distribution and supply;
- greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the operation and maintenance of the product; and
- greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the reuse, recycling or final disposal of the product.

1. An organisation should calculate emissions of the six greenhouse gases included under the Kyoto Protocol.

4.3.3 Inventory analysis

1. Life cycle inventory analysis should provide the following information:

- data collection procedures and calculation methodologies used to quantify relevant inputs and outputs of a product. Guidance on calculating scope1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions is provided in the NGER (Measurement) Determination. Some guidance on the calculation of scope 3 emission for limited categories of emissions sources is provided in the National Greenhouse Account Factors and GHG Protocol. Default Australian emissions factors are provided in the National Greenhouse Account Factors;
- reference units of all inputs and outputs, e.g. litre of fuel, unit of gas or electricity etc.;
- the chosen functional unit for the product;
- what the data includes and whether start-up/shutdown and emergency conditions are included, i.e. what production delivery inputs are considered;
- geographical representativeness, e.g. local or regional variations associated with the calculated greenhouse gas emissions;
- the allocation of greenhouse gas emissions amongst products that share a production delivery platform;
- the period during which the information has been collected;
- the significance of possible exclusions and assumptions;
- the source of the information; and
- where relevant, the uncertainty associated with key parameters.

4.3.5 Emissions attributable to the life cycle of the product

1. An organisation should apply the apply the data collection and calculation approaches set out in the inventory analysis to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to each stage of the life cycle of the product. Results are expressed in the chosen functional unit.
2. An organisation should assess the uncertainty of its direct (scope 1) greenhouse gas emissions estimates in accordance with the NGER (Measurement) Determination.
3. Collectively, the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to each stage of the life cycle will provide an estimate of the emissions attributable to the full life cycle of the product.

Achieving carbon neutrality

5.1 Emissions Management Plan

Organisations that calculate their carbon footprint and purchase offsets to become carbon neutral should develop an Emissions Management Plan. The Emissions Management Plan should demonstrate that appropriate systems are in place to monitor and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the organisation or product, and to purchase and retire carbon offsets. An Emissions Management Plan must identify:

- the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the activities of an organisation (or specified part of an organisation) or product within a given period;
- an emissions reduction strategy including the emissions reduction measures undertaken and quantity of emissions reduced;
- the equivalent quantity of carbon offsets required to offset the remaining emissions attributed to the product or organisation for each reporting period;
- records required, and the process for establishing and maintaining those records, to ensure that the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the product or organisation, and any changes in these, are recorded in a timely manner; and
- quality control practices in place to ensure data quality is maintained.

5.2 Retirement of eligible offsets

Organisations should voluntarily surrender and retire into a registry the equivalent number of eligible units to offset the total emissions associated with any product or organisation (or specified part of an organisation).

5.3 Reporting

A periodic report should be made publicly available on a website to communicate progress on emissions reduction activities and carbon offsetting of carbon neutral organisations and products. The periodic report should be made against an Emissions Management Plan and should include the following:

1. The total carbon footprint of the activities of the organisation (or specified part of the organisation) or the product sold in the given period, including any actions taken to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions before offsetting;
2. A statement on the emissions reduction activities undertaken in accordance with the emissions reduction strategy and the resulting quantity of emissions reduced;
3. Records to prove that sufficient eligible offsets have been acquired to offset the proportion of the total carbon footprint associated with the activities of the organisation (or specified part of the organisation) or products committed to be offset;
4. Details of the quantity and type of offset units purchased and register into which they have been retired, or cancelled.

5.4 Use of the National Carbon Offset Standard logo

Following independent audit of the calculation of the carbon footprint for an organisation or product and development of an Emissions Management Plan, the proponent may complete an agreement to use the National Carbon Offset Standard logo to state that the organisation or product is carbon neutral in accordance with the requirements of the Standard.

Completion of this agreement will require the proponent to make publicly available information about the organisation or product, including those details listed under section 5.3.

Audit

A robust and transparent audit model is fundamental to provide confidence in offset projects and carbon neutral claims. Independent audit validates the eligibility and robustness of offset project methodologies, the amount of emissions reductions offset projects achieve, and the accuracy and completeness of carbon footprint calculations. Audits of offset methodologies, projects and carbon footprint calculations required under the Standard should be undertaken by a suitably qualified auditor.

