E-Innovation for Sustainable Development of Rural Resources During Global Economic Crisis

Zacharoula AndreopoulouAristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Vagis SamathrakisAlexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Greece

Soulla LoucaUniversity of Nicosia, Cyprus

Maro VlachopoulouUniversity of Macedonia, Greece

A volume in the Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability (PPPS) Book Series

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E-innovation for sustainable development of rural resources during global economic crisis / Zacharoula Andreopoulou, Vagis Samathrakis, Soulla Louca, and Maro Vlachopoulou, editors. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: “This book brings together a multidisciplinary exchange of knowledge on the application of electronic and mobile innovations towards the sustainable development of the economy and provides an opportunity to identify effective e-innovation and successful practices”-- Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-1-4666-4550-9 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-4551-6 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-4552-3 (print & perpetual access) 1. Information technology--Economic aspects--Europe. 2. Technological innovations--Economic aspects--Europe. 3. Sustainable development--Europe. 4. Rural development--Europe. I. Andreopoulou, Zacharoula, 1965- HC240.9.I55E436 2014 338.94’07--dc23 2013026148 This book is published in the IGI Global book series Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability (PPPS) Book Series (ISSN: Pending; eISSN: pending)

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Chapter 2

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4550-9.ch002

Green ICT Applications towards the Achievement of

Sustainable Development

ABSTRACT

“Green ICT” constitutes a new term in Informatics that describes environmentally sustainable ICT and the use of ICTs in the interest of the natural environment aiming to sustainable development. It encompasses innovative ICT tools, e- and m-services, and smart technologies in combination with green practices and green behaviour either for the ICT industrial sector or the ICT user/citizen that contributes not only to the protection and restoration of the environment but also to the enhancement of the quality of human life. Thus, “Green ICT” has become synonymous with eco-friendly technologies and software tools.

INTRODUCTION

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are often seen as the way to limit envi-ronmental problems and improve the aspects of our lives under this context. At the same time, the production and use of ICT equipment has its own harmful impact on the environment. This study presents the meaning of “green ICT” and its importance of adoption. The goal of this paper is to aid in the understanding of green ICT, its

applications, innovations and strategies, and to draw the attention of decision and policy makers in green ICT. Furthermore, the benefits and the improvements in quality of life, environment, and economy through green ICT are presented. It is necessary to understand that ICTs can reverse the current situation and that can constitute a powerful vehicle for sustainable development. Economic recovery and sustainable development are key challenges that all countries nowadays face. Over the years, ICTs have been adopted in several areas

Zacharoula AndreopoulouAristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Emmanouil StiakakisUniversity of Macedonia, Greece

Maro VlachopoulouUniversity of Macedonia, Greece

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Green ICT Applications towards the Achievement of Sustainable Development

of our lives and work, impacting upon our profes-sional and private life, offering convenience, and improvements. Furthermore, they constitute one of the most important factors of economic growth, productivity, and social development. ICTs play an important role in the economy transformation process and in addition they are a vital source of competitiveness for enterprises. However, and despite the benefits that ICTs provide, they also contribute to environmental problems, consuming great amounts of electricity and generating carbon dioxide emissions. According to the literature concerning the environmental impact of ICTs, ICT is considered part of the global environmental problem and the same time part of the solution.

It is accepted that ICTs can promote sustainable development (Hilty et al., 2008). Green ICT or ICT sustainability refers to an approach of efficient and effective design, manufacturing, use, and disposal of computers, servers, and associated sub-systems in order to achieve reduction of energy, emissions, and consumption of resources (Murugesan, 2008). Furthermore, green ICT indicates ICT applications that will optimize energy usage and will create a more sustainable environment. It promotes eco-nomic viability and cost effective management, including cost of disposal and recycling, while complying with social and ethical constraints. Green ICT attracts significant interest and it is assumed that it will be an important issue for several years to come. It has taken such extend, that companies are striving to compete each other in how much “green” they will be. The words “green” and “sustainable” are sometimes used in the literature without discrimination. However, the term “sustainable development” includes not only environmental impacts but also economic and social aspects. Therefore, it can be mentioned that sustainable ICT provides a broader view than green ICT.

