ic, the sustainability innovation quotient (SIQ), which expresses the number of dollars returned in GDP by the ICT industry for each kilogram of carbon dioxide it emits.
"Sustainability research and development is one of the key thrusts for NTU, and the latest research findings involving scholars from the joint NTU-Rice Institute for Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics, are a further affirmation of NTU's capabilities and commitment in promoting sustainability globally," said NTU Provost Bertil Andersson. "The Sustainability theme pervades the University, and it is through initiatives such as ISAID that NTU aims to promote and develop new energy-efficient technologies, playing its global role in achieving a sustainable Earth."
The report grew out of a graduate course on information technology sustainability that Bronk and Palem, Rice's Ken and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing, co-taught at Rice in spring 2009. In preparing for the course, Palem and Bronk found a dearth of verifiable information about the ICT industry's carbon footprint, and Palem suggested the in-depth analysis after neither they nor their students found a reliable metric that related the ICT industry's contribution to gross domestic product relative to its carbon footprint.
Working with Bronk and Palem, graduate students Avinash Lingamneni and Kirthi Muntimadugu compiled numbers from government and industry sources. The team determined the number of various devices that are in use today, how much energy they consume and how that consumption is likely to be effected by expected growth in demand. Because IT devices don't emit CO2 themselves, but instead use electricity that is produced largely by burning coal and natural gas, the authors factored in the effect of cleaner, more efficient electric production technologies that will be rolled out in the coming decade.
In addition to information technology staples like PCs and laptops, the authors studied communica
'/>"/>
| Contact: David Ruth druth@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University Source:Eurekalert |
Related biology news :
1. Exotic timber plantations found to use more than twice the water of native forests
2. Neuroscientist: Think twice about cutting music in schools
3. Twice as many women to be diagnosed with gestational diabetes
4. Once bitten, twice shy -- a temperature switch triggers aversive memory
5. Carbon nanostructures form the future of electronics and optoelectronics
6. Growth in the global carbon budget
7. Carbon sinks: Issues, markets, policy
8. Carbon dioxide scrubber captures greenhouse gases
9. UNC study on properties of carbon nanotubes, water could have wide-ranging implications
10. Study: Tropical wetlands hold more carbon than temperate marshes
11. Diatom genome helps explain success in trapping excess carbon in oceans
| Copyright © 2003-2012 Bio-Medicine. All rights reserved. ABOUT | CONTACT US | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS |  |