Information Systems for Sustainable Development


Book Description

Information Systems for Sustainable Development provides a survey on approaches to information systems supporting sustainable development in the private or public sector. It also documents and encourages the first steps of environmental information processing towards this more comprehensive goal.




Building Sustainable Information Systems


Book Description

​Information Systems (IS) as a discipline draws on diverse areas including, technology, organisational theory, management and social science. The field is recognized as very broad and encompassing many themes and areas. However, the development of artefacts, or information systems development (ISD), in the broadest sense, is a central concern of the discipline. Significantly, ISD impacts on the organisational and societal contexts through the use of the artefacts constructed by the development. Today, that impact also needs to be evaluated in terms of its effects on the environment. Sustainable, or "green," IT is a catch-all term used to describe the development, manufacture, management, use and disposal of ICT in a way that minimizes damage to the environment. As a result, the term has many different meanings, depending on the role assumed in the life span of the ICT artefact. The theme of the proposed work is to critically examine the whole range of issues around ISD from the perspective of sustainability. Sustainable IT is an emerging theme in academic research and industry practice in response to an individual concern for the environment and the embryonic regulatory environments being enacted globally to address the environmental impact of ICT. In this work we intend to bring together in one volume the diverse research around the development of sustainable IS.




Green Information Technology


Book Description

We are living in the era of "Big Data" and the computing power required to deal with "Big Data" both in terms of its energy consumption and technical complexity is one of the key areas of research and development. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that centralized computing infrastructures (data centres) currently use 7 giga watts of electricity during peak loads. This translates into about 61 billion kilowatt hours of electricity used. By the EPA's estimates, power-hungry data centres consume the annual output of 15 average-sized power plants. One of the top constraints to increasing computing power, besides the ability to cool, is simply delivering enough power to a given physical space. Green Information Technology: A Sustainable Approach offers in a single volume a broad collection of practical techniques and methodologies for designing, building and implementing a green technology strategy in any large enterprise environment, which up until now has been scattered in difficult-to-find scholarly resources. Included here is the latest information on emerging technologies and their environmental impact, how to effectively measure sustainability, discussions on sustainable hardware and software design, as well as how to use big data and cloud computing to drive efficiencies and establish a framework for sustainability in the information technology infrastructure. Written by recognized experts in both academia and industry, Green Information Technology: A Sustainable Approach is a must-have guide for researchers, computer architects, computer engineers and IT professionals with an interest in greater efficiency with less environmental impact. - Introduces the concept of using green procurement and supply chain programs in the IT infrastructure. - Discusses how to use big data to drive efficiencies and establish a framework for sustainability in the information technology infrastructure. - Explains how cloud computing can be used to consolidate corporate IT environments using large-scale shared infrastructure reducing the overall environmental impact and unlocking new efficiencies. - Provides specific use cases for Green IT such as data center energy efficiency and cloud computing sustainability and risk.




Environmental Information Systems: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications


Book Description

Environmental information and systems play a major role in environmental decision making. As such, it is vital to understand the impact that they have on different aspects of sustainable environmental management, as well as to understand the opportunism they might present for further improvement. Environmental Information Systems: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is an innovative reference source containing the latest research on the use of information systems to track and organize environmental data for use in an overall environmental management system. Highlighting a range of topics such as environmental analysis, remote sensing, and geographic information science, this multi-volume book is designed for engineers, data scientists, practitioners, academicians, and researchers interested in all aspects of environmental information systems.