Suitably qualified auditors may include individuals or bodies that:

1. Are registered under the greenhouse and energy audit framework currently being established by the Department of Climate Change for the NGER Act and CPRS;
2. Have demonstrated knowledge and expertise in the relevant Australian and international and standards, specifically AS ISO 14064 and ISO 14040 series; or
3. Are accredited to the international standard ISO 14065:2007 or recognised international standards based on ISO 14040.

Once offset projects are established or carbon neutrality is achieved for an organisation or product, emissions reductions and offsetting activities should be reported and independently audited on a regular basis. Audited progress reports should be made publicly available.

Project proponents and organisations making carbon neutral claims are responsible for having activities independently audited and bearing the associated costs. Appropriate records must be maintained to allow emissions reductions and carbon neutral claims to be audited.

Version 1 - November 2009

From: Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency National Carbon Offset Standard (2010).

Assessment

The weighting of the assessment items and criteria are set by the particular educational institution offering the course. Shown here are those for the Australian National University (ANU, 2016).

There are two areas of assessment in the course:

- Weekly Assessment (20%): Contributions to weekly discussion forums (10%) and completion of a weekly quiz (10%),
- Assignments (80%): mid course (40%) and at the end (40%).

To pass the course at least 10/20 for Weekly Assessment and 40/80 for Assignments is required. Grades of 70% and higher (Distinction and High Distinction) are based only on Assignments.

Weekly Assessment

Percentage: 20%

1% weekly forum contribution, plus 1% weekly quiz, with best 10 out of 12 counted.

Details: Following tasks are required of you every week:

1. Read the course notes for the week and the additional readings.
2. Complete the weekly quiz.
3. Submit answers to each of the discussion questions in the Discussion Forum for that week, by the end of Wednesday. Submit your answers before reading the answers from other students.
4. Read the answers from other students and mark at least one postings from another student
5. Submit at least one reply to a posting from your fellow students in the Discussion Forum, for each of that week’s questions by the end of Sunday.

The questions each week are on topics to be covered in the assignments. All assessment is to be submitted on time, apart from special consideration for illness or other causes.

For the first two weekly forums you are required to use a formal style for referencing, such as Harvard (author-date) style. This is so the tutor can check you know how to reference for the assignments. After two weeks you can use simple hypertext links.

Also, optionally, you can paste your draft answers into the text-match check. The reports referenced in the course provide examples of what should be in your assignment submission. You can obtain assistance with referencing and writing from the ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre, along with a generic report structure and an example report.

You are to give a mark of 0, 1, or 2, to postings from other students, using the following scale. These marks are anonymous and are averaged by the system, to be used as a guide to the grade given by the tutor each week (up to 1%):

Grading
Numerical Mark | Standard
2 | Greater than expectation: Work of good quality, displaying an understanding of the subject matter and a grasp of relevant skills that is above average: all questions answered and at least one reply to another student's posting on each topic.
1 | At expectation: Work of satisfactory quality, which displays an adequate understanding of most of the subject matter and a sufficient grasp of relevant skills: most questions were answered, and at least one reply to another student's posting on each topic.
0 | Limited contribution: Work which is incomplete or displays an inadequate understanding of the subject matter or an inadequate grasp of relevant skills. Few or no postings to the forums, or postings with content which not acceptable. In particular material which is not correctly referenced, or cited.

Due date: Answers by the end of Wednesday and discussion by the end of Sunday, each week.

Mid-semester Assignment

Part A

Percentage: 10%

Details:

Describe an organization and how you will study its ICT sustainability

In the weekly forums and the two major assignments, you are asked to write about the ICT sustainability of an organization your are familiar with. It may be where you work, where you have worked, or an organization you can obtain information on from public sources. For this first assignment, describe the organization and how it uses ICT. Outline how you plan to obtain the information needed to report on the carbon footprint and materials use of the ICT operations of the organization.

Specific requirements:

Maximum 500 words. Include at least one reference using a formal style for referencing, such as Harvard (author-date) style. Also, optionally, you can check your draft using the text-match check. The reports referenced in the course provide examples of what should be in your assignment submission. You can obtain assistance with referencing and writing from the ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre, along with a generic report structure and an example report.

Standard ANU Grading and Marking is used.

All assessment is to be submitted on time, apart from special consideration for illness or other causes.

Those who do not achieve 50% on their first attempt will offered the opportunity to resubmit revised work for up to 50%. This offer will not be made for the assignments in the second half of the course.

Due date: End of week 4.

