SUSTAINABLE ICT – AN OVERVIEW

British Computer Society14th November

Professor Peter Jameswww.susteit.org.uk

ICT BENEFITS – SMART 2020• Environmental

- Cut global CO2 emissions in 2020 by 15%, with $946 billion of cost savings- Avoid c 5 tonnes of CO2 emissions through applications for every tonne created by production, use & disposal of equipment

• Social- e.g. access; overcoming disability

ENERGY & CARBON FOOTPRINT

• Downloadable tool – www.susteit.org.uk

• Default assumptions … or your own data

• University of Sheffield- 19% of non-domestic electricity- £1 million + bills in 2009- PCs higher than expected- Data centres/networks lower than expected

FOOTPRINTING RESULTSUniversity of Sheffield

University of Sheffield (ex HPC)

Lowestoft College

City College Norwich

Total Electricity (kWh)

8,680,806 (100%) 7,472,188 (100%) 453,714 (100%) 1,241,700 (100%)

PCs and monitors

4,164,477 (48%) 4,164,477 (56%) 197,402 (44%) 510,896 (41%)

Servers 1,520,736 (18%) 1,520,736 (20%) 135,999 (30%) 226,665 (18%)

HPC 1,208,617 (14%) 0 0 0

Imaging 835,659 (10%) 835,659 (11%) 42,171 (9%) 236,901 (19%)

Networks 687,362 (8%) 687,362 (9%) 68,538 (15%) 156,629 (13%)

AV 61,598 (1%) 61,598 (1%) 7,482 (2%) 89,936 (7%)

Telephony 202,356 (2%) 202,536 (3%) 2,122 (<1%) 12,790 (1%)

FHE - A LARGE ICT FOOTPRINT

• 2% of global CO2 emissions

• ICT in UK HE- 760,000 PCs- 215,000 servers- 147,000 networked printers- 512,000 Mwh of electricity- 275,000 tonnes of CO2 - over £60 million in 2009

325,000 Coal-Powered Computers

EQUIPMENT LIFE CYCLE

Materials

Manufacture

Transport

UseDisposal

KEY LIFE CYCLE QUESTIONS• Can we ever get a complete picture?

- HP 1.5 million tonnes CO2 eq direct- 4.5 million tonnes from Tier 1 suppliers

• What balance of impacts across the life cycle? e.g. production:use energy - Williams/UN University 4:1- EU Commission study 1:4

• How can we influence upstream impacts?

DESKTOP LIFE CYCLE IMPACTS

-2000

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

Desktop Laptop CRT LCD

To

tal

En

erg

y (M

J)

Production

Distribution

Use

End of life

POTENTIAL MEASURES BY IT?

• Specifying lower power equipment

• Automatic powerdown of networked devices

• Extending longevity• Modifying data centre

layout

• Increasing computer CPU utilisation

• Virtualisation• Minimising storage• Thin client in

specialised applications

Short Term Medium Term

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL MEASURES

• Awareness campaigns• Powerdown of non

networked devices• Upgrading data centre

power supply arrangements

• Increasing use of videoconferencing

• Maximum use of thin client where effective

• Free cooling of data centres

• Effective document and print management

Short Term Medium Term

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

• Low power servers

• Chilled water cooling

• Efficient layout

• Efficient UPS

• 30% support overhead

LONG TERM CHANGES• Less energy and material intensive desktops

- cloud computing; medium client- e-readers and ‘total content’

• Zero carbon data centres

• Pay as you go computing

• Intelligent campus- from computer to building maintenance?

REMOTE COMPUTING

• Direct outsourcing- Leeds Met using Google for student email and word processing (Google Apps)

• Collaborative outsourcing- London MAN for backup

• Managed service (e.g. accounting; payroll)

• Common data centres- YHMAN Derby/Salford/Sheffield Hallam- economies of scale/scope- greater location flexibility- expert suppliers

15

AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY

IntrusionDetection

Fire AlarmSystemPower System

ElevatorMgmt.

LightingControls

HVACControl

EvacuationManagement

SecurityUsers

BuildingMaintenance Users

Access Control(security system)

CampusSecurity

QUEEN MARGARET UNIVERSITY

• Wanted greenest building in UK

• PCs main barrier

• 98% thin client

• 25-30% space savings