IT for Sustainability: Capgemini's Approach

http://www.uk.capgemini.com/services-and-solutions/services/technology/solutions/it_for_sustainability/

"Our approach is based on understanding people, processes and technology to help you develop your information strategy.

Our approach to Sustainability: leverages existing technology investments brings together the silos of people, processes and technology

provides for an outcome-driven view of business requirements

helps you develop a road map to allow for your future sustainability needs

There are a number of key steps to be followed in assessing and deploying a Sustainable IT programme. These are:

Step 1: Assessment

We deliver a framework to identify your sustainability needs. This process typically takes 4-6 weeks. We have developed a number of tools to analyse, measure and quantify carbon emissions.

Step 2: Implementation

We develop a road map for you to deliver the necessary changes in terms of technology, people and processes. We prioritise and implement changes according to a bespoke process and use our standards-based global methodology for Sustainability. We provide dashboards and metrics to prove the savings and progress made.

Step 3: Transformation

We provide the strategy, tools and infrastructure needed and help you with the challenges of implementation, including business transformation, stakeholder management, training and infrastructure requirements.

Step 4: Hand-over

Finally, we help you take control of the care and development of your Sustainability programme. We understand the strategic importance of this and implement processes that can be embedded in your business. Carbon reduction is a way of life, not a one-off quick fix."

Internet of Things for a Green Planet: 2010 Conference

http://www.iot2010.org/cfp/

The "Internet of Things (IoT)" disrupts with the today's Internet limitations of human-entered data: technologies like RFID, short-range wireless communications, real-time localization, and sensor networks empower computers to perceive the world for themselves. Standardized infrastructures capable of managing, sharing and processing this captured data will be necessary in order to bring the Internet of Things into commercial use. This interlinking of physical world and cyberspace foreshadows an exciting endeavour that is highly relevant to researchers, corporations, and individuals.

This conference will continue the success of the Internet of Things conference from 2008 in Zurich. It brings internationally leading researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry together to facilitate sharing of applications, research results, and knowledge.

The IoT2010 particularly encourages research on infrastructure and applications facilitating environmental responsibility under a theme "IoT for a Green Planet".

Topics:

* Green by Internet of Things / Green of Internet of Things Technology

* Design of future sustainable technologies linking the physical and virtual world

* Novel services and applications to facilitate environmental responsibility

* Emerging Internet of Things business models and process changes

* Communication systems and network architectures for the IoT

* Experience reports from the introduction and operation of networked things in areas such as healthcare, logistics & transport

* Emerging applications and interaction paradigms for everyday citizens

* Social impacts and consequences, such as security, privacy, opportunities and risks

* Smart Objects

http://www.iot2010.org/cfp/

ICT for Sustainable Growth - European Commission

ICT for Sustainable Growth - European Commission

"The European Commission aims to make sure ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) contribute to the development of a more sustainable Europe and is, therefore, focusing on Energy Efficiency, Water Management and Climate Change Adaptation.

The Recommendation adopted by the European Commission in 2009 entitled "mobilising Information and Communications Technologies to facilitate the transition to an energy-efficient, low-carbon economy" provides the policy framework for our activities in this area and aims to unlock the energy efficiency potential of the ICT sector in various ways. It calls upon the ICT industry to develop a framework to measure its energy and environmental performance and set itself energy efficiency targets, which has led to the setting up of the ICT for Energy Efficiency Forum by stakeholders. The European Commission has also encouraged the Forum to reach out to other sectors such as buildings and transport where the potential energy savings through ICT are significant.

The European Commission, furthermore, supports a wide range of research and development projects aiming at enhancing energy efficiency, water management and adaptation to climate change through the use of ICT."

Read more ...