Marking Guide

Criteria | %
Is the organization and the role of IT in its operations described? Is the relationship between these and the carbon footprint and e-waste explained? | 40
Are the methods and assumptions for identifying the intensity of IT use in the organization shown. Are they credible? | 40
Is the document well structured, with headings, references. Is it readable, with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar? | 20

Marking Rubric

Is the organization and the role of IT in its operations described? Is the relationship between these and the carbon footprint and e-waste explained?

No description 0 points | Little description, nothing on relationship 2 points | Reasonable description, but limited discussion of relationship to carbon footprint and e-waste 4 points | Good description and a good discussion of relationship to carbon footprint and e-waste 6 points | As previous, but described effectively, with a detailed description and a detailed discussion of relationship to carbon footprint and e-waste 8 points

Are the methods and assumptions for identifying the intensity of IT use in the organization shown. Are they credible?

No description methods and assumptions for identifying the intensity of IT use 0 points | Little description of methods and assumptions. Not credible 2 points | Reasonable description, but not credible 4 points | Good description and a credible 6 points | As previous, but described effectively and very credible 8 points

Is the document well structured, with headings, references. Is it readable, with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar?

Poorly structured document, spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. 0 points | Many structure requirements met, but many problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 1 points | Most, but not all requirements met, with some problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 2 points | All structure requirements met, but with a few problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 3 points | All structure requirements met, but with a no problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 4 points

Mid-semester Assignment

Part B

Percentage: 30%

Details:

Evaluate the sustainability of IT services, devices and day-to-day operations of an organisation, including the carbon footprint and e-waste

Write a report on the carbon footprint and materials use of the ICT operations of your organisation (or an organisation you are familiar with). The report should follow the principles in the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency "National Carbon Offset Standard" (2010).

Specific requirements:

Maximum 2,000 words. Use use a formal style for referencing, such as Harvard (author-date) style. Also, optionally, you can check your draft using the text-match check. The reports referenced in the course provide examples of what should be in your assignment submission. You can obtain assistance with referencing and writing from the ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre, along with a generic report structure and an example report.

Standard ANU Grading and Marking is used.

All assessment is to be submitted on time, apart from special consideration for illness or other causes.

Those who do not achieve 50% on their first attempt will offered the opportunity to resubmit revised work for up to 50%. This offer will not be made for the assignments in the second half of the course.

Due date: End of week 6.

Marking Guide

Criteria | %
Is the organization and the role of IT in its operations described? Is the relationship between these and the carbon footprint and e-waste explained? | 20
Are the methods and assumptions for identifying the intensity of IT use in the organization shown. Are they credible? | 20
Are the figures for energy use and carbon emissions for the ICT operations of the organization credible? Is the method of calculation shown? Are the principles in the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency "National Carbon Offset Standard" (2010) followed? Have emissions been correctly categorized into Scope 1, 2 or 3? Has the correct conversion factor been used? Have the units been stated for all amounts and are these appropriate? | 20
Is the figure for e-waste credible? Is the method of calculation shown? Are the assumptions made appropriate? Have the units been stated for all amounts and are these appropriate? | 20
Is the document well structured, with headings, references. Is it readable, with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar? | 20

Marking Rubric

Is the organization and the role of IT in its operations described? Is the relationship between these and the carbon footprint and e-waste explained?

Reasonable description, but limited discussion of relationship to carbon footprint and e-waste 2 points

No description 0 points | Little description, nothing on relationship 1 points |  | Good description and a good discussion of relationship to carbon footprint and e-waste 3 points | As previous, but described effectively, with a detailed description and a detailed discussion of relationship to carbon footprint and e-waste 4 points

Are the methods and assumptions for identifying the intensity of IT use in the organization shown. Are they credible?

No description methods and assumptions for identifying the intensity of IT use 0 points | Little description of methods and assumptions. Not credible 1 points | Reasonable description, but not credible 2 points | Good description and a credible 3 points | As previous, but described effectively and very credible 4 points

Are the figures for energy use and carbon emissions for the ICT operations of the organization credible? Is the method of calculation shown? Are the principles in the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency "National Carbon Offset Standard" (2010) followed? Have emissions been correctly categorized into Scope 1, 2 or 3? Has the correct conversion factor been used? Have the units been stated for all amounts and are these appropriate?

