Information Technology and the Reduction of Carbon Footprints

Information Technology and the Reduction of Carbon Footprints Information Technology has become part and parcel of the business processes across industries and the global pursuit of going Green will remain unachieved unless IT enables the reduction of Carbon-Footprints. Green-IT is an endeavor to shift to more efficient products and approaches to allow us to compensate more equipment within the given energy foot-print. Regulations on the building of data-centers, better technologies to do so, environment friendly usage of technology are the key-focus areas of Green-IT. Green IT was the Top Strategic Technology for the year 2008 as per Gartner. It went ahead of the multi-core chips, powers supplies, fans and power management soft-wares and a lot of innovation, re-thinking and re-designing is happening in the technology vendor and business processes sphere. IT is all-encompassing and holistic, supporting all the functions like supply-chain, logistics, travel, facility management, collaboration, personnel management and the overall brand. In his book, Green to Gold, Daniel Esty a Yale Professor, elucidates that IT leaves its fingerprints on all the business processes and its carbon-foot prints are also every-where. IT has the responsibility as well as the opportunity to combat this menace. Role of Information Technology in going Green to Gold Information technology is an industry which has grown at a remarkably fast pace in the last few decades Fast growing computers and telecom network, ever-increasing demands for computing power, rapid increase in usage of computers, PCs, laptops, data-centers, mobile phones, etc have caused IT to leave a lot of Carbon-foot prints across the globe. The foot-prints are heading more towards the developing and less-developed countries. These ICT driven devices would become the biggest green-house gas emitters by 2020. But it has a potential to reduce far more of the carbon-footprints than it causes. A McKinsey study has found that IT can help in eliminating 7.8 metric gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions annually by 2020 which is equivalent to 15 percent of global emissions today and five times more than the estimated emissions from these technologies in 2020. Source: McKinsey Report, How IT can reduce Carbon Emission, 2008 The carbon-foot print has been calculated on the basis of levels of emissions associated with the usage, manufacture and distribution of ICT. ICT emits about 2% of the emission globally which is estimated to become 3% or 1.54 metric gigatons, twice of what the UK produces today. The rapid development in ICT in the countries like China, India and Brazil will cause the increase in gas-emission. The rapid development in ICT in the countries like China, India and Brazil will cause major increase in gas-emission. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Emissions from manufacture and usage of PCs will double by 2020 owing to digitalization of middle class in the developing countries. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Mobile-phones carbon-foot prints will triple by 2020 majorly due to consumption of silicon and other rare metals. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ But most of the damage is caused due to increase in size and number of data-centers serving the un-quenchable thirst for increased computing and processing power. This emission is expected to become 5-folds by 2020 as compared to what it was in 2002. As the crisis is becoming fiercer by the day, its high time that corporate and government has started paying heed to this. The technological advancement in the field of information and communication can be used to abate the emission of green-house gases caused by the very growth of ICT itself. Some of the possible technological solutions are explained below. Virtualization 2.0: Virtualization enables to do more with less. The technology allows for consolidation of large no. of individual machines on one large server (like high density blade servers) resulting in lesser effective cost, and easier management. It also improves the productivity and overall ROI of the IT infrastructure with the use of SANs (Storage Area Networks) and other NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices which reduce redundancy and idle time for the scarce, energy guzzling resources. Virtualization improves the server utilization rates resulting in lesser no. of data centers required. The technology enables lesser energy consumption, lesser green house-gas emission, reduced heat generation, and lesser production of e-wastes. According to Gartner, the total number of virtual machines deployed worldwide is expected to increase from 540,000 at the end of 2006 to more than 4 million by 2009. This technology can reduce the power consumption of data centers by 50-80 % and floor space by 65%. Virtualization tops the list of top 10 Strategic technologies for 2009 published by Gartner. With Green IT being at number 4. Material Recycling: Around 20-30% of IT equipments become obsolete each year. The IT sector companies generated 3.3 lakh tones of e-wastes in the year 2007 in India. This number is expected to increase to 4.7 lakh tones by the end of 2011. IT sector during the course of their normal activities do not put much strain on the natural resources. But the wastes that they create like CPU, servers, printer cartridge etc. cause much strain on the ecological balance. Many components of the e-wastes have plastic blends which do not bio-degrade easily. The e-wastes also contain lead, cadmium, mercury and bromine flame retardants which are harmful to environment. The lead in computer monitors (approx. 