Commercialization of sustainable energy technologies

P. Balachandra, Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan, B. Sudhakara Reddy (India)

Renewable Energy 35 (2010) 1842–1851

"Commercialization efforts to diffuse sustainable energy technologies (SET) have so far remained as the biggest challenge in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Limited success of diffusion through government driven pathways urges the need for market based approaches. This paper reviews the existing state of commercialization of SETs in the backdrop of the basic theory of technology diffusion. The different SETs in India are positioned in the technology diffusion map to reflect their slow state of commercialization. The dynamics of SET market is analysed to identify the issues, barriers and stakeholders in the process of SET commercialization. By upgrading the ‘potential adopters’ to ‘techno-entrepreneurs’, the study presents the mechanisms for adopting a private sector driven ‘business model’ approach for successful diffusion of SETs. This is expected to integrate the processes of market transformation and entrepreneurship development with innovative regulatory, marketing, financing, incentive and delivery mechanisms leading to SET commercialization."

Read more ...

The Impact of Climate Change on M&A Activity

Survey #1:

KPMG's survey (2010) shows that climate change has moved beyond the scope of corporate social responsibility and is now playing a long-term and important role in decision making for companies based in Ireland. Read the report ...

• Climate change is now a mainstream issue and making a real impact on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity.
• Climate change is fast becoming a board agenda item for successful acquirers.
• Link: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/download/fs/doc/reports/drivingchangeclimatesurvey.pdf

Survey #2: Turning up the Heat: An insight into M&A in the Renewable Energy Sector

KPMG's report (2010) into M&A in the renewable energy sector has revealed an explosion in the number of deals. Read the report ...

• Analysts estimate that 2007 saw US$55.7bn in M&A transactions – up by 47pc on the year before.
• This report was written in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit and is based on a survey of 202 senior executives from across the global energy industry, conducted in February 2008.
• Link: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/download/fs/doc/reports/turninguptheheat.pdf

Sustainable Economy Based on Prosperity

"Prosperity without growth? The transition to a sustainable economy"

By Professor Tim Jackson, Economics Commissioner, Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), UK

Download the report here.

"The economy is geared, above all, to economic growth. Economic policy in the current recession is all about returning to growth – but an economic crisis can be an opportunity for some basic rethinking and restructuring. Two objectives other than growth – sustainability and wellbeing – have moved up the political and policy-making agenda in recent years, challenging the overriding priority traditionally given to economic growth. SDC's "Redefining Prosperity" project has looked into the connections and conflicts between sustainability, growth, and wellbeing."

Read more ...

"As part of a two year programme of work, we commissioned think pieces, organised seminars, and invited feedback. This project has now resulted in a major SDC report: 'Prosperity without Growth?: the transition to a sustainable economy' by Professor Tim Jackson, SDC’s Economics Commissioner. Prosperity without growth? analyses the relationship between growth and the growing environmental crisis and 'social recession'. In the last quarter of a century, while the global economy has doubled, the increased in resource consumption has degraded an estimated 60% of the world’s ecosystems. The benefits of growth have been distributed very unequally, with a fifth of the world’s population sharing just 2% of global income. Even in developed countries, huge gaps remain in wealth and well-being between rich and poor. While modernising production and reducing the impact of certain goods and services have led to greater resource efficiency in recent decades, our report finds that current aspirations for 'decoupling' environmental impacts from economic growth are unrealistic. The report finds no evidence as yet of decoupling taking place on anything like the scale or speed which would be required to avoid increasing environmental devastation. Prosperity without growth? proposes twelve steps towards a sustainable economy and argues for a redefinition of "prosperity" in line with evidence about what contributes to people’s wellbeing. SDC intends to generate discussion and debate on the challenges on the issues that Prosperity without Growth? raises."

Read more ...

