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SustainIT
Newsletter June 2008
National
eWell-Being Awards Partnership
Opportunities
Opportunities exist to become a sponsor of
the 2009 awards.
The Awards are now entering their seventh
successful year. Since their launch in 2002 more than 700 high
quality entries have been received from a diverse range of
organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Over 800
people have attended the prestigious Awards ceremonies and 650,000
copies of the Awards brochures have been published by the national
media partners.
For further information on the partnership
opportunities please contact Richard
Craven r.craven@ukceed.org or 01733
311644
SustainIT
& PC Pro Partnership
SustainIT has teamed up with
PC Pro to spread the word of sustainable development to a wider IT
audience. PC Pro and SustainIT have created the Environmental
Innovator of the Year Award for this year’s PC Pro and eWell-Being
Awards. This award acknowledges either the
policies or products produced by companies to reduce their carbon
footprint, or the amount of environmental waste produced by their
customers, as part of PC
Pro’s Reliability and Service Awards
The Awards are different from any other
you’ll find in the UK. We’re not asking you
to “vote” for a company, we want to know about the real-world
experiences you’ve enjoyed – or otherwise – after buying goods and
services from the UK’s IT
companies.
Special offer for
SustainIT newsletter readers
Try Pc Pro, the
UK’s No.1 magazine for IT
professionals and enthusiasts with 3 issues for just £1
Every month it’s packed with the latest news, reviews and labs tests
you need to stay informed – and comes with a cover DVD packed with
free applications and software. Plus, we’ll send you a handy
26-piece toolkit, worth £9.99 as your free welcome gift.
Reaching
the Digitally Excluded
Economic benefits of
next generation broadband
Take-up of broadband
highest in rural areas
Birmingham’s Keeping
IT in the Family competition
e-Learning Foundation
£1.5 million give away
Better
Ways of Working
SustainIT’s SusteIT
project update
OFCOM Introduces new
broadband speed code
Wi-Fi buses come to
Nottingham and Derby
10,000 handheld
computers to increase time on the
beat
Low
Carbon and Environmental Efficiency
Carbon Footprint: Energy
Efficient IT Summit 2008
80 per cent CO2 reduction
commitment from BT
You Control Climate Change
aims to create Virtual ‘Young Changers’ community
WEEE compliance
IBM solar power
venture
Reaching
the Digitally Excluded
Economic
benefits of next generation
broadband
The economic benefits of the next generation
broadband could be in excess of £16bn – the estimated cost of
upgrading the UK’s net infrastructure,
according to a report by the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG).
By looking at the potential private value
(value accruing to commercial investors and consumers) and the wider
economic and social value, the BSG has found that the long-term
benefits to the UK associated with the wide-scale deployment could
outweigh the cost, which could be as much as £16bn (to reach 80 per
cent of UK homes).
Antony Walker, CEO of the Broadband
Stakeholder Group, explains, “Next generation broadband has the
potential to transform the way we do things as individuals,
businesses and as a nation as a whole. It is tempting to jump in
feet-first but it matters more to do this right than to do it now.
There is a lot of uncertainty about issues on both the demand and
supply side and much that we can learn from experience elsewhere
without adverse affects in the short-term. On the other hand, the
UK can’t wait too long.
If widespread network deployment didn’t happen in the medium term
(perhaps three to five years), then this report suggests that the
UK could be losing
out.
Click here to download the full
report
Top
Take-up
of broadband highest in
rural areas
Rural areas of the UK are better connected
to broadband than their urban neighbours, a new Ofcom report has
revealed.
When broadband was first introduced in the
UK in 2000 households in
urban areas were the first to take the service, leading to concerns
that a digital divide was emerging between country and built-up
areas. But the rapid rollout of broadband services across the
country has meant that most parts of the UK now have access to
this service and today’s report marks the end of the so-called
divide.
Across the UK as a whole, 59 per
cent of households in rural areas now have broadband compared to 57
per cent of urban areas.
