Sustainable Information Technology In Tertiary Education (SUSTE-IT)

The University of Bradford, in partnership with the NGO SustainIT is running a one year project for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to investigate ways in which information technology within universities and colleges can be made more sustainable. The core staff are Professor Peter James and Lisa Hopkinson, from Bradford's HEFCE-funded Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement (HEEPI) programme, and Richard Craven of SustainIT.

The SUSTE-IT project reflects the increasing importance of ICT-related energy and environmental issues, in the sector and elsewhere. For example, there is ever growing consumption (and even more rapidly increasing costs) of electricity in data centres, and in computers and peripherals; legislative and other pressures are requiring reductions in ICT-related carbon emissions, and the WEEE Directive is creating new requirements for equipment end-of-life.

The first stage of the project will produce a scoping study of these topics, which will then lead into the development of case studies about, and tools to support, more sustainable approaches.

Some key issues to be addressed will include:

• Overall ICT impacts - what proportion of HE energy consumption is related to ICT, how is this broken down, and how much will it increase in future? What are the areas where a) immediate ‘win-win' methods of reducing energy consumption and environmental impact can be adopted, and b) where there are more intangible synergies between environmental improvement and other areas of ICT functionality?

• Networks and configuration - can moves to thin client approaches, server virtualisation, and extended IP networks deliver significant environmental benefits?

• Hardware - how can data centres be made more energy efficient? What are the most sustainable purchasing options for ICT equipment? How can energy consumption by PCs, laptops and peripherals be minimised? Can recycling/reuse of end of life ICT equipment be increased?

• Applications and use - can ICT applications such as ERP and Intranets reduce resource consumption? Can e-learning, new ways of working, greater use of conferencing technologies and other ICT-related actions reduce travel by staff and students?

Click here for the JISC project scope and tender document.

To contact the project email susteit(at)heepi.org.uk