Sustainability in ICT Planning and Design Project

This document discusses the importance of sustainability in ICT planning and design projects, specifically focusing on the International Digital Marketing Company (IDMC). It explores suitable ICT projects, the integration of sustainability, and technology solutions for IDMC. Additionally, it provides power consumption data and short-term solutions for reducing power consumption. The document emphasizes the compliance of IDMC with Australian energy consumption and sustainability workplace act.

SUSTAINABILITY IN ICT PLANNING AND DESIGN PROJECT
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SUSTAINABILITY IN ICT PLANNING AND DESIGN PROJECT
The growth and development in the current society is directly associated with the
implantation of Information Communication Technology ICT. As such, it is imperative for
companies to implement ICT sustainability strategies. The benefits of a successful ICT are far
reaching. It has been seen that almost all top performing organization have environmental
sustainability policies1. With that said, as an IT project manager at International Digital
Marketing Company (IDMC), I have a critical role to play as far as the organization
sustainability journey is concerned. As a result, the primary objective of this document is to
examine the International Digital Marketing Company (IDMC) ICT system and make
improvement where necessary in order for the organization’s ICT to be in compliance with the
Australian energy consumption and sustainability workplace act.
1. The suitable ICT projects into which sustainability can be integrated at IDMC
a. Evaluation on the available project to find out the suitable sustainability projects
To ensure that IDMC business is fully digitized and migrated online as the newly
proposed regulations from the Australian Federal Government demands, the IDMC IT
management is set to utilize pertinent sustainability projects including but not limited to the
following: recycling, computer disposal, green PCs, downloading software.
1 Hilty, Lorenz M., and Bernard Aebischer. "Ict for sustainability: An emerging research field." In ICT
Innovations for Sustainability, pp. 3-36. Springer, Cham, 2015.
Hilty, Lorenz, Wolfgang Lohmann, and Elaine Huang. "Sustainability and ICT—an overview of the
field." Politeia 27, no. 104 (2011): 13-28.

Recycling one of the most important project that can help in this sustainability project.
IDMC being a marketing organization, the organization has to use IT assets that aid in online
business. Therefore to ensure that IDMC is digitized and comply with the sustainability acts,
recycling will the ICT assets will be helpful.
For the organization to be digitized, it has to keep the strides of the advancing
technology, therefore over 500 computers which are currently used by the organization is likely
to become obsolete with the advancing technology and disposing them will become a great issue
as the assets are hazardous when exposed to the atmosphere, computer disposal and green PCs
will also be suitable ICT project through which would be appropriate and hence it would be
utilized in the project.
Downloading software minimizes power usage. Sustainable ICT equipment requires less
energy when used, at standby as well as in hibernate or sleep mode. Downloading software will
therefore help IDMC towards the journey to digitization and sustainability.
b. Evaluation on the option of computer virtualization
Computer virtualization involves an ICT paradigm that allows a convenient on demand
access to a network that aid in sharing of configurable ICT assets and high level services
provided with less management effort through internet. It is also known as cloud computing.
Computer virtualization i.e. hosting ICT assets on a simplified, centrally mainstream platform
leads to waste management when the assets eventually become obsolete. Computer virtualization
is therefore a critical aspect in integrating IDMC’s sustainability.
Coupled with this project is the organization’s limited work force including digital
designers versus ICT assets including computers, servers among others. Virtualization does not