More
Top
Birmingham’s Keeping
IT in the Family competition
A Birmingham family will soon begin a
year-long experiment to demonstrate the difference digital
technology can make to everyday life.
The initiative is supported by BT, which is
providing a range of exciting equipment for the winning family to
use throughout their tenure. The objective is for the family to make
the most of digital technology - including BT broadband internet, BT
Vision digital TV, wireless connection, security software, the
latest telephones and webcams - to learn and develop their skills
and teach other family members along the
way.
More
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e-Learning
Foundation £1.5 million give
away
The e-Learning Foundation is giving away
£1.5 million in its annual Autumn Grant Round for Primary and
Secondary schools in the UK for home access
e-learning projects.
So far the e-Learning Foundation has helped
to fund e-learning projects in more than 300 schools nationwide,
providing learning technologies for over 50,000 school children to
tap into at home and in school for their
studies.
The e-Learning Foundation is inviting
proposals for grant funding for home linked e-learning projects from
schools across the UK. All of the projects
chosen will support the shared common principles of equity of
access, home access and sustainability of funding through parental
involvement.
More Top
Better
Ways of Working
SustainIT’s SusteIT
project update
SusteIT – a joint project between UK CEED’s
SustainIT unit and the Higher Education Environmental Performance
Improvement (HEEPI) project - is running two free workshops on
‘Energy Efficient Configuration, Cooling & Power Supply in Data
Centres’ at the University of Cardiff (June 19th) and on ‘New Ways
of Working’ at the new campus of Queen Margaret University,
Edinburgh (August 21st).
Queen
Margaret University achieved the
highest BREEAM rating of any HE development. The morning session
will focus on how a thin client infrastructure has created more
efficient use of space and other benefits. The afternoon will
feature external presentations on the opportunities for more mobile
working and videoconferencing in HE.
Although the events are targeted at
universities and colleges they are open to knowledgeable outsiders
who can contribute to the discussion. See www.heepi.org.uk for further
details.
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OFCOM
introduces new broadband speed code
Under the code service providers will have
to provide customers with an accurate estimate of the maximum speed
that the line can support.
Internet service providers advertise
broadband speeds as being up to a certain megabyte, but the speed
drops the further a customer lives from the exchange. Ofcom has
voiced concern about the discrepancy on previous
occasions.
ISPs will also have to offer customers the
choice to move onto a lower speed package when the estimates are
inaccurate.
More
Top
Wi-Fi
buses come to Nottingham and
Derby
Trent Barton, an independent coach operator,
has launched in-vehicle wireless hotspots for commuters between
Nottingham and Derby.
8 wi-fi enabled buses will service the 40
minute rush hour route, popular with business travellers and
students.
“We’ve made a significant investment to
modernise our fleet of over 270 buses and are continually seeking
news ways to provide better service to our customers,” said Mark
Greasley, Commercial Manager at Trent Barton. “By putting Wi-Fi
hotspots on our vehicles we’re offering passengers a way to make the
most of the forty minute journey. We chose the Moovera Moovbox as it
offers us not only the managed Wi-Fi service but also GPS tracking
and the ability in the future to connect other systems such as
ticketing and security over the Internet to our Operations
Centre.”
More
Top
10,000
handheld computers to
increase time on the beat
27 police forces will receive a total of
10,000 handheld computers to help them increase police officer time
on the beat.
Policing Minister, Tony McNulty, in
conjunction with the Association of Chief Police Officers, the
Association of Police Authorities and the National Policing
Improvement Agency, has today announced the distribution of funding
to 27 police forces for a total of 10,000 handheld computers to help
them increase police officer time on the
beat.