Figure 1 presents a conceptual framework for a systematic approach of green ICT aiming to sustainability development in the context of global

economic crisis. The framework incorporates problems and solutions based on ICT, involved parties, and categories of activities/applications that have to be chosen for green and sustainability.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ICT

The impact of ICTs upon the environment can be distinguished in three dimensions (Hilty, 2008; OECD, 2010): the first one includes impacts re-lated directly to the life cycle of ICT including pro-duction, use, recycling, and disposal. The second refers to the ICT applications that can change the processes of production, transport, and consump-tion, including, for example, the replacement of a product with a service. The last dimension in-cludes environmental impacts related to behavioral changes and economic structures that are results of the ICT availability and usage. Therefore, ICT could be seen both as a solution and a problem to environmental sustainability. ICT systems and technologies contribute to environmental damage in different ways during their production and their disposal: energy use in production, consumption of significant amounts of electricity, greenhouse gas emissions contribution, and high toxicity of the products, inappropriate waste management and reverse logistics. It is worth mentioning that with the fast growth of ICTs in business and daily life, the total electricity consumption of ICT is expected to double by 2022 compared to the level in 2010, while tripled by 2030 to 1,700 terawatts (IEA, 2009). It has been estimated that the ICT sector (personal computers, peripherals, telecommunication networks and devices, and data centers) generates 2% carbon dioxide of the total estimated emissions. Moreover, it is noticed that carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the power consumed in data centers are greater than those of many countries and cities. The carbon dioxide footprint of the ICT industry is about to exceed the one of aviation industry (Lechner, 2008).

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Green ICT Applications towards the Achievement of Sustainable Development

In addition to the above, the toxic substances, such as lead and mercury, contained in ICT equip-ment increase the environmental burden at their disposal. The ICT equipment after the end of its useful life is often disposed without special treat-ment causing severe environmental problems. Environmentally friendly design, production and life cycle management of ICT can be made more efficient and environmentally sustainable. The negative impact of ICT on the environment must be

addressed by governments, international authori-ties, ICT industries, businesses and consumers’ initiatives towards producing and managing more “environmental friendly” products. They can use ICTs in different ways, such as (Murugesan, 2008; OECD, 2010):

• Greening ICT systems and usage, applying dematerialisation, reducing the toxic con-tent and energy use of ICT products.

Figure 1. Green ICT aiming to sustainable development in the context of global economic crisis

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Green ICT Applications towards the Achievement of Sustainable Development

• Using ICT to support environmental sus-tainability, by improving the efficiency of existing products and processes, including coordinated supply chains and improved logistics processes, making buildings and vehicles more energy efficient (smart buildings).

• Using ICT to build green innovations, of-fering innovative monitoring, modelling, and decision support systems and tech-nologies, e.g. monitoring weather and climate changes, information systems for carbon footprint estimation (SCEnAT, a decision-support tool – the Supply Chain Environmental Analysis Tool) (Koh et al., 2011a, 2011b).

• Enabling videoconferences and tele-meet-ings, reducing travel-induced environmen-tal pollution and fuel consumption.

• Creating environmental sustainability awareness by the development of e-learn-ing and/or collaboration platforms to pro-mote best practices.

However, ICTs can contribute to improving the energy performance of the activities of other sectors and reducing their environmental impact. Furthermore, they provide solutions and smart applications to handle global warming, toxicity, land and water use, ozone layer depletion, and impacts on biodiversity (OECD, 2010).

GREEN ICT ACTIVITIES

Green ICT is a pillar of sustainable development. It covers a variety of subjects, like the effects of ICTs on the environment; cleaner technologies and smarter applications; intelligent manage-ment of energy consumption; innovation and new technologies in tackling environmental problems; green ICT business models; education, training, and public awareness. Some of the most typical and widely used applications and solutions of

green ICT are cloud computing, tele-conferencing, digital distribution/publication, power-saving devices, energy-efficient building, intelligent heating system, and intelligent transport systems.

