Contributions published at Informatics and Sustainability Research (Lorenz Hilty)

Many studies on "Green IT/Green ICT" have already been published, focusing on the energy consumption of ICT or the role of ICT as an enabler of energy efficiency. In this paper, we argue that such an approach is too narrow, and that a broader perspective is needed to utilize the potential of ICT to make our lives more sustainable.

In this master thesis, an agent-based simulation software based on a conceptual model of the Swiss woodfuel market has been programmed. The simulation software was implemented in Java. Instead of holding all information about the agents directly as Java objects in memory, an ontology database was used to store the data. The objective of this approach was to get more sophisticated possibilities for the evaluation of the simulations, as on the one hand all the data about the interactions between the agents are available, on the other hand it is possible to read out very specific information with SPARQL-Queries. Additionally, logical consequences should be inferred from the ontology database using a reasoner and specifying inference rules. It could be demonstrated that using an ontology-database in fact improves the possibilities of evaluating the simulation. Moreover, the source code stayed clearer since it only contains methods for the mutation of agent data, but doesn't hold the data itself. However, using the ontology databases decreases the performance of the simulation: simulating 25 years with 1000 agents on a high performance cluster took between two and ten hours, depending on the settings used. This makes the processes of verification and validation even more complex. Hence, with the present version of the simulation program it was not possible to make precise statements about the Swiss woodfuel market. Even though it was demonstrated with the help of an example how the simulation program can be used to make statements about the Swiss woodfuel market, based on a specific question.

Der europäische Strommarkt befindet sich inmitten eines Liberalisierungsprozesses, was bedeutet, dass die verschiedenen Wertschöpfungsschritte voneinander entkoppelt werden. Zudem fordert die EU die Umsetzung von Energieeffizienzmassnahmen. Eine dieser Massnahmen ist die Implementierung von sogenannten Smart Meters. Der Implementationsfortschritt von Smart Metering lässt in Europa jedoch zu wünschen übrig. Die vorliegende Arbeit begründet das zögerliche Marktverhalten mit der kontraproduktiven Annahme, dass sich Netzbetreiber um die Implementierung von Smart Metering kümmern müssen, sowie die fehlende Berücksichtigung der Interessen unterschiedlicher Stakeholder. Die Arbeit zeigt auf, welche zusätzlichen Funktionalitäten ein Smart Meter bieten muss, damit die Interessen der Stakeholder gewährleistet werden können.

As has been discussed for decades, a reduction of the input of natural resources into industrial production and consumption by a factor of 4 to 10 is a necessary condition for Sustainable Development. This paper discusses the potential contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to such a dematerialization of the industrial societies and introduces a conceptual framework which accounts for positive and negative impacts of ICT on physical flows. This framework addresses three levels: the ICT life cycle itself, life cycles of other products influenced by ICT applications, and patterns of production and consumption. The conclusion is that ICT will only contribute to Sustainable Development if this technology is recognized and used as an enabler of a deep structural change; a transition towards an economic system in which value-creation is mainly based on information processing while keeping the physical properties of material within some limits that ensure that it can be recycled. This structural change will include the transition from a material-property-transfer mode to a service-transfer mode of consumption in areas where this is technically feasible and beneficial in terms of resource productivity. In such a post-industrial society, which may also be called a sustainable information society, open technological standards will play a crucial role, since they allow for complexity reduction while keeping competition alive, thus minimizing the risk of unmastered complexity in new critical infrastructures.

SummaryElectronic textiles are a vanguard of an emerging generation of smart products. They consist of small electronic devices that are seamlessly embedded into clothing and technical textiles. E-textiles provide enhanced functions in a variety of unobtrusive and convenient ways. Like many high-tech products, e-textiles may evolve to become a mass market in the future. In this case, large amounts of difficult-to-recycle products will be discarded. That can result in new waste problems.This article examines the possible end-of-life implications of textile-integrated electronic waste. As a basis for assessment, the innovation trends of e-textiles are reviewed, and an overview of their material composition is provided. Next, scenarios are developed to estimate the magnitude of future e-textile waste streams. On that base, established disposal and recycling routes for e-waste and old textiles are assessed in regard to their capabilities to process a blended feedstock of electronic and textile materials. The results suggest that recycling old e-textiles will be difficult because valuable materials are dispersed in large amounts of heterogeneous textile waste. Moreover, the electronic components can act as contaminants in the recycling of textile materials.We recommend scrutinizing the innovation trend of technological convergence from the life cycle perspective. Technology developers and product designers should implement waste preventative measures at the early phases in the development process of the emerging technology.

