ICT Sustainability

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 (CO₂e) 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 CO₂e 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 CO₂/kWh produces a total of 1.074 Kg CO₂ 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:
   1. Their energy strategy,
   2. Any use of ICT in the strategy,
   3. 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 CO₂e, embodied energy or energy use for telecommunications, data centres or desktop PCs?

Next: Energy Saving - Data Centres and Client Equipment.

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About the book: ICT Sustainability: Assessment and Strategies for a Low Carbon Future