International Organizations to Promote Sustainability

• The Brundtland Commission (formally the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED))
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brundtland_Commission
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
  http://www.ipcc.ch/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change
• World Energy Council,
  "Founded in 1923, the World Energy Council is the only truly global and inclusive forum for thought-leadership and tangible engagement committed to our sustainable energy future. Our network of 93 national committees represents over 3000 member organizations including governments, industry and expert institutions. Our mission is to promote the sustainable supply and use of energy for the greatest benefit of all. The World Energy Congress is the world's premier energy gathering."
  http://www.worldenergy.org/

GIS for Sustainability

Connecting Local to Global: Geographic Information Systems and Ecological Footprints as Tools for Sustainability

Authors

Klinsky, Sonja; Sieber, Renée; Meredith, Thom

Abstract:

Tools that support public engagement with sustainability are essential for local sustainability planning. This research investigates the ability of two geographic information system (GIS)-based tools to promote discussion of sustainability in a suburban context. A local ecological footprint tool and a community environmental atlas (an environmentally themed online mapping system) were created for seven suburban boroughs of Montreal. Variations of both tools have been used to support sustainability efforts, but their use has not been widely evaluated. Working from a public participation GIS (PPGIS) framework that recognizes the powerful influence of data representation, this research uses focus groups to evaluate how well these tools address three criteria that have emerged from the literature on public engagement in sustainability: interdependency across systems, reflexivity about personal and social decision making, and interactions across spatial scales. Whereas the atlas remains advantageous for discussing local spatial specifics, it was found that the ecological footprint helped people see the interconnections among systems, integrate local and global aspects of sustainability, and reflect on the values and assumptions underlying current social and economic structures.

Alternative Development: Beyond Ecological Communities and Associations

Do-Wan Ku and Hyoung-Beom Yeo

ECO-SOCIALISM AS POLITICS

2010, Part 4, 163-180, DOI: 10.1007/978-90-481-3745-9_11

Abstract:

Though Korea is commonly cited as an example of ‘successful model of developmental states’, from an ecological perspective, Korean capitalism can only be properly described as a successful story of neo-liberal globalisation. In other words, the Korean model of development, like that in other capitalist countries, is neither just nor sustainable. Of the four ecological discourses on alternative development: eco-authoritarianism, liberalist environmental managerialism, welfare state ecologism, and ecological communities and associations, the latter two are more desirable and/or feasible to draw an alternative theory and strategy, for quite different reasons. Furthermore, a real workable discourse and strategy should be an appropriate combination of them two: converting developmental or capitalist states into ecological welfare states on the basis of ecological communities or associations, and meanwhile, creating a self-governing system of associations that would develop ecological democracy beyond the framework of nation state. Until ecological communities or associations grow up step by step and eventually surpass ecological welfare states, our society will still be in the hands of the authoritarian capitalist states, which are neither ecological nor democratic.

Geographical information systems applied in the field of renewable energy sources

Javier Domínguez and Julio Amador (2007)

Madrid, Spain

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1231681

Abstract:

This article presents a synthetic vision of geographical information systems (GIS) applications that are state of the art in the renewable energy field. The objective is to analyze the main qualities and problems of these applications, focusing on specific samples, and to carry out a methodological proposal in this genre. From this point of view, the study synthesizes the analyzed applications in three big groups: Decisions Support Systems (DSS) based on GIS; renewable energy and distributed generation of electricity; and decentralized generation for the rural electrification. In addition, a synthetic table and bibliographical references is provided for each group. Finally, several conclusions and a methodological outline are contributed for GIS application in the rural electrification with renewable energy.

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Application of geographical information systems to rural electrification with renewable energy sources

J. Amador and J. Domínguez

Abstract

This paper approaches one of the main problems of rural electrification: the choice of the most appropriate technology for each case. The main objective of this project is to apply Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to divide the research zone into areas in that are more appropriate for either conventional or renewable technologies. The approaches for choosing among the different technologies are usually technical and economic; these may be jointly considered by the leveling electric cost (LEC). Determination of the LEC is a complex task that requires knowledge of the capacity factor.

This paper shows the conclusions of the technical and economic parameter analysis involved in the determination of the LEC for each technology. This analysis has allowed us to carry out proposals of improvement in the methodology of the GIS of rural electrification. The resulting GIS has been verified in the municipality of Lorca (Murcia, Spain).

