The EAUC's Green Gown Awards

The EAUC's Green Gown Awards recognise exceptional initiatives by universities and colleges across the UK to become more sustainable. The Awards are widely recognised as the most prestigious recognition of environmental best practice within the further and higher education sectors.Categories this year include; carbon reduction; energy efficient construction; and of course Green ICT.
So if your institution has improved its ICT systems by either reducing its energy related requirements, utilised more environmentally friendly equipment or implemented an initiative that created less ICT related waste then the Green ICT category is for you. 

For more information click on the following link. http://www.greengownawards.org.uk/welcome/
Good Luck to all Green ICT entrants !!

SUSTE-TECH workshops during the summer of 2011

Upcoming Workshops

Networks.An event examining the energy use of networks is being planned for July 20th, 2011 at the University of Bristol's Graduate School of Education. Speakers at the event 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 webpage for furthur details. Details of the event are below on the "save the date flyer"

Utilisation of Space Through the Use of ICT.An event that examines how the use of innovative communication technologies are influencing the design of physical learning spaces in FHE institutions will be held at the University of Birmingham on August 24th. Hear from those who have carried out such research and learn how ICT can help declutter and streamline classrooms and lecture theatres, thus enhancing the pedagogic experience. Speakers from one of JISC's various e-learning and pedagogy project's will present on their findings, as will the head of the University of Leeds' "INTelligent Energy awaRE NETworks" project. Represenatives from the ICT business sector will also present

Improving Sustainability Across Estates

On June 30th, the JISC funded SUSTE-TECH project ran a workshop that examined how, through the clever use of ICT, estates managers can run their campus more sustainably. Over 40 delegates registered to attend the event and speakers from both the FHE and business sectors presented on what they had done to reduce energy consumption and wastage of resources by employing technology.

A presentation from the host institution’s Head of Building Operations, Kevin Cope highlighted how Imperial College have reduced their plants and services carbon consumption and how ICT infrastructure underpinned it’s delivery. Steve Scott, director of Campus Services at Queen Margaret University presented on how their sustainability strategy for the new Musselburgh campus contained a vision statement that aimed at developing a “sustainable community for learning and life”. Their holistic sustainability strategy emphasised getting the basics right first so they designed sustainability in from the start that incorporated their ICT systems. 


From the business sector, Dave Everett from RM-Utileyes presented on how real-time utility monitoring at a primary school resulted in savings of  thousands of pounds even though the school was unaware of any obvious performance issues.


Finally, Prof. Peter James Director of The Suste-IT Project showcased what a selection of UK HE institutions had done to reduce energy costs and reach carbon targets.  Feedback from the delegates was very positive with the workshop scoring an 8.25/10 for overall success.

As FHE estates struggle to find efficient ways of saving money, this workshop demonstrated how this sector wide issue can be tackled.  All presentations are available on the EAUC’s Greening of ICT with JISC workshop webpage : http://www.eauc.org.uk/workshops.

P.S. Watch out for upcoming workshops on Greening Your Institutions Network Systems and Utilisation of Space Through the Use of ICT.

Examples of Sustainable Networks

Quick question. Does anyone have information in the form of case studies and/or examples of best practice where institutions greened their ICT Networks? I'm in the process of organising a workshop that will examine "the true environmental cost of network systems at institutions", and am in need of  examples that involve changes to the use of switches, routers, cables, IP telephones, etc.

Contact me at NHogan@eauc.org.uk or on 01242 714321.

Thanks

Nicola.

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, 3^rd 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)

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