require hard drive and lasts much longer than the traditional PCs, having a refresh cycle of three
years or less, cloud computing is therefore an important technique that can be utilized by
organizations to prevent the unnecessary disposal of toxins including lead, mercury among other
hazards that are potentially headed to landfill.
c. The use of online collaborating platforms to replace printing
Examination of literature evident that ICT sustainability project plays a critical role in
reducing printing in organizations. As such, embracing digital documentation including web
based applications like drop box as well as reading documents through email instead of printed
documents will have a positive contribution towards the IDMC journey towards digitized and
online sustainability.
Additionally, printer cartridge release harmful chemicals. The use of drop box is one
technique that will reduce the production of the harmful chemicals. This approach cannot
therefore be left out for IDMC to get fully digitized in accordance with the newly proposed
sustainability regulations from the Australian Federal Government.
2. Establishment of the extent to which sustainability is to be integrated
a. Evaluation on the impacts of using cloud computing
Statistics show that global emission of carbon (IV) oxide from ICT in the year 2007 was
over billion tones which translate to over 2% of global emission according2. This has been
2 Bifulco, Francesco, Marco Tregua, Cristina Caterina Amitrano, and Anna D'Auria. "ICT and sustainability
in smart cities management." International Journal of Public Sector Management 29, no. 2 (2016): 132-
147.
Andreopoulou, Zacharoula. "Green Informatics: ICT for green and Sustainability." Agrárinformatika/Journal of
Agricultural Informatics 3, no. 2 (2012): 1-8.

decreasing as there have been growth of data centers. Reports show that data centers is one ICT
sector that have been experiencing a tremendous growth of late. However, the emerging
computing trends may reduce the emissions. Cloud computing is growing at a very high rate
which is estimated to be over 28% annually.
Cloud computing saves power and carbon (IV) oxide emission. Additionally it uses
infrastructures more efficiently. This therefore follows that it is a noteworthy project that cannot
be left out in digitization and ICT sustainability. Additionally, despite the fact that cloud based
services provides the best security services, it allows external risks. Besides, the system is
reliable with a managed service platform compared to physical storage as numerous service
providers’ offers service level agreement which guarantee twenty four seven availability.
b. What Australian College of Business Intelligence should offload to cloud
Australian college of business intelligence and cloud is expected like a hand and a glove.
Cloud based services offers a turnkey solutions that can meet the needs of the college. Besides its
obvious importance, the college database is one critical asset of the institution that should be
migrated to cloud for better management. This is because a cloud based service where the
institution will be only charged bandwidth and provisioned server offers the institution not only
confidence but also resilience, flexibility and availability. This will digitize and ensure
sustainability of the organization as reflected in the country’s federal government act.
c. The element of a business that cannot be offloaded to cloud computing
As much as cloud computing have overwhelming advantages, it may sometimes be
dangerous for a business. Therefore, there are certain elements which a business should keep
away from cloud. Some of these include the organizations the organization’s sensitive

information like employees’ bank details and the organization’s financial credentials3. This is
because cloud is a subject to data breach which might lead to leakage of these credentials.
3. Suitable technology solutions which are applicable to the project
a. The available technological solutions to implement the selected sustainability
The truth about doing business from any part of the globe makes sharing of files with
customers, stakeholders and vendors an important requirement of any organization. Sharing files
online besides being environmentally friendly, digitizes organizations and thus improving their
brands online. This is a wakeup call for IDMC to upgrade its sustainability.
The technological applications which can be used for this project are wide ranging from
github, dropbox to Aple iFile among others. However, drop box is mostly recommended as it is
free and it also provide easy backup among its other several advantages.
b. The available solutions for the sustainability of IDMC
For IDMC to attain its sustainability, the organization will implement various strategies
including:
i. Implementing Cloud computing to reduce emission of carbon (iv) oxide and save power.
ii. Installing green PCs in order to avoid land refill
iii. Liaising with recycling companies to minimize wastes
3 Hilty, Lorenz M., and Bernard Aebischer, eds. ICT innovations for sustainability. Vol. 310. Springer,
2015.
GhaffarianHoseini, AmirHosein, Nur Dalilah Dahlan, Umberto Berardi, Ali GhaffarianHoseini, and Nastaran
Makaremi. "The essence of future smart houses: From embedding ICT to adapting to sustainability
principles." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24 (2013): 593-607.

iv. Switching off bulbs when not in use
v. Use black and white printers
vi. Use the air conditioners more carefully
vii. Turn off computers when they are not in use.
c. The Price, cost and availability of the selected technology solutions
I have talk with individuals who are who are the beneficiaries of cloud computing over
the last few months. Some insights of the discussion is that a cloud based service that meet
security, scale and resiliency services ranges between $50,000 to $100,000 which can be
accommodated by IDMC. Fridges and air conditioners on the other hand cost around $3000. The
remaining techniques, however, like switching bulbs when not in use and turning off computers
does not have any expense
4. Power consumption data on ICT equipment required for an energy audit based on
an agreed standard
a. The energy consumption estimate according to the number of the computers
Computers
One computer uses approximately 240 W/hour
This gives 172800 W per month
For 500 computers;
172800 * 500 = 86400000 W
This translates to 86400 KW per month.
Server