No figures for energy use and carbon emissions. 0 points | Some figures for energy use and carbon emissions. Method of calculation not shown. 1 points | Reasonably complete figures for energy use and carbon emissions. Method of calculation shown. 2 points | Complete figures for energy use and carbon emissions. Method of calculation shown. 3 points | As previous, plus Carbon Offset principles followed. Emissions are correctly categorized into Scope 1, 2 or 3. Correct conversion factor been used. Units been stated for all amounts and are these are appropriate. 4 points

Is the figure for e-waste credible? Is the method of calculation shown? Are the assumptions made appropriate? Have the units been stated for all amounts and are these appropriate?

No figure for e-waste. 0 points | Figure for e-waste. Method of calculation not shown. 1 points | Reasonable figure for e-waste. Method of calculation shown. 2 points | Reasonable figure for e-waste. Method of calculation shown. Some assumptions stated. appropriate 3 points | As previous, plus e-waste figure credible, units stated for all amounts and are appropriate. 4 points

Is the document well structured, with headings, references. Is it readable, with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar?

Poorly structured document, spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. 0 points | Many structure requirements met, but many problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 1 points | Most, but not all requirements met, with some problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 2 points | All structure requirements met, but with a few problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 3 points | All structure requirements met, but with a no problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 4 points

End of Semester Assignment

Part A

Percentage: 10%

Details: In the previous assignment you estimated the carbon footprint and materials use of an organisation from ICT. How do propose to reduce these? Briefly describe the polices, operations or business processes you propose to change and how they are to be changed. You will then provide the details in the next assignment.

Specific requirements:

Maximum 500 words. Include at least one reference using a formal style for referencing, such as Harvard (author-date) style. Also, optionally, you can check your draft using the text-match check. The reports referenced in the course provide examples of what should be in your assignment submission. You can obtain assistance with referencing and writing from the ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre, along with a generic report structure and an example report.

Standard ANU Grading and Marking is used.

All assessment is to be submitted on time, apart from special consideration for illness or other causes.

Due date: End of week 10.

Marking Guide

Criteria | %
Are the changes to polices for procurement of ICT, changes to the ICT operations (such as turning up the thermostat in the computer room), or revising business processes credible? | 40
Is the report targeted at the organisation's ICT management committee, with processes tailored to suit the organization? | 40
Is the document well structured, with headings, references. Is it readable, with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar? | 20

Marking Rubric

Are the changes to polices for procurement of ICT, changes to the ICT operations (such as turning up the thermostat in the computer room), or revising business processes credible?

No changes proposed. 0 points | Little description of changes proposed. Not credible 2 points | Reasonable description, but not credible 4 points | Good description and a credible. 6 points | As previous, but described effectively and very credible. 8 points

Is the report targeted at the organisation's ICT management committee, with processes tailored to suit the organization?

Not targeted at ICT management committee or Taylor processes. 0 points | Some targeting of ICT management committee or tailoring. 2 points | Reasonably complete targeting of ICT management committee or tailoring. 4 points | Reasonably complete of ICT management committee and tailoring. 6 points | Complete of ICT management committee and tailoring. 8 points

Is the document well structured, with headings, references. Is it readable, with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar?

Poorly structured document, spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. 0 points | Many structure requirements met, but many problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 1 points | Most, but not all requirements met, with some problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 2 points | All structure requirements met, but with a few problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 3 points | All structure requirements met, but with a no problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 4 points

End of Semester Assignment

Part B

Percentage: 30%

Details: Prepare a sustainability strategy for IT in an organisation, covering both energy and materials use: Write a report identify ways to reduce the carbon footprint and materials use of your organisation (or an organisation you are familiar with) through ICT. This could be by changes to polices for procurement of ICT, changes to the ICT operations (such as turning up the thermostat in the computer room), or revising business processes. Describe the current way of functioning and the problems associated with it. Propose a "to be" process that is based on established standards, or proposed developments. How will you tailor the processes to suit your organisation? What are the challenges the organisation will face? How will you measure the success of the proposals? The target audience of the report is the organisation's ICT management committee.

Specific requirements:

Maximum 2,000 words. Use use a formal style for referencing, such as Harvard (author-date) style. Also, optionally, you can check your draft using the text-match check. The reports referenced in the course provide examples of what should be in your assignment submission. You can obtain assistance with referencing and writing from the ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre, along with a generic report structure and an example report.

Standard ANU Grading and Marking is used.

All assessment is to be submitted on time, apart from special consideration for illness or other causes.

Due date: End of week 12.