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The Human Choice and Computers (HCC) conferences organized by the IFIP Technical Committee 9 (TC9) have been important fora for discussing the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on society, ranging from the way ICT affect our lives at home and at the workplace to the impact that they have in institutions and communities. These conferences have permitted scholars and practitioners to discuss technology from a social perspective: once we understand that artefacts are not neutral, it becomes necessary to explore their economic, political, cultural, and social implications. In this introduction we recount briefly the history of the HCC conferences, in order to contextualise the contribution made by the HCC9 and the papers published in this book, a topic discussed in section 2.

We discuss various views and conceptual frameworks put forward in the discussion of ICT and sustainable development: An optimistic and a pessimistic view of ICT with regard to sustainability, the three-pillar approach to sustainable development, the three-level approach to ICT impacts, the claim of human, social and ecological compatibility of ICT and the plain use of ICT for development. We show that each of these approaches has its problems and limitations and conclude with formulating the challenges of finding an analytical approach which will effectively support decision-makers in using ICT in the service of sustainable development.

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Sustainable development is a political concept with a strong normative component. In this article we show which implications follow from this normative component if it is interpreted in a natural science context. We conclude that from a natural science point of view a far-reaching dematerialization of consumption is a necessary condition for sustainable development. We further conclude that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can only support sustainable development if they are applied as enablers of dematerialized (less material-intensive) types of consumption. Macro-level data on consumption shows, however, that average material flows per capita are still increasing. In this problematical situation we see a need for framework conditions which provide incentives for dematerialization and specialized research on the psychosocial conditions on the basis of which consumption patterns could evolve towards a more dematerialized economy.

During the past decade, several macroeconomic studies on the potentials of information and communication technology (ICT) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been published. The mitigation potentials identified in them vary to a high degree, mainly because they are not consistently defined and diverse methodologies are applied. The characteristics of ICT—exceptional dynamics of innovation and diffusion, social embedment and cross-sector application, diverse and complex impact patterns—are a challenge for macroeconomic studies that quantify ICT impacts on GHG emissions. This article first reviews principal macroeconomic studies on ICT and GHG emissions. In the second part, we reconsider our own study on this topic and present an in-depth scenario analysis of the future impacts of ICT applications on GHG emissions. We conclude that forthcoming macroeconomic studies could strengthen the state of the art in environmental ICT impact modeling (1) by accounting for the dynamics of new ICT applications and their first-, second-, and third-order effects on a global scale, (2) by reflecting the error margins resulting from data uncertainty in the final results, and (3) by using scenario techniques to explore future uncertainty and its impacts on the results.

Everyday debates' scope is bounded by the limited cognitive skills of the participants. A contributing factor is the lack of overview over all stated arguments and their sub-debates thus making the debate hard to follow over time. The CANDis.(Computer Aided Normative Discourse) Project defines heuristics to support debates. The task of the bachelor thesis is to implement the existing aspects of the theory in a prototype as a web-based debate support system which follows the heuristics. It structures and visualizes the arguments and sub-debates in an organized fashion. The prototype is a graphical web-based application and will be empirically validated in the near future.

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The role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in energy consumption and climate change is widely being discussed under the label of "Green IT". A common understanding has emerged that ICTs are contributing roughly 2% to the global greenhouse gas emissions and having the potential to reduce the remaining 98% in other sectors substantially. This talk provides a survey of positive and negative effects of ICT with regard to sustainability, focusing on issues beyond energy and climate change. The general picture of a small but growing ICT footprint and a large (theoretical) potential to reduce the footprint of other sectors, however, remains valid. The services provided by ICT applications can influence any phase of the life cycle of almost any good or service. At the micro level, this means that the design, production, use or end-of-life treatment can be optimized by ICT services. At the macro level, the demand for existing goods and services can dramatically be changed in either direction by new ICT applications, resulting in changing consumption patterns and, in the best case, in decoupling economic growth from resource extraction (dematerialization). Therefore, ICT has a huge potential to influence the metabolism of society. However, ICT does not automatically lead to a sustainable society. It is therefore essential to govern the development and application of ICT with regard to sustainability in order to maximize the positive and minimize the negative impacts. Conceptual and methodological frameworks that can be used for analysis and governance will be presented in the talk, such as the Linked Life Cycle approach.