Servers consume 1000 Wh
It therefore follows that the power consumption per month will be;
24000 W * 30= 720000W
For two servers;
Power = 1440000 W = 1440 KW
Printers
Printers use approximately 300 watts
This translates to 216 KW per month.
5. Implementations of short term technology solutions to achieve reduction of power
consumption
The adoption of the solutions for the modernization of a sustainable ICT system is
predicted to reduce power consumption as follows:
a) Turning off computers and bulbs when not in use will save over 43200 KWh per month
which was initially consumed during night hours when IDMC offices are not operating.
b) Server virtualization and migrating computers to cloud is expected to not only reduce
power consumption but also to carbon dioxide emission4. When IDMC servers are
4 Pazowski, Piotr. "Green computing: latest practices and technologies for ICT sustainability." In Managing
Intellectual Capital and Innovation for Sustainable and Inclusive Society, Joint International Conference,
Bari, Italy, pp. 1853-1860. 2015.
Nica, Elvira. "ICT innovation, internet sustainability, and economic development." Journal of Self-Governance and
Management Economics 3, no. 3 (2015): 24-29.

virtualized, energy consumption will dramatically reduce from 1440 KWh per month
which is currently consumed by the physical servers to 200KWh per month.
c) Implementing green PCs including computers which are recyclable would lead no wastes
to the environment therefore it will be ecosystem friendly.
d) Adopting printing emails means that there will be great reduction of carbon (iv) oxide
emission to the atmosphere therefore global warming will reduce.
By this, IDMC will have made a great move towards sustainable and digitized ICT in
compliance with the Australian government federal acts.
Assessment part B: Analysis on energy audit data
1. The key performance index KPI on sustainability performance
a. A review of KPI on sustainability
Key performance index is a measure of performance that help in understanding how an
implemented approach or organization department are working towards achieving a mission5. A
good key performance index should aid in understanding whether an organization is on the right
path towards its aim or not.
Optus made a good attempt in the ten KPIs as all measure performance of the
sustainability approach he use. However, the KPIs are not quantifiable. A good KPI is expected
to be well-defined and quantifiable and must be crucial to attain strategic goals.
5 Lövehagen, Nina, and Anna Bondesson. "Evaluating sustainability of using ICT solutions in smart cities–
methodology requirements." In International Conference on Information and Communication
Technologies for Sustainability, pp. 175-182. 2013.
Higón, Dolores Añón, Roya Gholami, and Farid Shirazi. "ICT and environmental sustainability: A global
perspective." Telematics and Informatics 34, no. 4 (2017): 85-95.

b. The KPIs for IDMC after implanting the sustainability program
i. Measure of reduction energy usage from approximately 1000 Megawatts to 500
megawatts
ii. Measure of no wastes heading to landfill
iii. Measure of reduction of emission of carbon (iv) oxide to the atmosphere.
iv. Measure of a significant increase in customer turnover rate.
v. Measure of growth in IDMC’s monthly sales by over 30%
2. Innovative and planning rules for the ICT project that foster sustainability and
environmental best practice
a. The planning rules for implementing sustainability program at IDMC
 This ICT project is expected to aspire the following rules in order to foster sustainability
and environment best practice.
 The project must be people centered for a long term beneficial impacts on both
marginalized and the disadvantaged group.
 To achieve the sustainability goals, there must be effective participation among the
organization employees, stakeholders and even customers in order to open up debates for
new ideas.
 The organization must work in compliance with the Australian federal government act
1999 which emphasize environmental protection and biodiversity conservation.
d. Opportunities for virtualizing computers and servers to save energy consumption
Server virtualization involve operation of various separate servers which are run by one
individual physical server. IDMC application get run in a dedicated server which has led to
inefficient use of server resources, this is an opportunity for virtualizing computers in the