Marking Guide

Criteria | %
Is the organization and the role of IT in its current operations described? Are figures for current energy use, carbon emissions and e-waste provided? | 20
Are the changes to polices for procurement of ICT, changes to the ICT operations (such as turning up the thermostat in the computer room), or revising business processes credible? | 20
Is the report targeted at the organisation's ICT management committee, with processes tailored to suit the organization? | 20
Are the challenges the organization will face in making changes identifed along with measures of success of the proposals? | 20
Is the document well structured, with headings, references. Is it readable, with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar? | 20

Marking Rubric

Is the organization and the role of IT in its current operations described? Are figures for current energy use, carbon emissions and e-waste provided?

No description 0 points | Little description, on operations, or figures. 1 points | Reasonable description, but limited discussion, of operations, or figures. 2 points | Good description and a good discussion of operations, or figures. 3 points | As previous, but described effectively, with a detailed description of operations, and compete figures for current energy use, carbon emissions and e-waste. 4 points

Are the changes to polices for procurement of ICT, changes to the ICT operations (such as turning up the thermostat in the computer room), or revising business processes credible?

No changes proposed. 0 points | Little description of changes proposed. Not credible 1 points | Reasonable description, but not credible 2 points | Good description and a credible. 3 points | As previous, but described effectively and very credible. 4 points

Is the report targeted at the organisation's ICT management committee, with processes tailored to suit the organization?

Not targeted at ICT management committee or Taylor processes. 0 points | Some targeting of ICT management committee or tailoring. 1 points | Reasonably complete targeting of ICT management committee or tailoring. 2 points | Reasonably complete of ICT management committee and tailoring. 3 points | Complete of ICT management committee and tailoring. 4 points

Are the challenges the organization will face in making changes identifed along with measures of success of the proposals?

No description of challenges, or measures of success. 0 points | Some description of challenges. Some measures shown. 1 points | Reasonable description of challenges. Measures shown. 2 points | Good description of challenges. Measures shown. 3 points | As previous, plus measures credible, units stated for all amounts and are appropriate. 4 points

Is the document well structured, with headings, references. Is it readable, with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar?

Poorly structured document, spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. 0 points | Many structure requirements met, but many problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 1 points | Most, but not all requirements met, with some problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 2 points | All structure requirements met, but with a few problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 3 points | All structure requirements met, but with a no problems with headings, references, readability spelling, punctuation or grammar. 4 points

Tutor's Guide

The course is designed for on-line learning supported by a tutor. It uses a conventional Distance Education (DE) design and educational philosophy (Worthington, 2012).

Before the Course Starts

Before the date for commencement of the course, the tutor should check for any updates or corrections needed to the e-book of course notes and the course web page.

The tutor should ensure their photo, name and link to a biography are displayed on the top of the course web page.

The course notes contain hypertext links which need to be checked. The Internet Archive is a good place to look for on-line documents no longer available at their original location.

While the course notes and major assignments are available to the students from the start of the course, weekly activities are hidden and timed to appear each week (to avoid overloading the student with material). The tutor needs to check the dates each activity is timed to appear is correct. Also reminders are programmed to appear before each assignment is due. These reminders disappear after the deadline and the timing needs to be checked.

When the Course Starts

The tutor should post a welcome message to the News Forum, to introduce themselves, outline the course (particularly the assessment) and invite students to introduce themselves in the chat room.

Here is an example welcome message:

Welcome to ICT Sustainability COMP7310

Welcome to ICT Sustainability (COMP7310). I am your tutor for this course, Tom Worthington.

You will find materials for the course on the course web page. There is an e-book with a chapter for each of the twelve weekly topics, a description of the weekly on-line forums and the two assignments.

Each week there will be a new topic added to the course web page (corresponding to the topics in the eBook). You need to read notes and the readings. There is a short quiz for each week to help with understanding of the material (this does also count toward the assessment). Then answer two or three questions in an on-line forum (by replying to my posting of the question) and discuss them with your fellow students. Give each posting a rating and I will provide feedback and a mark the following week.

Do not attempt to start the assignments now. The weekly readings and discussions are designed to give you the background for the assignments.

Your first task, if you wish to do so (not for assessment), is to introduce yourself to your fellow students on-line in the chat-room.

Forums

You will see a separate forum posting with this week's questions (for assessment). You only need to write a couple of sentences in answer to each question. For the first two weeks, use formal Harvard (author-date) style for referencing, so you have some practice with it for the assignments. After two weeks you can use simple hypertext links.