The global economic crisis, as well as the energy issues and climate changes have led to a change of the world economy and the establish-ment of green economy as a solution to both environmental and economic problems (OECD, 2009a; UNEP, 2009; UNEP, 2011). Various strategies and activities have been developed and applied in international and local level on the green ICT area since its importance was recognized. A green economy provides significant opportuni-ties for investments to improve environmental performance resulting in development, wealth, and jobs. In this respect, governments and busi-nesses worldwide have launched a wide range of initiatives and programs to implement green ICT (Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, 2011; OECD, 2009b). The ICT industry considers that green ICT is an emerging opportunity for market expansion and national policy makers consider that green ICT can promote more carbon-effective activities (Gartner Research, 2008; Fernando and Okuda, 2009; World Economic Forum, 2009).

OECD focuses on how ICT can improve the environment and tackle climate change. European Union aims at reducing carbon emissions and increasing renewable energy. Various projects are working on this issue. The award-winning EU project BeyWatch, supported by the European Commission, aims at ICT tools for environmental management and energy efficiency. Its goal is to develop an energy solution in order to provide energy control and power balancing to homes and neighborhoods. A typical example of green ICT adoption strategy can be detected in Ireland’s workflow program, where with the help of a lo-cal wireless sensor network, the traffic around Dublin is measured and reported to households. Citizens are encouraged to use the traffic report to adjust their work and schedule (Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources,

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Green ICT Applications towards the Achievement of Sustainable Development

Ireland, 2008). According to Australia’s Solar Cities Program, smart meters will be installed in households, in order to monitor and plan energy consumption and billing (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Aus-tralia, 2008). An important and useful approach is Denmark’s Action Plan for Green IT, which includes teleworking, focuses on e-government and provides accumulating information about the experience of Danish companies that use green ICT to other companies interested in greening their ICTs (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Denmark, 2008). Norway’s Green ICT initiative is promoting teleconferencing and e-cooperation through the dissemination of best practices.

Consumers play a significant role in the fight against climate change. They can contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions by using en-ergy more efficiently or adopting environmental friendly ICT technologies. An important goal is to motivate user’s awareness, sensitize them to the impact of their consumption pattern and lead them to a behavior with less carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption. But less than one third of government initiatives directly aim at consum-ers and consumer education. However, there are government and business initiatives which involve standards and eco-labels and can inform consumer in his/her purchases and usage. Undoubtedly, government has also a significant role in the pro-motion of green ICT. Some of the responsibilities and activities that governments should undertake are the assessment of ICT infrastructure, products and services, and the promotion of ICT policies, strategies and initiatives against environmental concerns. It is necessary to encourage investments in green ICT infrastructure and the use of mobile communication, applications and video confer-encing, wherever possible. Governments should support pilot programs, researches, and studies on green ICT, provide incentives for market and private sector development specialized in green ICT, and encourage positive behavioral change among end users.

GREEN ICT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

“Green ICT for the environment” or “Green ICT for Green” covers the exploration of e- and m- in-novations aiming to solve environmental problems and assure sustainable environmental management of important issues, such as the monitoring and estimation of future environmental scenarios for sustainable governance. Sustainable governance of natural environment and resources, such as agricultures, forests ecosystems, lakes, rivers, and water reservoirs has to continually deal with the conflict between environmental functions and decision-making in local, regional, national, and international level, with high coordination and exchange between administrative carriers and actors across the public/private and the expert/stakeholder divide (Andreopoulou et al., 2011). Environmental targeted programmes and initia-tives have to handle interdisciplinary multivariable datasets, including a variety of sources (numbers, maps, quality data etc.) with different structure (meteorological, biological, economic etc.) and this has been effectively accomplished through multidisciplinary environmental data management with databases.