Keywords: GIS; LEC; Mapping; Renewable energy sources; Rural areas; Electric power

European Commission: The future impact of ICT on environmental sustainability

European Commission (2003) The future impact of ICT on environmental sustainability

http://fiste.jrc.ec.europa.eu/download/interim_report_1_final.pdf

Design Research in Information Systems

Vaishnavi and Kuechler have published a web page on Design Research in Information Systems (IS). The page is intended to provide design researchers in information systems as well as others interested in design research with useful information on understanding, conducting, evaluating, and publishing design research.

Link:

Vaishnavi, V. and Kuechler, W. (2004/5). “Design Research in Information Systems” January 20, 2004, last updated August 16, 2009. URL: http://desrist.org/design-research-in-information-systems

Table of Content:

• Overview of Design Research
• Can Design be Research
• Outputs of Design Research
• An Example of Community Determined Outputs
• The Philosophical Grounding of Design Research
• Design Research Methodology
• A Design Research Example
• Design Research vs. Design
• Citations on Design Research
• Resources For Design Research

10 Research Questions: IS innovation for Sustainability

Melville (2010) develops a research agenda (with ten research questions) on information systems innovation for environmental sustainability. This agenda, which is drawn upon a framework called Belief- Action-Outcome, demonstrates "the critical role that IS can play in shaping beliefs about the environment, in enabling and transforming sustainable processes and practices in organizations, and in improving environmental and economic performance."

The following excerpts are selected from this research agenda (Melville 2010):

Given the complexity of the topic, the first two research questions underscore the need for diverse knowledge-creation approaches (positivist, interpretive, critical, and design) and theories in studies of IS for environmental sustainability.

• Research Question 1: How can different philosophical perspectives—positivist, interpretive, critical, and design—be applied to complex problems involving information systems, organizations, and the natural environment?
• Research Question 2: How can different theories be applied to complex problems involving information systems, organizations, and the natural environment?

Two research questions address research methodologies and metrics important to the sustainability domain but relatively new to IS scholarship, including life-cycle analysis, integrated assessment, and system dynamics modeling.

• Research Question 3: How can different research methodologies, such as life cycle analysis and integrated assessment, be applied to examine complex problems involving information systems, organizations, and the natural environment?
• Research Question 4: How can different environmental metrics, such as CO2 equivalent, be employed to assess the impact of IS on the natural environment?

The last set of six research questions addresses substantive issues in each of the three domains of the BAO framework for IS research on sustainability, such as how unique characteristics of the sustainability context (e.g., altruism) shape individual intention to use information systems for sustainability. Taken together, the BAO framework and research questions provide the basis for theory development in the realm of IS for sustainability.

• Research Question 5a: What is the impact of information systems on beliefs about the natural environment and environmental sustainability?
• Research Question 5b: What design approaches are effective for developing information systems that influence human beliefs about the natural environment?
• Research Question 6a: How do the distinctive characteristics of the environmental sustainability context, such as values and altruism, affect intention to use and usage of information systems for environmental sustainability?
• Research Question 6b: What design approaches are effective for developing information systems that influence human actions about the natural environment?
• Research Question 7: What is the association between information systems and organizational and sustainability performance?
• Research Question 8: What is the association between information systems and supply chain performance from an efficiency and environmental perspective?
• Research Question 9: How can firms optimally invest in industry IS platforms intended to reduce negative externalities associated with the natural environment?
• Research Question 10: How can systems approaches shed light on organizational and environmental outcomes that result from the use of IS for environmental sustainability?

Reference: (Melville, Nigel. 2010. "Information Systems Innovation for Environmental Sustainability," MIS Quarterly, (34: 1) pp.1-21.

HCI Research and Environmental Sustainability

Print This Paper, Kill A Tree: Environmental Sustainability as a Research Topic for Human-Computer Interaction

Paul Dourish (2009), Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine

ABSTRACT

Many HCI researchers have recently begun to examine the opportunities to use ICTs to promote environmental sustainability and ecological consciousness on the part of technology users. This paper examines the limits upon this work as currently construed. In particular, it argues that the political and cultural contexts of environmental practice must be part of an effective solution. Research on ecological politics and the political economy of environmentalism suggest some new directions for the relationship between sustainability and HCI.