Sustainable Construction Technologies


Book Description

Sustainable Construction Technologies: Life-Cycle Assessment provides practitioners with a tool to help them select technologies that are financially advantageous even though they have a higher initial cost. Chapters provide an overview of LCA and how it can be used in conjunction with other indicators to manage construction. Topics covered include indoor environment quality, energy efficiency, transport, water reuse, materials, land use and ecology, and more. The book presents a valuable tool for construction professionals and researchers that want to apply sustainable construction techniques to their projects. Practitioners will find the international case studies and discussions of worldwide regulation and standards particularly useful. - Provides a framework for analyzing sustainable construction technologies and economic viability - Introduces key credit criteria for different sustainable construction technologies - Covers the most relevant construction areas - Includes technologies that can be employed during the process of construction, or to the product of the construction process, i.e. buildings - Analyzes international rating systems and provides supporting case studies




Green Business


Book Description

Green Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source for the latest research findings on the challenges and benefits of implementing sustainability into the core functions of contemporary enterprises, focusing on how green approaches improve operations.




Smart Energy Control Systems for Sustainable Buildings


Book Description

There is widespread interest in the way that smart energy control systems, such as assessment and monitoring techniques for low carbon, nearly-zero energy and net positive buildings can contribute to a Sustainable future, for current and future generations. There is a turning point on the horizon for the supply of energy from finite resources such as natural gas and oil become less reliable in economic terms and extraction become more challenging, and more unacceptable socially, such as adverse public reaction to ‘fracking’. Thus, in 2016 these challenges are having a major influence on the design, optimisation, performance measurements, operation and preservation of: buildings, neighbourhoods, cities, regions, countries and continents. The source and nature of energy, the security of supply and the equity of distribution, the environmental impact of its supply and utilization, are all crucial matters to be addressed by suppliers, consumers, governments, industry, academia, and financial institutions. This book entitled ‘Smart Energy Control Systems for Sustainable Buildings’ contains eleven chapters written by international experts based on enhanced conference papers presented at the Sustainability and Energy in Buildings International conference series. This book will be of interest to University staff and students; and also industry practioners.




ICT Innovations for Sustainability


Book Description

ICT Innovations for Sustainability is an investigation of how information and communication technology can contribute to sustainable development. It presents clear definitions of sustainability, suggesting conceptual frameworks for the positive and negative effects of ICT on sustainable development. It reviews methods of assessing the direct and indirect impact of ICT systems on energy and materials demand, and examines the results of such assessments. In addition, it investigates ICT-based approaches to supporting sustainable patterns of production and consumption, analyzing them at various levels of abstraction – from end-user devices, Internet infrastructure, user behavior, and social practices to macro-economic indicators. Combining approaches from Computer Science, Information Systems, Human-Computer Interaction, Economics, and Environmental Sciences, the book presents a new, holistic perspective on ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S). It is an indispensable resource for anyone working in the area of ICT for Energy Efficiency, Life Cycle Assessment of ICT, Green IT, Green Information Systems, Environmental Informatics, Energy Informatics, Sustainable HCI, or Computational Sustainability.




Information Systems and the Environment


Book Description

Information technology is a powerful tool for meeting environmental objectives and promoting sustainable development. This collection of papers by leaders in industry, government, and academia explores how information technology can improve environmental performance by individual firms, collaborations among firms, and collaborations among firms, government agencies, and academia. Information systems can also be used by nonprofit organizations and the government to inform the public about broad environmental issues and environmental conditions in their neighborhoods. Several papers address the challenges to information management posed by the explosive increase in information and knowledge about environmental issues and potential solutions, including determining what information is environmentally relevant and how it can be used in decision making. In addition, case studies are described and show how industry is using information systems to ensure sustainable development and meet environmental standards. The book also includes examples from the public sector showing how governments use information knowledge systems to disseminate "best practices" beyond big firms to small businesses, and from the world of the Internet showing how knowledge is shared among environmental advocates and the general public.




Green BIM


Book Description

Meet the challenge of integrating Building Information Modeling and sustainability with this in-depth guide, which pairs these two revolutionary movements to create environmentally friendly design through a streamlined process. Written by an award-winning team that has gone beyond theory to lead the implementation of Green BIM projects, this comprehensive reference features practical strategies, techniques, and real-world expertise so that you can create sustainable BIM projects, no matter what their scale.