Assessment

Proposed assessment for this course is:

- Weekly Assessment (20%): Contributions to weekly discussion forums (10%) and completion of a weekly quiz (10%), with the best 10 out of 12 counted,
- Assignments (80%): mid course (40%) and at the end (40%). The assignments are each divided into parts A & B. In Part A you outline how you plan to undertake the task (10%), in Part B (two weeks later) you complete the task (30%).

To pass the course at least 10/20 for Weekly Assessment and 40/80 for Assignments is required. Grades of 70% and higher (Distinction and High Distinction) are based only on Assignments.

All assessment is to be submitted on time, apart from special consideration for illness or other causes. Any comments on the assessment are welcome.

First Week

In the first week you will need to remind students that they need to answer questions in the forum, use references and consider an assignment topic. Students not used to on-line courses can tend to forget to do the work, this even applies to experienced adult learners.

Posting Reminder

Here is an example posting reminder message:

Answers to Week 1 Questions Due Wednesday

This is a reminder that there are three questions for you to answer by this Wednesday in the Week 1 Discussion Forum.

You first need to read the notes on the "Politics, Science and Business of Sustainability". There is a Week 1 Quiz to help with understanding of the material (this does count toward the assessment). Then answer the three questions in an on-line forum (by replying to my posting of the question) by Wednesday and discuss them with your fellow students by the end of this week. Rate the answers from your fellow students and I will provide feedback and a mark (out of 2) the following week.

There should be hypertext links to the relevant course materials (underlined above). You might want to add some topical item to the end of the message.

Referencing Reminder

Students may need some help with referencing. ICT students in are more used to writing code than scholarly posts.

Here is an example reminder referencing message:

Find something to reference for your posts this week

The second forum question for this week asks you about "Effects and responses to climate change" in an organisation. I realize you may not be able to find a published public document from your organization, but see if you can find something relevant on the record. This may be from a similar organization, an industry group, or research report.

One reason for using references is to give your postings more credibility. You can also reuse these references in your assignments.

Some students may not have a suitable organization they have worked for to write about. In that case, pick one you would like to work for and there is information publicly available about. You should write all your answers for weekly questions about the one organization, so you will know enough about it to write about in the assignments.

Each Week

Each week the tutor needs to prime the discussion forum at the start of the week, provide group summary and feedback at the end of the week, feedback and a mark to each student and a reminder of what is in next week.

Start The Weekly Discussion

Start a thread of discussion for each question asked in the notes (listed at the end of each chapter in the e-book).

Here is an example discussion question post:

Search for articles and papers

Search for documents, articles, papers and videos about ICT Sustainability. List three and briefly say what they cover and why they are worth reading.

Students can then reply to this post with their answers.

Approaches to tutoring on-line courses vary. This course has been designed to have extensive scaffolding provided to the students, so that after asking the weekly questions, it should not be necessary for tutors to participate in the discussions. Tutors should only have to intervene if there is no discussion (rarely a problem), or if a student posts inappropriate or incorrect information (usually corrected by other students).

Provide Individual Marks and Feedback

Provide a couple of lines of feedback and a mark for each student each week. For those students doing well, it may not be necessary to provide more than a "well done" and the mark after the first few weeks.

Use the grading system to examine forum ratings and quiz result for each student. You can have the students sorted from lowest to highest grade to identify those who need assistance. Examine some of the forum postings from each student to see if the rating is appropriate and adjust this in the grade book if necessary to arrive at your mark for the student. Find a posting to praise, before identifying deficiencies.

Here are some feedback sentences to use:

Forum for last week: 0 out of 2 (Limited contribution)

Forum for last week: 1 out of 2 (At expectation)

Forum for last week: 2 out of 2 (Greater than expectation)

Well done. Your post on ...

Your initial responses to the questions were not made by the Wednesday deadline.

You answered the questions by did not post any replies to other students.

You do not appear to have made any contributions to last week's forum. Do you need some assistance?

You do not appear to have attempted the quiz for last week. Do you need some assistance?

The system indicates that you are a student in "ICT Sustainability". The course has a weekly forum which students are required to post contributions to pass the course. You do not appear to have made any contributions for the first three weeks. These forums are designed to help with your study. Please let me know if I can be of assistance. You can contact me via the system, by e-mail, telephone, or book a time to visit my office.

As mentioned previously, you do not appear to have made any contributions to forums. I have asked Student Services to contact you to see if there is a problem with your enrollment in this course.