Keywords

Environmental sustainability, environmental justice, political ecology, environmentality, scale, social networks.

Sustainability Defined

According to MISQ Call for Papers (2010):

• Sustainability is a complex term that can encompass environmental, economic, and societal issues.
• In essence, sustainability is conservation, deployment, and reuse of resources in responsible ways—a responsibility that is geared toward the triple bottom line. The triple bottom line—people, planet, and profit—view of value creation balances commercial and societal goals in a way that all three Ps are addressed simultaneously rather than being seen as trade-offs or with one goal overriding the other two.

According to Melville (2010):

• An encompassing definition of sustainability is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
  (WCED 1987, p. 43).
• This definition is related to the triple bottom line, a broad conceptualization of organizational performance comprising economic, environmental, and social dimensions (Kleindorfer et al. 2005; Porter and Kramer 2006).

References:

WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development). 1987. Our Common Future, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Green IT and Green IS

Energy Informatics Framework

Moving beyond a general viewpoint on sustainability to take a specific IS direction, researchers could elect to apply the energy informatics framework (Watson et al. 2010).

This framework advocates a research agenda to establish a new subfield of energy informatics, which applies information systems thinking and skills to increase energy efficiency.

References:

Watson, R. T., Boudreau, M.-C., and Chen, A. J. W. 2010. “Information Systems and Environmentally Sustainable Development: Energy Informatics and New Directions for the IS Community,” MIS Quarterly (34:1), pp. 23-38.

Belief–Action–Outcome Model

Moving beyond a general viewpoint on sustainability to take a specific IS direction, researchers could elect to apply the belief–action–outcome model (Melville 2010).

References

Melville, N. P. 2010. “Information Systems Innovation for Environmental Sustainability,” MIS Quarterly (34:1), pp. 1-21.

The Role of IS in Achieving the Three Eco-Goals

One approach for guiding the research work in this field could be to examine the role of IS in achieving the three eco-goals:

• eco-efficiency (DeSimone et al. 1997),
• eco-equity (Gray and Bebbington 2000), and
• eco-effectiveness (McDonough and Braungart 1998).

References:

-- DeSimone, L. D., Popoff, F., and World Business Council for Sustainable Development. 1997. Eco-Efficiency: The Business Link to Sustainable Development, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

-- Gray, R. H., and Bebbington, K. J. 2000. “Environmental Accounting, Managerialism and Sustainability: Is the Planet Safe in the Hands of Business and Accounting?,” Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management (1:1), pp. 1-44.

-- McDonough, W., and Braungart, M. 1998. “The NEXT Industrial Revolution,” The Atlantic Monthly (10), pp. 82-92.

The Four Dimensions of The Sustainability Portfolio

The four dimensions of the sustainability portfolio (pollution prevention, product stewardship, clean technology, and sustainability vision) (Hart 1997) provide another angle for investigating the role of IS in sustainability.

References:

-- Hart, S. 1997. “Beyond Greening: Strategies for a Sustainable World,” Harvard Business Review (75), pp. 66-77.

