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Sustainable ICT Procurement
ICT has a surprisingly heavy environmental footprint. A typical European office PC and LCD monitor weighs around 20kg, contains over 27 different materials, and generates 66kg of waste and 1,096kg of CO2 during its lifetime (IVF 2007). ICT overall accounts for around 2% of global CO2 equivalent emissions(Gartner Consulting 2007), and around 3% of UK electricity consumption (MTP 2008). The SusteIT report also calculated that ICT use in further and higher education will use over £116m of electricity in 2009, and generate over 500,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions (James and Hopkinson 2009).
Procuring the right ICT equipment and services can greatly reduce this footprint, through increased energy efficiency and in other ways. This is especially true of devices that are regularly replenished, such as servers
and PCs. A number of factors are now requiring or stimulating greater action by universities and colleges in this area, including:
Rising costs of electricity, and therefore ICT usage;
Central Government initiatives, such as Quick Wins;
Sector initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and other environmental impacts; and
The development of new or improved energy and environmental labelling schemes for ICT products.
The attached paper explores their implications for ICT procurement in universities and colleges. It is based in part on an event, Sustainable ICT Procurement, held at Nottingham Trent University on 2 July 2009.1
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