More Top
Low
Carbon and Environmental Efficiency
Carbon
Footprint: Energy Efficient
IT Summit 2008
4-5 September 2008, Thistle Marble Arch,
London,
UK
www.carbonfootprint-energyefficient-it.com
Measuring &
Optimising Energy Efficiencies of Data Centres & IT
Infrastructures To Deliver Clear Cost Benefits And Return On
Investment
Following the huge success of the 2007
Carbon Footprint IT Summit, London
Business Conferences are delighted to announce the latest
international Summit in their world leading
series. Strategic decision-makers and their senior IT executives
& data centre heads will discover HOW to practically focus their
efforts and investments into energy consumption reduction - to
minimise the total cost of ownership, maximise energy efficiency and
therefore reduce the organisation's environmental impact.
Participating companies include JPMorgan Chase, Credit
Suisse, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Yahoo!, John Lewis
Partnership, AOL, Citigroup Realty Services, Tesco, Brooke
North LLP, AISO.net, European Commission DG JRC, Institute
for Environment and Sustainability, US EPA Energy Star
Program, Manchester City Council, Defra, Hampshire
County Council, Credit Suisse, KPMG and Cardiff
University.
The agenda and full list of speakers and
topics are available on the Summit website at www.carbonfootprint-energyefficient-it.com
or call +44 (0) 207 749 0470, or e-mail info@london-business-conferences.co.uk
for further
information.
Subscribers
to Sustain IT are entitled to a 15% discount on the registration
fee
Top
80 per cent
CO2 reduction commitment
from BT
BT have announced a long-term goal of
reducing their CO2 emissions by 80 per cent below 1996 levels by
2020.
“At BT we recognize that it is our
responsibility to grow in a sustainable way,” said BT’s Chris
Tuppen, who developed the measurement model. “The Climate
Stabilization Intensity (CSI) Target creates a relationship between
BT’s CO2 emissions and its financial performance so that they become
interdependent. It is a powerful tool for embedding sustainability
into organizations worldwide and critical in effecting
change.”
More
Top
You Control
Climate Change aims to create virtual ‘Young Changers’ community
Launched on World Environment Day, this
third phase of the “You control climate change” campaign aims to
initiate pro-active dialogue on climate change in five countries
(insert the names of the coutries), where national campaigns have
not yet been implemented.
European Environment Commissioner Stavros
Dimas said: “Young people have a strong vested interest in helping
to bring climate change under control because they will otherwise
have to live with its increasingly severe consequences over the
coming decades. This successful campaign is raising young people's
awareness of the climate change threat and showing them how they can
contribute to fighting it by making 'green' choices in their daily
lives."
More Top
WEEE
compliance
The June 16th deadline for WEEE producer
compliance schemes to submit their final evidence to meet their
members’ obligations evidence trading and purchasing has passed,
with up to seven thought to be potentially non-compliant.
It is believed that a number of the schemes
have not acquired sufficient evidence to meet the waste electrical
and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling obligations of their
producer members for 2007.
However, while the deadline passed on Monday
(June 16), official figures are still awaited and may not be
published for some time. As a result, the delays in resolving the
situation could lead to some contractors who operate civic amenity
sites ending their WEEE collection as they await payment for
services already provided.
More
Top
IBM
solar power
venture
IBM has joined forces with semiconductor
process company Tokyo Ohka Kogyo (TOK), to develop more efficient
solar power technologies to cut the cost of the clean energy
source.
The move is the latest by large technology
companies to enter the burgeoning field of photovoltaic solar
products, which turn sunlight into electricity without releasing the
pollutants that are emitted from coal, oil and nuclear power
generation.
IBM will contribute its expertise in
manufacturing cells, while TOK will bring its technology used in the
semiconductor industry and for coating LCD
panels.
The partnership is seeking to create
techniques that double the efficiency of thin film solar modules,
making them capable of converting more of the sun's rays into
electricity.
Top
About
SustainIT
SustainIT
is an initiative of The UK Centre for Economic and Environmental
Development (UK CEED), an independent, entrepreneurial research
foundation. It conducts research on, and provides good practice
examples of, synergies between ICT and sustainable development.
For more information visit www.sustainit.org or contact us
on +44 (0)1733 311644.
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