For quite some years now, there has been a growing debate under the label of “Green I(C)T” about reducing the en-ergy consumption of ICT equipment. More recently, the discourse started to partly shift towards a novel discussion on using ICT to induce energy savings in sectors other than ICT. Advocates suggest that the cumulated potential for ICT-induced savings is several times larger than the entire energy consumption of ICT itself. Numerous studies on ICT-related energy consumption exist, and also an increasing number of studies looking at ICT-induced energy efficiency. The few studies, however, considering both aspects, typically do so independently, without relating the two aspects. Moreover, in the energy efficiency discourse, ICT is usually treated as a monolithic block of technologies – only the application areas that are expected to benefit from it being differentiated. In this paper, we make the case that ICT energy consumption and ICT’s potential for inducing energy efficiency can – and should – be related to each other. We further argue that this can only be obtained by decomposing the “ICT monolith” and look at its (naturally heterogeneous) parts separately. Based on a first round of expert interviews, we show that it is possible to qualitatively determine for every single technology subsumed under ICT its potential for inducing energy efficiency. We finally argue that only by consequently following low energy consumption targets for technologies with a low energy efficiency potential, while at the same time not suffocating technologies with a high energy efficiency potential through restrictive consumption targets, the full ICT-related energy saving potential can be unleashed.

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With the intention of bridging the digital divide, many programmes have been launched to provide computers for educational institutions, ranging from refurbishing second hand computers to delivering low cost new computers. The fast and economical provision of large quantities of equipment is one of the many challenges faced by such programmes. If an increase is to be achieved in the sustainability of computer supplies for schools, not only must equipment be provided, but also suitable training and maintenance delivered. Furthermore, appropriate recycling has to be ensured, so that end-of-life equipment can be dealt with properly. This study has evaluated the suitability of three computer supply scenarios to schools in Colombia: (i) Colombian refurbishment - refurbishment of computers donated in Colombia, (ii) Overseas refurbishment -import of computers which were donated and refurbished abroad, and (iii) XO Laptop - purchase of low cost computers manufactured in Korea. The methods applied were: Material Flow Assessment - to assess the quantities, Life Cycle Assessment - to assess the environmental impacts, and the application of the Multiple Attribute Utility Theory - to analyse, evaluate and compare different scenarios. The most sustainable solution proved to be the local refurbishment of second hand computers of Colombian origin to an appropriate technical standard. The environmental impacts of such practices need to be evaluated carefully, as second hand appliances have to be maintained, require spare parts and sometimes use more energy than newer equipment. Providing schools with second hand computers from overseas and through programmes such as One Laptop Per Child; has the disadvantage that the potential for social improvements - such as creation of jobs and local industry involvement - is very low.

The precautionary principle (PP) aims to anticipate and minimize potentially serious or irreversible risks under conditions of scientific uncertainty. Thus it preserves the potential for future developments. It has been incorporated into many international treaties and pieces of national legislation for environmental protection and sustainable development. In this article, we outline an interpretation of the PP as a framework of orientation for a sustainable information society. Since the risks induced by future information and communication technologies (ICT) are social risks for the most part, we propose to extend the PP from mainly environmental to social subjects of protection. From an ethical point of view, the PP and sustainability share the principle of intergenerational justice, which can be used as an argument to preserve free space for the decisions of future generations. Applied to technical innovation and to ICT issues in particular, the extended PP can serve as a framework of orientation to avoid socio-economically irreversible developments. We conclude that the PP is a useful approach for: (i) policy makers to reconcile information society and sustainability policies and (ii) ICT companies to formulate sustainability strategies.

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