Green ICTs support surveillance systems for natural environment and resources, as a means to protect and restore natural ecosystems po-tential (forests, rangelands, lakes, rivers, water reservoirs, wetlands etc.) and initiate prevention activities, such as remote observation systems tele-detection and alarm systems in regard to forest fires, floods, erosions and generally as it concerns climate change indexes, environmental monitoring, GIS technology etc. Sensor tele-detection using wireless network technology can help to collect from remote ecosystems time-series of environmental data, which are sent wirelessly and registered into local databases in institutes, labs etc. Further, environmental data are analysed aiming to study sensitive environmental indexes while visual graphs are continuously produced for comparison and checking of phenomenon trends

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Green ICT Applications towards the Achievement of Sustainable Development

through simulation models that imitate effectively the environmental reality. Additionally, future forecasts are provided, while decision-making stakeholders can evaluate alternative future sce-narios with decision support systems, and given certain parameters we can provide sustainable environmental management, wise use of natural resources, and prevention of natural disasters (Andreopoulou, 2012).

Forests and agricultural lands are important to climate change mitigation because of the significance of their carbon stock and also for their exchange of greenhouse gases between the atmosphere and soils and vegetation that can go both ways (Green Press Initiative, 2008). Agri-cultural holdings can be reorganized using ICT infrastructure aiming to the automation of produc-tion, cultivation factors and inputs monitoring, e.g. precision technology, ICT infrastructure for e-commerce and e-marketing, e.g. logistics, trace-ability systems, and innovative e- and m- systems for water losses reduction.

It is imperative to incorporate innovative ICT tools in every EU initiative, measure and pro-gramme relative to the environment, agriculture & forestry, water, energy, transportations, energy etc. Moreover, the main strategy takes to a low-carbon economy in 2050 trying to keep global warming below 2oC. EU is targeted to eco-innovation and green technologies since clean technologies are the future for Europe’s economy. The sectors responsible for Europe’s emissions-power genera-tion, industry, transport, buildings & construction, and intense agriculture, can turn to a low-carbon economy in the near future e-innovations.

GREEN ICT APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITS

With the dramatic rising of energy cost, environ-mental sustainability became more important and a growing number of infrastructure systems and processes were improved in order to consume as

low as possible power. ICT and the potential that offers for large-scale simulation, optimization, and real-time control plays a significant role and is expected to generate, allocate, distribute, share, and use energy in a resource-efficient and environmentally-friendly way. There are many studies aiming to estimate standby consumption and suggesting the establishment of standards and product labeling (Meier, 2005). One of the approaches to increase the energy efficiency is to develop more energy-efficient hardware and this can be achieved by labels, such as the US Energy Star (Energy Star, 2009) or the European TCO Certification (European TCO Certification, 2009). These labels are used in order to rate ICT products and indicate their environmental impact. It is noted that new emerging technologies need much less energy to operate.

Furthermore, industry encourages and provides motivation to households and businesses for pur-chasing and using energy efficient ICT products. According to Romm (2002), Internet provided so many efficiencies throughout economy that have resulted in significant declines in electricity and energy demand. Companies, that their operation is based on exchange and storage of vast amounts of data, like Google and Facebook, have risen the last years. Data centers are one of the most energy demanding ICT applications and since the quantity of data to be stored and managed is increasing, more data centers will be necessary (Chaize, 2008; Hasson, 2009; Brodkin, 2009). Industry focuses on efforts to make data centers more energy ef-ficient, promoting virtualization and optimization of power supply and cooling systems within data center facilities. Significant savings in the energy budget of a data center, without sacrificing service level, providing economic incentive, and also contributing to environmental sustainability is the innovation of cloud computing. Cloud computing and the outsourcing of data storage and processing have changed the way in which ICT services are provided. Cloud computing promotes growth of the data center industry and provides resources,

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Green ICT Applications towards the Achievement of Sustainable Development

software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. Based on a recent “Data Center Energy Forecast Report,” it can be expected that savings even up to 20% can be achieved in server and network energy consumption with respect to current levels (Accenture, 2008). It also offers the potential of significant decreasing the carbon footprint of ICT.