organization. Underusing ICT assets is one notable contributor to the excessive ICT power
consumption6. Digitizing ICT and sustainability at IDMC will allow the organization to
minimize waste, reduce carbon footprint save money, and achieve a robust business community
as well as reduction of power consumption.
IDMC only install operating system and application when necessary, this is not good for
an organization which conducts its business activities online. For IDMC to achieve the
Australian federal government standards as far as sustainability is concerned, cloud computing
will be among the priority projects that have to be initiated. Cloud computing provides a wide
range of services ranging from Infrastructure as a service IaaS, Software as a service SaaS that
offers flexible and virtual infrastructure services.
3. A report on the energy usage
a. An estimate of the energy cost in the college
With the number of the computers, printers and bulbs available at Australian College of
Business Intelligence. The college is estimated to be consuming an average of 19 kWh of
electricity on a monthly basis. The college buildings which is sized a couple feet consumes an
approximately $100,000 worth of power every year.
The college has migrated most of its assets to cloud, as a result, ventilation and lighting
are the largest power consumers as illustrated.
6 Worthington, Tom. "A Green computing professional education course online: Designing and delivering a
course in ICT sustainability using Internet and eBooks." In 2012 7th International Conference on
Computer Science & Education (ICCSE), pp. 263-266. IEEE, 2012.
Bekaroo, Girish, Chandradeo Bokhoree, and Colin Pattinson. "Impacts of ICT on the natural ecosystem: A grassroot
analysis for promoting socio-environmental sustainability." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 57
(2016): 1580-1595.

computer
s
ventilation
s
lightin
g
refrigeratio
n
%power
consumption 20 27 30 23
computers ventilations lighting refrigerations
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
% power consumption
b. Estimated energy consumed by IDMC
The same resources were used to estimate the amount of power consumption at IDMC.
Upon calculations, it was revealed that IDMC uses a lot of power in its desktop computers
One computer uses approximately 240 W/hour
This gives 172800 W per month
For 500 computers;
172800 * 500 = 86400000 W
This translates to 86400 KW per month which is equivalent to over $10,000 per month.

This is translate to a greater percentage energy consumption compared with lighting,
refrigeration and printers. This is a call to action that virtualization needed to reduce power
consumption in the organization7.
4. Estimation of potential energy savings and payback periods for the recommended
action.
a. The new energy consumption considering virtualization and when computers are
switched to sleep mode
Considering that IDMC migrate some of its computers and servers to cloud, the
organization will have approximately 100 computers in both offices in Sydney and Brisbane.
This results to a potential power saving of over 69120 KWh per month and 829440 kWh
annually.
When the computers are, however turned off when not in use, it is estimated to save a significant
amount of power8. The energy power saving calculator show that a desktop is able to save up to
177, 137.6 kWh energy annually. Notably, computer virtualization and powering off computers
when not in use among other actions have demonstrated to be the effective root of execution
towards IDMC sustainability goal.
b. The payback period
7 Termeer, Catrien JAM, and Anne Bruinsma. "ICT-enabled boundary spanning arrangements in
collaborative sustainability governance." Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 18 (2016): 91-
98.
8 Curry, Edward, and Brian Donnellan. "Understanding the maturity of sustainable ICT." In Green Business
Process Management, pp. 203-216. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012.

The implementation of the ICT sustainability at IDMC does not require much capital as
most of the actions like powering off light bulbs and computers when not in use does not require
any capital9. Computer virtualization, however may require some expense. This is estimated to
sum up to a total of $100,000 which may have a payback period of five months or less.
5. Estimation of carbon dioxide emission
From the calculations on the approximate power consumption above,
500 desktops consumes over 86400 KW per month. This leads to 27000 kilogram of carbon
dioxide every month. If the bulb are on for 24 hours, the 200 of the bulbs would emit 5100 kg of
carbon dioxide a month. After implementing the selected projects, this is expected to reduce to
500 kg or further and enhance sustainability.
6. Evaluating the estimated CO2 emission with comparable benchmark
Estimating the anticipated sustainability results and rating IDMC Corporation with its
competitors shows that the organization will be on the right track to its sustainability goals. The
assessment year 2018 shows the resultant carbon dioxide emission that is close to what is
expected after implementing the sustainability approaches, this show that IDMC sustainability is
moving in the right direction.
7. Recommendations
9 Hilty, Lorenz M., and Magda David Hercheui. "ICT and sustainable development." In What kind of
information society? Governance, virtuality, surveillance, sustainability, resilience, pp. 227-235. Springer,
Berlin, Heidelberg, 2010.