20% by weight); chips in mother board are all highly damaging to environment. As per EPA estimates nearly 3 billion units of used electronic items will end up as waste in 2010. The average life of a desktop in USA has reduced to approximately 2 years. The consequence of reducing life span of electronics good is increase in amount of e-Waste. The expenditure on IT equipment is exorbitant (almost double in 5 years) and so is the toll these put by them on the natural resources. If practices are adopted that increase their useful life, it will contribute a lot in tackling the problem of e-wastes. Many experts consider it as very effective way to tackle the problems of e-Waste; by reducing their creation. E-Waste recycling helps us to recover some more value from the scrap/waste, reduce using up natural resources and prevent contamination of land and water by toxic wastes. One way to deal with e-Wastes is to return the old machines back to the manufactures. In case the original manufacturer does not take the product back, it can be given to a responsible recycler. When the recyclers get e-Wastes they try to make it reusable by making changes in the equipments. Then the wastes are stripped into different components (process called de-manufacturing). The broad categories to which de-manufacturing is done can be to segregate plastics, metal non-ferrous and ferrous parts, circuit boards, CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) glass and Wood wastes. The steps followed at one such recycler (Waste Management) are shown below After de-manufacturing parts are boxed and shipped for sale and re-use. The parts that cannot be re-used are sent for recycling and for safe disposal so that toxic parts do not come in contact with humans via rain water or land. e-waste management in India In India there had been no law/guidelines governing e-Wastes for a long time. However few states like Karnataka have started making rules related to e-Wastes and in April 2008 for the first time Government came up with guidelines on disposal of e-Waste. Out of the total e-Waste created only two fifth used to get recycled. Now India is also adopting Extended Producer Responsibility, as per which now the producers will have to take responsibility for the entire life cycle of their products. So they will also have to take the responsibility of the recycling of their products. For this they can take the help of a registered recycler or start their own recycling plant or make products that have very low level of toxic products and use such process so that at a later date recycling cost can be curtailed. When talking about managing the e-Waste, the biggest challenge is tracking the machines so that the companies can collect them and get them recycled. This will call for great investment in infrastructure and lot of data base management. Many companies operating in India provide such services in other nation because the rules of the land dictate so. In India the rules were lax hence this practice was not adopted. However with Governments intent of implementation of EPR, things are likely to change in future. One way to ensure better collection of e-Wastes can be to provide some financial incentives if they collect and recycle more than a certain amount of e-Waste. Regarding dumping of e-Wastes in India the law of country declares such activities as illegal. But the rules allow donation or charity electronic goods to come in the nation. Many companies exploit this loophole to dump their e-Waste in India, in the garb of charity. Till recently nearly 70% of the e-Waste in recycling plants of India had been exported or dumped or given as charity to India. India needs to make rules to stop such digital-dumping in future. Green Computing: It is the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently. It aims at reducing the hazardous materials, maximizing energy efficiency during products life time and promoting recyclability and bio-degradability of the defunct e-waste. A plethora of initiatives are being taken in this regards like à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) which aims at reducing the electric power consumption by PCs in active and inactive states. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The Green Electronic Council has come up with Electronic Product Environmental Assessment tool (EPEAT) like The Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator (EEBC) which assists the purchasers in evaluating green products by providing certificates like EPEAT Bronzeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢, EPEAT Silverà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢, and EPEAT Goldà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ on the basis of compliance with the eco-friendly norms. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ There are global consortiums like The Green Grid (which has members like Microsoft, IBM, Dell, AMD, Sun Microsystems, and VMware etc) and non-profit organizations like Green Computing Impact Organization are also working in the field of green computing. Power Management: There are a number of open industry standards like Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) which allow operating systems to control the power saving options of the underlying hardware. For example à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ CPU performance-stepping that dynamically adjusts the energy requirements of processor in proportion to the load. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Dynamic control of servers internal fan, Liquid cooling agents, and judicious arrangement of equipments in datacenters as per hot aisle/cold aisle layout also aids in reducing energy consumption. Efficient power supply and power management of a desktop computer can reduce in-use power consumption by 10-30%. Thin-client computing can reduce life-cycle energy consumption by 70-80%. . Video-conferencing Telecommuting: A lot of companies have adopted Video-conferencing and Telepresence technologies to reduce carbon-emission related to employee travel, to reduce office-space, heating and lighting expenditure. For example 40% of the Suns employees use telecommuting. This helped in saving an estimated 29,000 tons of CO2 emissions and enabled company cut on 6,660 office seats thus cutting real estate cost by $63 million in the last fiscal year. Other initiatives like hotelling or flexible work-place reduce the space required per employee as space is reserved only when it is needed. Flexible timing and working from home also contribute to reduced green-house gas emission and power consumption. Small Green Initiatives: Paper-less Business Paradigm: In a small and cost-effective way IT can assist in dematerializing the goods and processes by establishing paper-less work-place. Double-sided printing reduces paper consumption up to 40%. A paperless process is 100% paper free. Initiatives like Green PDFs which emphasize paper-less usage and sharing of information electronically can be taken. The technology enabled tele-work for processes like e-billing, e-taxation and e-governance will reduce the deforestation and emission of green-house gases from fuels. Though it will consume electricity, but this model remains viable given the un-utilized exorbitant processing and storage capacities of computers and the amount of reliability, portability, retrieval efficiency and availability it provides. ICT can facilitate in cutting down far more emission than it causes if energy productivity is focused in the sectors of buildings, power, transport and manufacturing. Building Manufacturing Power Transportation Optimize energy usage, Reduce office-space, Telecommuting, Work from home Smart Control systems for motors Sensors in Grids to monitor power loss and theft Smart technologies to manage truck logistics etc , Process of dematerialization of goods and processes Better architecture, efficient technology to monitor lighting, heating ventilation E.g. In China, some plants could cut emission by 200 metric megaton per year One grid in India reduced power loss by 15% by the use of sensors Reducing transportation through telecommuting, video conferencing, internet shopping, downloading content Smart buildings can save up to 2.03 metric tons by 2020 By 2020, 0.68 metric gigatons can be saved annually Globally efficient grids can cut 2.03 gigatons of emissions by2020 0.5 metric gigatons a year can be reduced by this Economic downturn and Green IT Global warming unlike the current economic scenario is not cyclical in nature. To tide over the problem of global warming companies had started taking attempts to be greener. Naturally Green IT was a part of many such endeavors. In the current economic downturn IT is looked upon as a medium to remove inefficiencies of the processes. However the fact still remains that the current economic scenario has caused the IT budget across industries to decrease. The global economic meltdown has caused short term liquidity crisis and lack of faith, which has resulted in many long term projects being put on shelf. Pursuing a long term strategic plan involves huge investment in research and development, in implementation cost etc. Investment in Green IT, if done properly, will lead to good returns in long run. But the impact of the current short term- medium term economic crisis is that it has lead to projects of Green IT being put on back seats. However companies having means and willingness to pursue their long term ambitions still keep Green IT on the priority list. Companies from non IT business domain have continued their endeavors of becoming greener in their IT related activities and are going for upgrading of old infrastructure instead of disposing them and are going for environmental friendly servers. Conclusion The rate at which man has recklessly harnessed the natural environment has brought him to the crisis where he faces struggle for existence. Its high time that businesses realize the gravity of situation and mend their ways. Information and Communication Technology which invariably touches every aspect of the business holds a lot of responsibility as well as opportunity to reduce the carbon-footprints created by man. Green-IT is a two-pronged solution to this problem where-in it can reduce the emission caused by IT itself by technologies like virtualization, better e-waste management, better power management as well as it can assist other businesses and technologies in reducing their carbon-emissions by enabling resource sharing and establishing paradigms like paper-less offices, telecommuting, teleconferencing etc . This way it can first reduce and then help transform the world into a low carbon economy, thereby restoring Greener Earth. Information Technology can indeed take us from Green to Gold .