Your posting about ___ (___ PM) appears to use text copied from ___ but without being marked as a quote. The ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre has on-line documents and courses to assist with this. Keep in mind that failure to cite sources can result in a reduced mark (down to zero) and disciplinary action under the ANU Code of Practice for Student Academic Integrity.

General Feedback

As well as the feedback to each student, post feedback to the weekly forum for all students. This should tell the students where to find their individual feedback, what the average mark was, some tips and introduce the follow week's topic. You may also include some item of general interest, but keep the posting short (two to three hundred words). In the first few weeks of the course the feedback is likely to be on administrative matters rather than the course content.

Here is an example weekly feedback message:

General Feedback

Each of you should have received an individual message with a mark and in some cases also a comment or suggestion on your week one forum postings, via "Talk to your tutor".

The average mark was 1 "At expectation". Three students were graded at 2 (greater than expectation). Four students made limited, or no, contributions and so their mark was zero.

Please keep in mind that the reader may see your post out of context, so if you are replying to something briefly tell us what it is not just "I agree". Also remember when you use words, or an idea, from someone else you are required to cite that source. This was covered in the Professional Communications courses which most students have done (further assistance is available from the ANU Academic Skills & Learning Centre). Continue to use formal formal Harvard (author-date) style for referencing this week.

For week 2 "The Global ICT Footprint" there is a Week 2 Quiz. There are just two questions in the Week 2 Discussion Forum, on Greenhouse reduction strategies in your organisation and Greenhouse friendly policies.

You might like to attend ....

Assignments

Assignments are important and stressful for students. Students can be reluctant to start and so in addition to the automated reminders in the course web page, include a reminder in the weekly feedback. Also it is useful to explicitly remind students that the weekly forum questions are designed to help with the assignments and then can use the material they contributed in the forums, including references, to prepare the first draft of their assignment.

The course notes include a marking rubric. It is suggested the tutor use this to mark the assignment. After reading through the assignment submission the tutor should select a rating and make one or two sentences of comment against each of the criteria in the rubric. These comments can also be listed at the top of the feedback in the general comments area for clarity. It is generally not necessary, or useful, to make notations on the student's submission. Where the tutor needs to make a detailed notation, they should only make it on the first occurrence of the problem in the assignment. In particular tutors should not correct all of the grammatical errors in an assignment. Students who have difficulty with report writing should be referred for specialist assistance, as it is not the role of the course tutor to teach this.

Along with the individual assignment feedback to students a report should be posted to the course forum, with the average mark, a breakdown of marks and issues identified.

Here is an example assignment feedback message:

Results for Assignment 1

The results for Assignment 1 have been released. The average mark was 62% (Credit):

Results for Assignment 1
Grade | Number
High Distinction | 6
Distinction | 0
Credit | 2
Pass | 2
Fail | 3

Some problem areas for the assignment were:

1. Not Answering the question: Some gave a general dissertation on climate change and emissions, only briefly estimating those for an organization.
2. Not Detailing Calculations: Some reported the emissions estimates but not how they were calculated, in particular what conversion factor was used, where it came from and why.
3. Not citing sources: All the reports submitted had lists of references at the end, but some did not identify in the body of the report where these were used.

Those who have not yet reached the required standard have been offered the opportunity to resubmit revised work for up to a "Pass" mark (50%). This offer will not be made for the second assignment.

ps: As with the first half of the course, the weekly readings and discussion questions, are designed to prepare you for the second assignment.

Glossary

These terms are from the National Carbon Offset Standard (Australian Department of Climate Change, 2008), except where otherwise indicated.

A

Abatement

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, or enhancement of greenhouse gas removal from the atmosphere by sinks.

Australian Emissions Unit (AEU)

An emissions unit issued under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), also referred to as a 'carbon pollution permit'.

Annex I countries

Countries listed in Annex I to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), including all developed (OECD) countries and the countries in transition in central and Eastern Europe (including Russia and Ukraine). In the context of the Kyoto Protocol, 'Annex I country' is used to refer to a party included in Annex I to the UNFCCC with a commitment inscribed in Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol.

B

BAU

Business as Usual - used in the context of predicting future data on the basis of existing practices.

Business unit

A unit that is recognised by an entity as having administrative responsibility for one or more facilities of the corporation.

C

Carbon dioxide equivalence (CO_2-e)

A standard measure that takes account of the different global warming potentials of greenhouse gases and expresses the cumulative effect in a common unit.

