“GreenIT is an Australian-wide ICT industry body that is empowering the community through awareness and knowledge to adopt environmentally sustainable business practices.”
We work with ICT Professionals across all levels of management and clients of ICT services to address today’s sustainability challenges and identify solutions for a better tomorrow. Our goal is to drive nationwide change in technology, processes and people by providing credible, unbiased information and through direct engagement with a range of stakeholders including the IT industry, government and NGOs.
Aligned with the AIIA / ACS Green IT initiative the Energy Sector Focus Group will engage ICT Professionals to help shape the use of sustainable and efficient ICT practices in the Energy sector.
Key Objectives:
Figure 1 provides an overview of the role of the Focus Group and context for a number of key group objectives including:
Increasing the awareness of how new technology and sustainable energy can be used by the ICT industry.
Identifying how the Energy sector can assist key industries.
Generate, utilise and augment an open Green IT knowledge base.
Increase the adoption of Green IT through knowledge share, stakeholder engagement and best practice recognition.
Why Get Involved?
The focus group allows organisations in the energy sector to nominate talented individuals to share ideas and define industry benchmarks for sustainable ICT practices. This is required because it has been identified that:
ICT accounts for around 2% of total global emissions. (SMART 2020)
IT and office equipment typically contribute between 30% and 40% of the carbon footprint of ‘service based’ organisations. (Deloittes)
Over 1 billion computers are likely to be scrapped between now and 2010 but 55% of companies in the US have no plans for how to dispose of them. (IBM)
Half of existing data centres will have insufficient power and cooling capacity to meet the demands of high density equipment as early as 2008. (Gartner)
ICT area’s already identified for improvement:
Professionals in ICT make regular decisions around sustainable practices that can be improved through improved knowledge share and industry engagement. Decision areas often include:
AIIA Luncheon, presented by Robert Barton - Director for Industry Partnerships, Office of Clean Energy, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation. (click image to view presentation). NB: the audio during Robert's presentation is low due to him standing back from the microphone. You can increase the volume on the media player and external speakers are also recommended)
The Federal Government and various state governments have set ambitious policy directives to tackle climate change and drive the development of renewable energy. Achieving a low carbon, renewable energy future presents a number of challenges and opportunities for the ICT industry. Robert will investigate the current context of policy, programs and public sector investment and the potential of ICT in mitigating climate change and supporting renewable energy uptake.
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