Monday 30 May 2011

2011 Green Gown Awards

Green Gown Awards 2011, Awarding Sustainability Excellence in Universities and Colleges.

Entries for the 2011 Green Gown Awards are now open. The deadline for universities and colleges to submit their Stage 1 applications is Friday 15 July.

Now in their seventh year and administered by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC), the Awards recognise the exceptional initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges across the UK to become more sustainable. The awards ceremony will this year take place on Thursday, 3rd of November in London's Covent Garden. Since their inception in 2004, the Green Gown Awards have grown year-on-year and we expect 2011 to be no different.  The categories for the 2011 awards are:  
  • Carbon Reduction
  • Colleges & Smaller Institutions
  • Continuous Improvement – Institutional Change
  • Courses
  • Green ICT
  • Promoting Positive Behaviour
  • Research and Development
  • Skills
  • Social Responsibility
  • Space Efficiency
  • Student Initiatives and Campaigns
  • Sustainable Construction and Refurbishment
  • Sustainable Procurement
It promises to be a fantastic evening so don't miss out ! For more information on the Green Gown Awards please on the following link; http://www.eauc.org.uk/green_gown_awards
 For sponsorship enquiries email darren.hale@redactive.co.uk or call 020 7880 6206

SUSTE-TECH Workshops

Procurement
The first SUSTE-TECH Procurement workshops took place on May 24th at the University of Birmingham. The aim of the event was to bring managers of ICT, procurement, energy, and environmental departments together to discuss their roles and bridge any gaps that may exist between them and those that purchase ICT equipment for their departments.  The event will include speakers from the EDS Consulting, JISC, The EAUC, DEFRA and of course from the JISC Greening of ICT programme, PROCO2 . (See flyer below for more details). The event was a success and attendance was at full capacity. Delegates left the event with a greater knowledge of sustainable ICT and a clearer understanding of the procurement process. Evaluation forms indicated the event was very well received (scored 8.25/10 for overall success) and data and information included in the presentations proved very useful. Slides from the event are listed below. Other successful workshops run as part of the SUSTE-TECH project included two on Maximising Data Centre Efficiency and two on Paper Use Reduction.


Upcoming Workshops.

Estates.
An Estates Workshop has been planned for June 30th 2011.
This workshop will examine how institutions are, not only using more sustainable ICT equipment in their research labs, lecture theatres, conference centres etc., but also how using "smart" ICT can help them reduce their energy consumption. The event will be held at the Imperial College in London and speakers will include the Director of Estates at QMU in Edinburg, RM Education and the PM of the JISC funded Computer Room Efficiency Improvement project. A link to register to attend this event will be created shortly so please return to this blogpage or to the EAUC’s Greening of ICT with JISC webpage for further details  (http://www.eauc.org.uk/greening_ict_with_jisc)


Networks.
As network systems run 24/7 getting them to operate more efficiently is less straightforward than other categories of ICT. An event that examines this problem is being planned for July, 2011. The event's location has yet to be decided but speakers will include ICT managers from a range of FHE institutions and researchers from various JISC funded projects. A link to register to attend this event will be created shortly so please return to this blogpage or to the EAUC’s Greening of ICT with JISC webpage for further details. (http://www.eauc.org.uk/greening_ict_with_jisc)

The Utilisation of Space in Universities and Colleges.
As university real estate is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive to manage the SUSTE-TECH project will run a workshop on exactly that topic. This event will examine how Estates departments can optimise space at their institution and examine how ICT can help make existing space more pedagogic. The event's location and date in August has yet to be decided but a link to register to attend this event will be created in due course so please return to this blogpage or to the EAUC’s Greening of ICT with JISC webpage for further details. (http://www.eauc.org.uk/greening_ict_with_jisc)

PC Powerdown.
An event that examines the use of PC Powerdown is being planned for Autumn 2011. The event's location has yet to be decided but speakers will include ICT managers from a range of FHE institutions and researchers from various JISC funded projects. A link to register to attend this event will be created shortly so please return to this blogpage or to the EAUC’s Greening of ICT with JISC webpage for further details. (http://www.eauc.org.uk/greening_ict_with_jisc)

Sunday 22 May 2011

SUSTE-TECH and CUSP to the rescue

Last week I hosted the South West and South Wales SUSTE-TECH project participants meeting at the University of Gloucestershire. Eventhough not all the South West and South Wales participants were in attendance, what was discussed proved valuable as there is much overlap in the hurdles faced by institutions wishing to green their ICT systems.

Problem : One hurdle that featured strongly was the lack of staff available to champion green ICT. Recent cutbacks have resulted in redundancies and overburdening workloads for those that remain. The responsibility of implementing sustainable initiatives becomes an unwelcome addition to any IT manager’s workload, even if they believe in the cause.  An increase in workload can often lead to an increase in stress, and sickness which often results in requests for sick and stress leave from their positions at the university. The subsequent abandonment of the championing of sustainable issues results in a lack of sustainable improvement across campus. As sustainable projects are often not the primary responsibility of ICT managers there is less of a drive for other members of staff to champion the cause.

Solution: As a mean of solving this problem I have contacted the College & University Sustainability Placement organisation (CUSP) that is run by studentforce. I am hoping organise the placement of ICT, energy or environmental graduates with SUSTE-TECH participants. This should prove to be a win: win situations as SUSTE-TECH participants avail of much needed support staff and graduates receive the benefit of hands on experience