Carbon footprint

A measure of the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions attributable to an activity, commonly used at an individual, household, organisation or product level.

Carbon neutrality

Commonly refers to a situation where the net emissions associated with a product or an organisation's activities are equal to zero through the acquisition and retirement of carbon offsets that meet additionality criteria.

Carbon offset

Represents a reduction in greenhouse gases, or enhancement of greenhouse gas removal from the atmosphere by sinks, relative to a business-as-usual baseline. Carbon offsets are tradeable and often used to negate (or offset) all or part of another entity's emissions.

Carbon sink

A natural or manmade reservoir that accumulates and stores carbon dioxide for an indefinite period.

Certified Emission Reduction unit

A Kyoto unit corresponding to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, and issued for verified emission reductions or removals achieved by projects approved under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). CDM projects undertaking afforestation and reforestation activities issue temporary and long term units known as tCERs and lCERs, which must be replaced after a specified period.

CO_2-e

See: Carbon dioxide equivalence (CO_2e).

CO_2e

See: Carbon dioxide equivalence: (CO_2-e).

G

Global Warming Potential

(GWP) A system of multipliers devised to enable warming effects of different gases to be compared. For example, over the next 100 years, a gram of methane in the atmosphere is currently estimated as having 21 times the warming effect as a gram of carbon dioxide; methane's 100-year global warming potential is thus 21.

Greenhouse gases

The atmospheric gases responsible for causing global warming and climate change. The major GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO_2), methane (CH_4), nitrous oxide (N_20), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF_6).

GtCO2e

Thousand Million Tons of CO_2e. See: Carbon dioxide equivalent.

I

ICT sustainability

"... the responsible acquisition, installation, use and disposal of information and communications technologies and services so as to utilise resources more effectively, improve efficiency and increase productivity, and reduce the environmental impact of operations. It also includes the effective use of information and communications technology to promote more sustainable practices in industry and the community. is the study and practice of using computers and telecommunications in a way which maximises positive environmental benefit and minimise the negative impact."

From: Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010 - 2015 (DEWHA 2010)

K

Kyoto Protocol

An international treaty created under the UNFCCC in 1997. It entered into force in 2005. Among other things, the Kyoto Protocol sets binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries and countries in transition. It includes individual emission reduction targets for Annex I countries to be met within the first commitment period of 2008-12.

L

Life cycle assessment

The compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle.

M

MtCO_2e

Metric tons of CO_2e (see: carbon dioxide equivalent).

N

National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) System

The national reporting framework for information related to the greenhouse gas emissions, and energy production and use of corporations operating in Australia. The framework is established under Commonwealth legislation, which makes registration and reporting mandatory for corporations whose greenhouse gas emissions or energy production or use meet certain thresholds.

O

Offset

See: Carbon offset.

S

Scope 1 emissions

The release of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as a direct result of activities at a Facility.

Scope 2 emissions

The release of greenhouse gas as a result of electricity generation, heating, cooling or steam that is consumed by a Facility.

Scope 3 emissions

The release of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere that is generated in the wider economy as a consequence of a facility's activities but that are physically produced by another Facility.

Sequestration

The removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide, either through biological processes (for example, photosynthesis in plants and trees), or geological processes (for example, storage of carbon dioxide in underground reservoirs).

T

terawatt hour

A terawatt hour (TWh) is a unit of energy equal to 10^12 Watt hours.

TW h

See: terawatt hour

U

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

An international treaty, adopted in 1992, aimed at achieving the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

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About this Book

ICT Sustainability is about how to assess, and reduce, the carbon footprint and materials used with computers and telecommunications. These are the notes for an award winning graduate course on strategies for reducing the environmental impact of computers and how to use the Internet to make business more energy efficient.

Copyright © Tom Worthington, 2017

Second edition.

ISBN: 978-1-326-95850-3. (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-326-95849-7. (eBook)

Cover shows the Power on-off symbol: a line within a circle (IEC 60417-5010).

These notes have been used for the courses:

1. Green Technology Strategies: offered in the Computer Professional Education Program, Australian Computer Society (first run as "Green ICT Strategies" in February 2009),
2. ICT Sustainability (COMP7310), in the Graduate Studies Select program, Australian National University (first run July 2009), and.
3. Green ICT Strategies (COMP 635), Athabasca University (Canada). Adapted for North America by Brian Stewart.

Course materials available free on-line, under at Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license at http://www.tomw.net.au/ict_sustainability/