Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) affect the environment in various ways. Their energy consumption is growing exponentially, with and without the use of ‘green’ energy. Increasing environmental awareness within information science has led to discussions on sustainable development. ‘Green Computing’ has been introduced: the study and practice of environmentally sus- tainable computing. This can be defined as ‘designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of com- puters, servers, and associated subsystems - such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and net- working and communications systems - efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the en- vironment’. Nevertheless, the data deluge makes it not only necessary to pay attention to the hard- and software dimensions of ICTs but also to the value of the data stored. We explore the possibilities to use information and archival science to reduce the amount of stored data. In reducing this amount of stored data, it’s possible to curb unnecessary power consumption. The objectives of this paper are to develop a model (and test its viablility) to [1] increase awareness in organizations for the environ- mental aspects of data storage, [2] reduce the amount of stored data, and [3] reduce power consump- tion for data storage. This model integrates the theories of Green Computing, Information Value Chain (IVC) and Archival Retention Levels (ARLs). We call this combination ‘Green Archiving’. Our explora- tory research was a combination of desk research, qualitative interviews with information technology and information management experts, a focus group, and two exploratory case studies. This paper is the result of the first stage of a research project that is aimed at developing low power ICTs that will automatically appraise, select, preserve or permanently delete data based on their value. Such an ICT will automatically reduce storage capacity and curb power consumption used for data storage. At the same time, data disposal will reduce overload caused by storing the same data in different for- mats, it will lower costs and it reduces the potential for liability.
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Computers create environmental problems. Their production requires electricity, raw materials, chemical materials and large amounts of water, and supplies (often toxic) waste. They poison dumping sites and pollute groundwater. In addition, the energy consumption in IT is growing exponentially, with and without the use of ‘green’ energy. Increasing environmental awareness within information science has led to discussions on sustainable development. ‘Green Computing’ has been introduced: the study and practice of environmentally sustainable computing or IT. It is necessary to pay attention to the value of the information stored. In this paper, we explored the possibilities of combining Green Computing components with two theories of archival science (Archival Retention Levels and Information Value Chain respectively) to curb unnecessary power consumption. Because in 2012 storage networks were responsible for almost 30 % of total IT energy costs, reducing the amount of stored information by the disposal of unneeded information should have a direct effect on IT energy use. Based on a theoretical analysis and qualitative interviews with an expert group, we developed a ‘Green Archiving’ model, that could be used by organizations to 1] reduce the amount of stored information, and 2] reduce IT power consumption. We used two exploratory case studies to research the viability of this model.
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This papers presents some ideas to use so-called software agents as a software representation of a product not only during manufacturing but also during the whole life cycle of the product. Software agents are autonomous entities capable of collecting useful information about products. By their design and capabilities software agents fit well in the concept of ubiquitous computing. We use these agents in our newly developed manufacturing process. This paper discusses further use of agent technology.
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Green data centres are the talk of the day. But who in fact is involved in developing green data centres? What is their contribution? And what does this contribution constitute in practical terms? This article states which stakeholders are involved in green data centres in the Netherlands, what their involvement is and what effect their involvement has. The article starts by giving the definitions for sustainability and by determining the stakeholders and their possibilities in this field. Next, we examine the actual impact of each stakeholder for arriving at greener data centres. This leads to a number of conclusions for achieving a larger degree of sustainability.
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This paper describes a project to explore the possibilities of virtual worlds in educating Green IT. In the project a virtual world has been created with various assignments which are meant to create awareness on sustainability aspects of IT. The world (and the assignments) will be incorporated in a course for first-year IT students. In order to measure the effects of the course, a questionnaire has been developed which can be used before and after the course to measure the attitude towards green IT.
