Sustainable ICT in Your University or College by Nicola Hogan, EAUC’s Sustainable ICT Project Manager Rob Bristow, e-administration Programme Manager JISC

The EAUC What is EAUC, : Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges,  was launched in 1996,  staff of 13 and growing,  offices in Cheltenham and Scotland.  Our aim : “To raise the profile of environmental management and facilitate the improvement of environmental performance in member institutions”.

The EAUC How do we do that..:  Providing a forum for the sharing of experiences and information between individuals from different colleges and universities (swapping case studies and information)…. but has expanded to include information and guidance on …  Procurement, Environmental Legislation, ICT and Research etc,….all of which enable each universities and colleges to improve their environmental performance.

Sorted :  Sustainable Online Resource and Toolkit. The toolkit contains information on Sustainability, (providing information to those new to green issues), case studies from universities & colleges that have improved their sustainable performance. Universities that Count :  Essentially a benchmarking programme where Universities can assess their overall sustainable performance, receive a % grade and then figure out how they can improve on it. EAUC Programmes

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme :  Provides comprehensive Training for universities & college staff that are working towards sustainability in their institution.  The programme provides training from topical experts that is relevant to current issues. Sustainability Leaders Programme  (as above) for senior management:

EAUC Events Annual Conference:  Where our members have the opportunity to come together with associate members to network and showcase their work.  The 2010 EAUC Annual Conference was held in Bangor, South Wales and was attended by 325 people in total, mix of 175 delegates, 91 exhibitors 50 speakers Publications:  Earth Magazine,  E News and Insight.

EAUC Events Green Gowns Awards, :  U&C are awarded for their environmental performance  business are allowed to sponsor these events  Categories for participation include Carbon Reduction, Green ICT, Research, Sustainable Construction & Refurbishment, Student Initiatives and Campaigns,  The Green Gown Awards Ceremony 2010 will be held at the Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe, London on 16th June.

EAUC Membership EAUC Membership: Universities and Colleges can apply as a member (FE and HE sector) or  Can apply as an Associate Member (business government organisations, local council, charity etc.)  EAUC have in total over 280 U&C members and 59 associate members from various sectors of industry. How do you become a member ? : By paying an annual subscription the cost of which will depend on the size of your institution. Benefits of Membership: Access to a wide range of sustainable information, sector contacts, publications etc

Background Information on the Project…. why are we rolling out this project ?  Government Legislation : The 2008 Climate Change Act set a target to reduce Carbon emissions by 26% by 2020 (1990 levels).  Research (by Suste-IT) has shown that ICT use accounts for 2% of CO 2 emissions worldwide.  The FHE sector uses almost 1.5 million PC’s, 246,000 printers and 238,000 servers.  Emits > 500,000 tonnes of CO 2  Annual ICT related energy bill for the FHE sector : £116 million

Background Information on the Project…. why are we rolling out this project ? The extraction and processing of materials that go into the manufacture of ICT equipment has a very heavy environmental footprint  A study (IVF, 2007) a European PC and 17” monitor = 20kgs of materials.  A PC & Monitor’s life cycle will include the disposal of 37kgs of non hazardous waste and 0.7kgs of hazardous waste.

Background Information on the Project…. why are we rolling out this project ? The production of a PC & monitor will consume..  3,244 mega joules of energy  920 litres of process water Create..  193 kgs of greenhouse gasses  also release heavy metals, contribute to acid rain and other air, soil and water pollutants. We still need to educate via the use of technology just more sustainably.

Principle Aims of the Sustainable ICT Project To help Universities and Colleges across the UK become more sustainable in their choice and use of ICT systems  To reduce their energy use  To reduce their CO 2 emissions  To save money on their energy bills.. U&C’s will also benefit from…  Improving their “green credentials” : increase in college applications, help with funding and avoid penalties.

An Outline of the Projects Methodology.. 1. Create awareness of the project through e- mails, flyers, workshops, attendance at conferences etc. 2. Recruit 16 Universities and Colleges across the UK (8 in York & Humberside Region and 8 in the SW and SWa. Region. [London Higher are conducting study in the London area]. 3. Establish an ICT systems baseline-dataset for each of their institutions through the use of the SusteIT Tool. 4. Set a time-frame for improvement (15-18 months) with regular progress updates.