“In the Heat of the Night”; Movie or Book? Essay

â€Å"In The Heat of the Night† is a gripping murder mystery story that incorporates a major issue of the time it was written at; racism. The original novel (published in 1965), written by John Ball, is a story of Virgil Tibbs, a Negro homicide investigator. The death of orchestra-conductor Enrico Mantoli and a series of other events lead up to him in charge of a murder investigation in Wells, Carolina. This is much to the dismay of Bill Gillespie, the extremely prejudice police chief. The movie version (released in 1967), also features Mr. Tibbs as the leader of a murder investigation. However, the setting is Sparta, Mississippi, and the victim is Philip Colbert, a man planning to build a factory in the town. The movie was very successful, and proceeded to win 5 Academy Awards. Despite this, I find the book is more appealing because the characters are easier to relate to, and have a chance to get well-rounded in a gradual sense. In addition, the plot development steadily makes progress, and is overall less tense, therefore more enjoyable. Both movie and book, however, are quite impressive in the incorporation of racial equality issues, and should equally be recognized as landmarks in American media for this reason. The most prominent change in characters is the personality of Virgil Tibbs. â€Å"Instead of being stretched out on the bench, he was wide awake and sitting up straight as though he were expecting something to happen. His coat was off and laid neatly beside him. He had been reading a paperback book up to the moment Sam entered†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Pg. 15) This is almost identical to the scene where we are introduced to Virgil in the movie. However, the quick-thinking, cold and intense version to be seen later on in the movie was very surprising. The humble, clever and cool homicide investigator from the novel is much preferred. His collected manners also make it all the more enjoyable when seeing Gillespie’s frustration at the Negro’s wits, and all the more heart warming as Sam Wood and Virgil Tibbs start to open up to one another. Also, the movie somewhat exaggerated on Mr. Endicott as being a â€Å"bad guy†. From being somewhat a pest, however definitely not on anyone’s ‘bad books’, too being a plantation owner who sends a group of thugs to beat up Virgil is just ludicrous. It seems he is used as an excuse to bring out another foe, another bit of action to make the movie more exciting. The subtle mystery of not knowing who is â€Å"bad† or â€Å"good† in the novel is a lot more satisfying, perhaps even more once you find out who the real murderer was. The movie, at a full running time of 109 minutes, has quite an exciting plot, with slow parts and exciting action parts. It incorporates many essential things to the original story of ‘In the Heat of the Night’, (such as the association with Delores Purdy) however it differs quite a bit as well. As mentioned above, the setting is in Sparta, Mississippi, where Philip Colbert, planning to build a factory in this town, is murdered. This change of plot on its own removes something that could be considered essential to the plot; romance. The budding relationship between Duena, Enrico Mantoli’s daughter (who doesn’t show up what so ever, seeing as Enrico Mantoli was not the victim) and Officer Sam Wood adds a bit of ‘spice’ that is lacking in the movie. On the topic of Sam Wood, his character being a relatively minor one sets a rather different way of looking at his character. In the book, the reader gets a closer glimpse on Sam Wood’s life, and gets to enjoy his personality and forgiving character more so then the movie. As a result of this, when Sam Wood is suspected of murder, we feel all the more protest and frustration for Gillespie to even dream of this possibility. The movie makes us feel bad for Sam, as it is pretty obvious he is not guilty if Virgil says he is not, but this emotion is lacking compared to the feelings the book inflicts. However, I do prefer the ending of the movie to the book. Instead of the gallant statements of how Bill Gillespie respects Virgil Tibbs as a human, are rather out-there, (if not heart-warming, I have to admit†¦) while the simple good-bye of the movie shows on its own how Gillespie has come to admire and respect Virgil. ‘In the Heat of the Night’, movie or book alike, is an inspiring tale of overcoming prejudice in the backward, racist town in the south- eastern United States. In both forms of media, we see from beginning to end the trials and prejudice thrown at Virgil Tibbs, solely because he is coloured. The inhuman way of dealing with racial hate is disgusting. Virgil Tibbs, however, is always cool and collected, and is an admirable character that will be remembered by everyone who reads or watches ‘In the Heat of the Night’. In being mocked for having a classy name such as ‘Virgil’, and asked what he’s called where he comes from, he responds with the famous line, â€Å"They call me Mister Tibbs.† (pg. 36) This line is present in both film and book, a demanding statement of racial equality that sticks in the reader’s mind. By comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences, it shows that the characters were more subtle and realistic than the movie’s stereotypical good guys and bad guys. Also, the plot of the book was better thought-out, and had many other enjoyable subplots that were lacking in the movie. Through his short stay in Wells, Carolina (or Sparta, Mississippi) Tibbs may not have altered the town’s views on discrimination against blacks, but John Ball left a definite strong imprint about social equality, and in doing so left more questions about human and social behaviour for the reader than simple answers.