I fundamentally believe that ICT sustainability is good for IDMC in order to meet the
Australian federal government act 1999. ICT sustainability will lead to a prosperous as well as a
low carbon future. However, I recommend the following before it is implemented:
 Consider the level of security when migrating to cloud
 Do more research on green computers and select the best.
 Use energy saver bulbs and put them off when not in use.
 Switch off computers or turn them to sleep mode when they are not in use.
Bibliography

Andreopoulou, Zacharoula. "Green Informatics: ICT for green and
Sustainability." Agrárinformatika/Journal of Agricultural Informatics 3, no. 2 (2012): 1-
8.
Bekaroo, Girish, Chandradeo Bokhoree, and Colin Pattinson. "Impacts of ICT on the natural
ecosystem: A grassroot analysis for promoting socio-environmental
sustainability." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 57 (2016): 1580-1595.
Bifulco, Francesco, Marco Tregua, Cristina Caterina Amitrano, and Anna D'Auria. "ICT and
sustainability in smart cities management." International Journal of Public Sector
Management 29, no. 2 (2016): 132-147.
Curry, Edward, and Brian Donnellan. "Understanding the maturity of sustainable ICT." In Green
Business Process Management, pp. 203-216. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012.
GhaffarianHoseini, AmirHosein, Nur Dalilah Dahlan, Umberto Berardi, Ali GhaffarianHoseini,
and Nastaran Makaremi. "The essence of future smart houses: From embedding ICT to
adapting to sustainability principles." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24
(2013): 593-607.
Higón, Dolores Añón, Roya Gholami, and Farid Shirazi. "ICT and environmental sustainability:
A global perspective." Telematics and Informatics 34, no. 4 (2017): 85-95.
Hilty, Lorenz M., and Bernard Aebischer, eds. ICT innovations for sustainability. Vol. 310.
Springer, 2015.

Hilty, Lorenz M., and Bernard Aebischer. "Ict for sustainability: An emerging research field."
In ICT Innovations for Sustainability, pp. 3-36. Springer, Cham, 2015.
Hilty, Lorenz M., and Magda David Hercheui. "ICT and sustainable development." In What kind
of information society? Governance, virtuality, surveillance, sustainability, resilience, pp.
227-235. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2010.
Hilty, Lorenz, Wolfgang Lohmann, and Elaine Huang. "Sustainability and ICT—an overview of
the field." Politeia 27, no. 104 (2011): 13-28.
Lövehagen, Nina, and Anna Bondesson. "Evaluating sustainability of using ICT solutions in
smart cities–methodology requirements." In International Conference on Information
and Communication Technologies for Sustainability, pp. 175-182. 2013.
Nica, Elvira. "ICT innovation, internet sustainability, and economic development." Journal of
Self-Governance and Management Economics 3, no. 3 (2015): 24-29.
Pazowski, Piotr. "Green computing: latest practices and technologies for ICT sustainability."
In Managing Intellectual Capital and Innovation for Sustainable and Inclusive Society,
Joint International Conference, Bari, Italy, pp. 1853-1860. 2015.
Termeer, Catrien JAM, and Anne Bruinsma. "ICT-enabled boundary spanning arrangements in
collaborative sustainability governance." Current Opinion in Environmental
Sustainability 18 (2016): 91-98.
Worthington, Tom. "A Green computing professional education course online: Designing and
delivering a course in ICT sustainability using Internet and eBooks." In 2012 7th

International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE), pp. 263-266.
IEEE, 2012.