An Outline of the Projects Methodology…cont. 5. Identify where and how their ICT systems can be improved 6. Offer guidance and support throughout the course of the time-frame by offering consultancy support and sector support etc. 7. Re-calculate their ICT systems baseline- dataset (using the SusteIT tool) thus demonstrating improvement. “Before and After” of energy use and CO 2 emissions

Sustainable Improvements in Technology Possible sustainable options are :  Printing Centers : Having a centralized printing center is more efficient in terms of  1 Energy use : switch to powersave, economode or switch off.  2. Paper use : setting printers to print double sided by default, reuse scrap paper, monitor paper use.

Sustainable Improvements in Technology cont..  PC Power-down: Computers that automatically shut off when not in use.  Virtualization : Applies to Servers and Data Centers : where servers used to perform only 1 function now it serves 2 or 3 and operates more efficiently, is smaller in size, is typically no longer on site. Not having a large number of servers means not paying for its associated running costs i.e. energy, space, staff and air conditioning systems.

Sustainable Improvements in Technology cont..  Data Centers : Made more efficient through correct placement of equipment to optimize flow of cold air/natural cooling when weather allows it. (WLC, 20% red. in data center running costs by vented door).  Thin Client Technology : Using smaller more streamline, more compact equipment : e.g. going from a 20kg desktop to a laptop or notebook.

Sustainable Improvements in Technology cont..  Cloud Computing : Computer resources are delivered over the Internet by external service providers. University address, university linked schedules, timesheets etc., the responsibility for delivering the service will be given to a service provider such as Google or Amazon. Mix & Match of sustainable ICT, implement more than one sustainable option and all have proven successful in CO 2 emission reduction.

Scotland’s Success  Stevenson College: Anticipating a cost savings of £70,000, in reduced energy costs since using server virtualization.  QMU : Anticipating energy savings of 70,000 kWh of energy through replacement of conventional PC’s with thin client ones and automatic shutdown of non 24/7 PC hardware.  Angus College : Reduced overall ICT power consumption by 15% through power-down

How you can get involved ?  If your University or College is located in the York & Humberside, SW or SWa region or in the London region, you are a candidate for participation.  Once you’ve agreed to participate in the project, we ask that you.. 1. agree to stay the course of the project, 2. produce ICT system datasets as required and 3. provide us with a point of contact.

How you can get involved If you are not one of the participants you can still benefit from the project by  receiving information via s, checking out the EAUC’s website and tracking the projects progress.  Won’t have the benefit of free consultancy support but you will benefit from learning about what other institutions have achieved, hurdles they faced, how they overcame them etc.

Using the SusteIT Tool Very straight forward : Gather your institutions ICT system baseline- dataset. Your data should include facts and figures on : number of ICT equipment pieces, energy usage (kWh’s) and running times (hrs) of your HPC’s, Servers, PC’s & Monitors, Networks, Phones, Imaging, and AV equipment.

Using the SusteIT Tool The SusteIT Tool is very user friendly : with 1.sections of information for guidance 2. all ICT equipment listed 3. easy to flip between data sheets 4. Colour co-ordinated for ease of use Yellow : Energy Use; Blue: Number of pieces of equipment, Green: Categories of equipment.

Why get involved ? Legislation ….( 1 st slide) 1. Part of The Commitment to Climate Change { The 2008 Climate Change Act set a target to reduce Carbon emissions by 26% by 2020 or by 80% by 2050 (1990 levels).} 2. HEFCE (2008) have stated that it is committed to reducing its ICT related emissions {“make sustainable development a central part of our strategy for the future development of the higher education sector” … oc

Why get involved ? U&C’s will achieve savings in.. 1. Energy costs…running ICT systems and associated costs : cooling the server rooms, lighting computer rooms, etc. 2. Space…no longer need as much server rooms, desk space for PC and printers are reduced etc. 3. Staff… staff’s time is freed-up by not having to deal with as many technical issues. 4. CO 2 emissions

Any Questions or Comments Nicola Hogan’s Contact Details.   Phone : (01242)  Twitter: NicICT Web:

Project Partners : JISC : ctenergy.aspx ctenergy.aspx SusteIT: susteit/index.php susteit/index.php HEEPI : / HEFCE : /