It is also considered that the use of ICT in the building sector, which accounts for 40% of EU energy consumption, can lead to a decrease of 10% in total energy consumption by 2020. Smart buildings and infrastructure solutions aim to the reduction of emissions from buildings and core infrastructure through improved design, monitor-ing and control, as well as through appropriate tools to reduce energy needs. Smart houses with heating control and household devices that demand lower electricity, and thus are energy efficient, constitute typical projects of how to achieve the above targets.

Moreover, the concept of the Smart City has attracted a lot of interest in recent years and it broadly refers to a city that is using new ICTs in a strategic, innovative and environmental sound way in order to achieve its aims. It also refers to interconnected and sustainable, comfortable, attractive, and secure community. This sustain-able urban model is incentivized by the European Commission using the strategic energy technol-ogy plan. A green ICT investment in Smart City might include, for example, a network of sensors in the city. The highly instrumented city will bet-ter manage and control city systems by collecting information in real time and in that way will be able to achieve optimization of decision making and optimization of available and new resources. These can help in a solution considering the electricity, the water and the gas consumptions, as well as heating and cooling systems, public safety, waste management and mobility.

Among the objectives of the green ICT is to reduce the hazardous materials that are used in the manufacture of products and the amount of energy consumed in the life cycle of products. A way to achieve that is promoting the recyclability of the devices and the proper and efficient man-agement of discarded appliances. Proper disposal in an environmental sound way is also important. Recycling of products can contribute to raw ma-terials and energy extraction. In this respect, the environmental burden is reduced and in addition energy and raw materials’ saving is achieved. A typical example of industry association that pro-motes applications focusing on proper disposal is a Web service called “recycler locator,” which is used to inform consumers about the nearest local recycler.

CONCLUSION

Green ICT is of crucial importance for a sustain-able economic development, including products with a lower environmental impact, processes treating waste, reuse or recycle, providing in-novative technologies and systems to monitor environmental impact and support the social needs of citizens and consumers. The domains where ICT can help are vast. Reduction of carbon emissions and energy consumption are two of the most important domains. Equally important are issues like reducing waste and maximizing the use of raw materials. Collaboration between the different related sectors is paramount for achieving these goals. Green ICT benefits the environment by improving energy efficiency, lowering green-house gas emissions, using less harmful materials, and encouraging reuse and recycling. We should be legally, ethically, and socially committed to green our ICT products, applications, services, and practices.

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Climate Change: Change of the climate as a result of the raising of the global temperature determined by the inflow in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases. The changes of climate that are affecting our planet, in fact, exceed those that might be expected as a result of natural agents.

Environmental Informatics: The scientific discipline which applies computer based systems for better environmental governance and manage-ment resulting in a better and sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of natural environment.

Green Informatics/ICTs: Environmentally sustainable Informatics/ICTs. Green ICT goes into how ICT can be used to lessen other aspects of the environmental impact.

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Green Technologies: Technologies that are environmental-friendly. All technology paths, methods, and innovations aiming to global climate stability and environmental sustainability, as well as non-toxic products.

ICT: All the means of Information and Com-munication Technologies used for the storage and dissemination of information. The definitions are often heterogeneous and difficult to compare. Some are sometimes very large and include all the mechanisms used to organize, store, manipulate, submit, post, and find information.

Smart Technologies: They represent interac-tive technologies, where the inputs are processed and the outputs meet specific needs.

Sustainable Development: Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is development able to include social aspects relevant to an assessment of quality of life, such as health, the availability of food, access to education, water quality, the quality of the dwelling, the use of compatible technologies, respect for human rights, and so on. The concept of sustainability, originally referred only to ecological sustainability, is extended to other dimensions of development: economic, social, territorial, and generational ones.