Progressive Insurance Essay

Teenagers and young adults in today’s time usually have minds of their own. I honestly believe family, friends, and the media all play major parts in their lives and have great influence on them. Most people think that television, cellphones, and social networking are the causes of their corrupt minds, but in all reality every little aspect has influence on them in some way. Television, cellphones, and social networks, better known as â€Å"the media† plays a great influence on teenagers that’s the new trend at this present time, that’s all teenagers know. Even though family and friends are teenager’s biggest support, they feel the need to run to more. Teenagers and young adults honestly feel as if they can be themselves on these sites sad, but very true. You will soon find out that teenagers will open up and express themselves to Facebook, twitter, and instagram before they open up and talk to their parents about life issues they go through. Right now that’s all teenagers really knows to do. Parents do not enforce rules like they use too. Parents do not make it mandatory that the family have dinner together at the family table. Most parents don’t sit down and talk to their children to make sure they’re doing a good job in school. Days now have parents working two jobs because there’s only one parent in the homes. You also have parents on these social websites with their children making them feel as if it’s okay to do some of those things. After observing the masses, the media has the most influence over our teenagers. It’s sad, but it’s definitely true. Parents need to go back and fix these things, and make better examples for their young ones. It’s never too late.

Gender Roles And Contributions Of Women - 1194 Words

Although women are roughly equal to men in number, many different stories across many different cultures have chosen to focus on the roles and contributions of men. Women are often included only as a way to further a man’s story, rather than as the protagonist in her own journey. One way in which women can impact the narrative, regardless of whose story is being told, is in giving birth. The act of creating a new life forces a change in the world around the characters. However, even this role can be taken from women, and sometimes they must resort to other means to gain agency in their stories. As women are the ones who give birth, not men, their role as a creator of life is clear. Simone de Beauvoir writes that woman â€Å"is a womb, an†¦show more content†¦Women are usually the ones who give life to others, and here he seeks to take that role for himself. In addition, it is not as though he has switched the roles, and men now do most of the work with women only helping at the beginning. This could have been one way to minimize women’s contributions. The character has also not gone the route of men doing most of the work with only initial help from another man, which could have been another way to emphasise the superiority of men while still keeping a process of creation largely recognisable to humanity. Instead, he has removed altogether the necessity for two people to be involved in the act of creation. His act of giving life thus seems more advanced than any at present. It is also notable that the main character never considers dreaming a woman into bei ng. This could be because he seeks to create someone of the same gender so that both of them will have something in common. However, it could also be that he views women as inferior, and so never thinks to create one. Furthermore, he wants to dream the man â€Å"in painstaking detail.† His dream is not just to create a man, but one whose appearance he has a great deal of control over. This seems to go even further than women, as they can create a child, but they cannot influence what the child looks like when it is born. He not only seeks to supplant women, but also to do their role better than them. At the end ofShow MoreRelatedGender Equality Between Men And Women1288 Words   |  6 PagesClaim: While the contribution and bifocal phases were taking steps in the right direction toward including women, they were far from perfect. Women were still being viewed as inferior submissive beings, even with public works now focusing on their oppression. Women’s curriculum thrust women from all walks of life into the spotlight, and showed that they were capable of much more than previously thought. 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