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Environmental or ‘green' education is an important driving force behind the ‘greening' of society as it plays a critical role in raising environmental awareness and preparing students for green jobs. None of the existing environmental attitudes and behavior measures is focused on the evaluation of green education, especially in relation to consumption. To date, no longitudinal studies of children and students' attitudes towards consumption influenced by education exist. Also, little has been done to explore the socio-cultural context in which attitudes toward consumption are being formed and to explain the cross-cultural differences in environmental attitudes. This pilot study is designed to take the first step towards developing methods complementing existing quantitative measurements with qualitative strategies, such as consumption diaries, focus groups, and concept mapping. While this research is just a first attempt to tackle children's knowledge and attitudes consumption, preliminary results of the research on which this chapter is based and enthusiasm of the research participants encourage the author to stress the importance of consumption studies as part of green education for educational program developers. As a chapter of this volume, the author hopes that this study will add to the anthropological depository of research on the cultural variants in the perception of the environment in children. This chapter draws upon the consumption diaries collected from the upper-elementary school children in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, between September 2009 and May 2010. Consumption diaries are chronological documents recording purchase, use, and waste of materials, which can be used both as analytical tools and the means to stimulate environmental awareness. The four main methodological steps involved in this research were as follows. Children were asked to complete the consumption diary, paying specific attention to use and waste materials. Consequently, focus group meetings were held with parents and their children to discuss the diaries. Finally, interviews with the children were conducted in order to generate statements that supplement those generated by focus groups for carrying out the concept mapping analysis. The concept mapping analysis was then conducted to organize the order and analyze the ideas expressed in the focus group and interview sessions. This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge/CRC Press in "Environmental Anthropology Today" on 8/5/11 available online: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203806906 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Sustainability is without doubt one of the most important challenges of our time. How can we develop prosperity, without compromising the life of future generations? Companies are integrating concepts of sustainability in their marketing, corporate communications, annual reports and in their actions. Information systems (IS) provide organizations with the ability to change and improve business processes to better support sustainable practices. Therefore, IS can make a contribution to the sustainable development of organizations. However, the organizational change aspects of „Green IS‟ are covered only marginally in literature. This paper aims to contribute the debate on Green IS, by highlighting the role of sustainability in the organizational process of implementing IS and organizational change resulting from IS. Based on a literature review of the concepts of sustainability, and the role of IS in sustainability, we will apply the concepts of sustainability to IS projects and create a checklist for developing sustainability indicators in IS projects.
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The importance of sustainability is rapidly increasing and by now has an increasing impact on the operations of organizations. In modern organizations many of the business processes are supported by IT, which makes the relation between sustainability and IT an important subject. However, how to integrate business strategy with IT operations in relation to sustainability is unclear. In this paper we focus on the role of Enterprise Architecture in this process and try to answer “How Enterprise Architecture may contribute in the traceable transformation from sustainability principles towards requirements on Green IT in the field of higher education.” Based on a literature study and qualitative research at different organizations we adapted the Sustainable Information Systems Management (SISM) model of Erek et al (2012). The SISM Revisited model not only guides organizations in identifying areas of interest for aligning the sustainability strategy of an organization with its IS/IT activities, but we expect it will be useful to implement sustainability in organizations as well.
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Swales are widely used Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) that can reduce peak flow, collect and retain water and improve groundwater recharge. Most previous research has focused on the unsaturated infiltration rates of swales without considering the variation in infiltration rates under extreme climate events, such as multiple stormwater events after a long drought period. Therefore, fieldwork was carried out to collect hydraulic data of three swales under drought conditions followed by high precipitation. For this simulation, a new full-scale infiltration method was used to simulate five rainfall events filling up the total storage volume of the swales under drought conditions. The results were then compared to earlier research under regular circumstances. The results of this study show that three swales situated in the same street show a variation in initial infiltration capacity of 1.6 to 11.9 m/d and show higher infiltration rates under drought conditions. The saturated infiltration rate is up to a factor 4 lower than the initial unsaturated rate with a minimal rate of 0.5 m/d, close to the minimum required infiltration rate. Significant spatial and time variable infiltration rates are also found at similar research locations with multiple green infrastructures in close range. If the unsaturated infiltration capacity is used as the design input for computer models, the infiltration capacity may be significantly overestimated. The innovative method and the results of this study should help stormwater managers to test, model, plan and schedule maintenance requirements with more confidence, so that they will continue to perform satisfactorily over their intended design lifespan.
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This article describes a method for promoting sustainable business practices in the hospitality sector and focusses on energy usage in hotels. It raises questions about the actual impact of eco-labels on actual environmental performance.
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