Greening IT

Overview

Higher education has a role to play in understanding environmental issues, educating the community about these issues, and adopting practices that are globally responsible.   Information Technology is generally the third largest consumer of energy in an organization.  This positions IT operations as both a major consumer of energy as well as a major enabler of Institute activities that might be involved in responding to climate change in a positive way.

Green is a big part of the culture in IT Services.  Doug Woodley is the project manager of a series of green sub-projects.   Some of these initiatives are listed below.   The ITS department also produces a monthly green newsletter, coordinated by Laura Margolin, which keeps ITS staff aware of all the green initiatives and rallies them for participation.

Get informed

>>ITS Green Initiatives currently underway
>>Did You Know
>>Monthly Green Newsletter
>>BCIT Contest Winners

ITS Green Initiatives currently underway

• Meetings are done on-line in ITS - no paper copies of agendas or minutes.
• ITS information flyers have been reduced to rack cards or book marks with website references listed for further information.
• Magazine and newspaper subscriptions have  been reviewed and greatly reduced.
• Invoices are scanned and filed electronically - paper filing cabinets are disappearing.
• Email taglines have been added asking staff to consider the environment before printing the email.
• Computers are on an evergreen lease program and returned to the vendor for refurbishing and redistribution every 4 years.   Servers and Network equipment will also be on a lease program in the near future.
• Recycling bins in ITS collect paper, and there are containers to collect plastic bottles and cans.   Profits are used for our Christmas Families of Choice Campaign.
• PC Power saving software is being researched with a plan for mass deployment in labs and staff/faculty areas.
• Printer Energy Consumption and Printed Paper Consumption is being reviewed.
• Purchasing/Selection standards are being revised
• Environmental Footprint Data is being collected and analyzed.
• Energy Control and Monitoring Software is being researched.
• ITS is encouraging a reduction in the number of IT devices per user at BCIT.
• ITS is in the process of expanding the awareness of our technology green initiative to our clients departments.  
  In January 2009 our Green Tips of the Week contest begins, inviting BCIT departments to implement IT focused green initiatives to win prizes.  
  Keep an eye on the BCIT Announcements for details. 

IT Services continues to expand awareness...Will Hopkins, Director of IT Services, explains how BCIT IT Services is transforming the IT industry in an interview with Evolution 107.9

Did you know

• E-Waste is the term for electronic products nearing the end of its useful life. This includes computers, laptops, phones, televisions, stereos, copies, printers etc.   Many of these products can be reused, refurbished or recycled.   Unfortunately, electronic discards [PDF, 233Kb] is one of the fastest growing segments of our nation's waste stream.  It seems that computers are obsolete before they even get out of the box.
• On average office workers print 12,000 sheets per annum, with 44% shown to be unnecessary.  Gartner
• 53% of storage has not been accessed in the last 90 days.   The cost of supporting a tera byte of on-line storage is more than the purchase price of a tera byte of storage  Gartner
• IT has the same carbon foot print as the aviation industry!
• The Windows Vista operating system features significant changes to power management. 
• Gartner estimates that globally consumers and enterprises dispose of or replace around half a million PCs, 22,000 servers and about 1.5 million mobile phones - every single day of the year!
• 10,000 PCs operating 24/7 consume $1.4 m per annum in electricity.

Monthly green newsletter

• October 2008 [PDF, 544Kb]
• November 2008 [PDF, 580Kb]
• December 2008 [PDF, 687Kb]
• January 2009 [PDF, 674Kb]
• February 2009 [PDF, 726Kb]
• March 2009 [PDF, 620Kb]
• April 2009 [PDF, 211Kb]
• May 2009 [PDF, 808Kb]
• June 2009 [PDF, 719Kb]

IT and Environmental Sustainability Presentation

BCIT contest winners

Week One

Donna Woo, Assistant to the VP Education and also Assistant to the VP Student Services, is our first Green Contest Winner.    

Donna has been busy promoting duplex printing to all the staff in the Executive Offices. She also prints her Powerpoints 4 slides to a page.

Good work, Donna!

Week Two

Tina San, Buying Office Assistant at the BCIT Bookstore, is our second Green Contest winner.

Tina added the green tag line to her email signature

Good work, Tina!

Week Three

Joanne Schaap, Executive Assistant to the Board of Governors, is our third Green Contest winner.

Joanne prints packages for the Board of Governors double sided, saving 50-75 sheets of paper each time.

Good work, Joanne!

Week Four

Steve Clegg of the Applied Research Liaison Office, is our fourth Green Contest winner.  Here are a few of the initiatives that they have undertaken:

1. “Please consider the environment before printing this note” has been added to at least one ARLO member’s e-mail signature.
2. ARLO printers have been preprogrammed to print double sided by default to save paper.
3. Documents like “Non-disclosure Agreements” are electronically scanned, kept on file and distributed to the clients in digital format rather than paper based. Further, the majority of other ARLO records are gathered, kept and circulated electronically rather than in print form
4. ARLO recently started a battery collection and recycling system:
5. Used batteries are collected from “wireless mice” & PowerPoint clickers, etc
6. Some ARLO members now use rechargeable batteries in the same devices
7. Further, ARLO recycles all the common materials like cardboard, paper, and bottles + cans.
8. ARLO has created an ITunes University site where people can obtain ARLO hosted seminar material, such as PPT slides and audio files, in electronic means rather than paper based or on CD’s.
9. ARLO has initiated a composting program in the new CARI building that has grown to include users from BCIT’s International department (in the same building wing). All waste from fruits, vegetables, and organic matter are collected and brought to BCIT’s main composting facility once a week.
10. Staff members switch off lights when not in use and all computers are turned off at the end of the day to conserve energy.
11. ARLO now only prints meeting agendas when it’s necessary for each participant to follow along item by item. Most meetings are now paperless.
12. ARLO has incorporated an air drying dish rack into our kitchen area. This encourages staff to use reusable dishes, cups and cutlery rather than plastic or paper. Further, this air dry rack cuts down on the amount of paper towel previously used to dry reusable dishes.
13. ARLO members car-pool to events, courses, and seminars off campus to reduce vehicle emissions. Further, one ARLO member car-pools to work daily, another cycles frequently, while two others utilize public transport to get to work everyday.
14. ARLO help’s its clients commercialize and licence renewable and clean energy.

Good work, Steve!

Week Five

Jill Medema, Banner Production Assistant of the Registrar's Office is our fifth Green Contest winner.  Jill brought forward some websites that recycle plastic ID cards. 

http://cardtechid.com/Eco-friendly-Cards.aspx