Three decades into the environmental revolution, many companies in the industrialized nations have recognized that they can reduce pollution and increase profits at the same time. But beyond corporate "greening" lies the enormous challenge--and opportunity--to develop a sustainable global economy, one that the planet is capable of supporting indefinitely. Stuart Hart, director of the Corporate Environmental Management Program at the University of Michigan School of Business, explains the imperative of sustainable development and provides a framework for identifying the business opportunities behind sustainability. The dangers today are clear: exploding population growth, rapid depletion of resources, and ever more industrialization and urbanization are creating a terrible environmental burden. Companies normally frame greening in terms of risk reduction, reengineering, or cost cutting. But, says Hart, when greening becomes part of strategy, opportunities of potentially staggering proportions open up. A number of companies are moving in that direction. BASF, for example, is colocating plants to make the recycling of waste feasible, and Xerox is reusing parts from leased copiers on new machines. Hart identifies three stages of environmental strategy: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and the development of clean technology. But companies will not benefit from such efforts unless they draw a road map that can show them how new products and services must evolve and what competencies they will need. Businesses that create a vision of sustainability will be ready to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the need for a sustainable global economy. INSETS: Aracruz Celulose: A Strategy for the Survival Economy.;The Sustainability Portfolio;Building Sustainable Business Strategies.

Three Categories for Sustainability Issues: Generic, Value Chain, and Competitive Context

There is the viewpoint that sustainability issues can be prioritized into three categories: generic, value chain, and competitive context (Porter and Kramer 2006). For example,the competitive context calls for a proactive strategic approach and may offer opportunities to illustrate the transformative powerof IS.

References:

-- Porter, M., and Kramer, M. 2006. “Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility,” Harvard Business Review (84:12), pp. 78-92.

-- Malhotra, A., Melville, N. P., Watson, R. T. 2010. "Call for Papers, MISQ Special Issue on Information Systems and Environmental Sustainability."

Research Groups Around The World, Interested in IS for Sustainability

The United States
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

• Arvind Malhotra

University of Michigan (Stephen M. Ross School of Business):

• Nigel P. Melville

University of Georgia (Department of Management Information Systems, Terry College of Business):

• Richard T. Watson
• Adela J. Chen
• Marie-Claude Boudreau
• Elena Karahanna

Syracuse University (School of Information Studies):

• Jason Dedrick

University of California, Berkeley:

• Elizabeth Goodman

Canada

Queen's University, Canada:

• Jacqueline Corbett
• Jane Webstery
• Koray Sayiliz
• Ivana Zelenika
• Joshua Pearce

University of St. Gallen:

• Ali Dada
• Elgar Fleisch

Ryerson University, Canada:

• Tim S. McLaren
• Priscilla R. Manatsay
• Ron Babinz

Australia

RMIT University (School of Business Information Technology & Logistics), Australia:

• Mohamad Taha Ijab
• Alemayehu Mollay
• Asmare Emerie Kassahunz
• Say Yen Teoh

Queensland University of Technology, Australia:

• Jan Recker

Europe

The University of Liechtenstein:

• Stefan Seidel
• Jan vom Brocke

University of Amsterda, The Netherlands

• Wietske van Osch
• Michel Avital

IS for Sustainability: Several Perspectives

MISQ has issued a Call for Papers for its special issue on Information Systems and Environmental Sustainability (http://www.misq.org/BulletinBoard/GreenIS.pdf). It describes several perspectives might be adopted by researchers in guiding their work:

First, there is the viewpoint that sustainability issues can be prioritized into three categories: generic, value chain, and competitive context (Porter and Kramer 2006). For example, the competitive context calls for a proactive strategic approach and may offer opportunities to illustrate the transformative power of IS.

Second, the four dimensions of the sustainability portfolio (pollution prevention, product stewardship, clean technology, and sustainability vision) (Hart 1997) provide another angle for investigating the role of IS in sustainability.

A third approach could be to examine the role of IS in achieving the three eco-goals: eco-efficiency (DeSimone et al. 1997), eco-equity (Gray and Bebbington 2000), and eco-effectiveness (McDonough and Braungart 1998).

Moving beyond a general viewpoint on sustainability to take a specific IS direction, researchers could elect to apply the belief–action–outcome model (Melville 2010) or the

energy informatics framework (Watson et al. 2010).

(Source: http://www.misq.org/BulletinBoard/GreenIS.pdf)

What? Ubiquitous Computing for Sustainability?!

I started this blog to share what I find in my research on the role of information systems innovation in achieving the sustainability goals. I will focus on ubiquitous/pervasive computing technologies.