Green IT/Broadband and Cyber-infrastructure Overview

One of the greatest threats to our future society and economy is global warming. It is estimated that the CO2 emissions of the ICT industry alone exceeds the carbon output of the entire aviation industry. The ICT industry and research community has a collective responsibility to help address this problem. Fortunately, as compared to the aviation industry, the ICT industry and research community has the tools at hand to reduce its direct CO2 output to zero and the additional capability of enabling other sectors of society to reduce their carbon footprint through "Carbon rewards" rather than unpopular "Carbon taxes". Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The current preferred approaches are to impose “carbon” taxes and implement various forms of cap and trade or carbon offset systems. However another approach to help reduce carbon emission is to “reward” those who reduce their carbon footprint. It is estimated that consumers control or influence over 60% of all CO2 emissions. As such, one possible reward system of trading “bits and bandwidth for carbon”, or sometimes called "gCommerce" is to provide homeowners with free fiber to the home or free wireless products and other electronic services such as ebooks and eMovies if they agree to pay a premium on their energy consumption which will encourage them to reduce emissions by turning down the thermostat or using public transportation. Not only does the consumer benefit, but this business model also provides new revenue opportunities for network operators, optical equipment manufacturers, and eCommerce application providers.


Universities can also play a significant leadership role as cyber-infrastructure is one of the major producers of CO2 emissions at our universities. Although cyber-infrastructure is part of the problem, it can also be part of the solution. The beauty of cyber-infrastructure and ICT in general, is that thanks to high speed optical networks, this equipment can be located virtually anywhere. Relocating cyber-infrastructure computers, databases, instrumentation and laboratory equipment to remote renewable energy sites not only helps the environment but can also save the institution significant money in their energy bills. More importantly such a strategy also allows the university or researcher to earn valuable carbon offset dollars. A good example of this strategy is the PROMPT initiative "Next Generation Internet to Reduce Global Warming (G-NGI)" where researchers and institutions can earn valuable offset dollars for Internet technologies and process that reduce CO2 emissions. Universities can also encourage students and faculty to reduce their respective carbon footprint by also implementing a "gCommerce" reward system such as free eTextbooks, free downloads of video and music in exchange for students paying a premium on parking, travel and other related activities.


For more details please see

Free Fiber and High Speed Internet to the Home Initiative
http://free-fiber-to-the-home.blogspot.com/


ICT and Global Warming - opportunities for innovation and economic growth
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbgjrct_2767dxpbdvcf


PROMPT Next Generation Internet to Reduce Global Warming

http://www.promptinc.org/documents/NGI_release_en_v2.pdf



Thursday, January 15, 2009

Free WIFI for students on Green Buses

[A great example of using ICT carbon rewards rather than penalties (such as taxes) to reduce personal carbon footprints. For more examples please see my blog http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/ Thanks to Dewayne Hendricks for this pointer . Some excerpts– BSA]
http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/01/14/school-kids-enjoy-wi-fi-on-green-bus/

School kids enjoy Wi-Fi on The Green Bus
There’s a school bus service called The Green Bus in Birmingham, UK which operates double-decker, low-carbon emissions buses that carry over 1400 kids to school every day (saving over 2000 car journeys). The Green Bus is now providing free Wi-Fi to the children so that they can do their homework before they get to school (yeah, right) or more likely, play games on their Sony Playstation Portables and Nintendo DS machines. Indeed, there’s a link on the Green Bus website which pops up the Tetris game. In addition to encouraging kids to play peer-to-peer games, the access points allow the bus company to monitor where the buses are in the city in real time. Parents as well as staff can follow the progress of any bus via Google maps.

Icomera supplies the access points for the buses, which use 3G for their backhaul. Icomera’s Moovbox access points have been installed in many buses, trains and ferries around Europe, providing Wi-Fi to public transport passengers (do a search on Muniwireless for Icomera and you will see their deployments). According to Icomera, “the free Wi-Fi service has been popular with students since its launch late last year with over 50% of users spending more than 20 minutes online, and 25% using the service more than five times. Research has shown that students prefer to travel in the social atmosphere of bus rather than by car, while for parents The Green Bus is more convenient, cost-effective and reduces peak-time congestion outside schools.”

There’s an initiative in rural Arkansas for Wi-Fi on school buses.
Posted by Bill St. Arnaud at 11:24 AM

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