Monthly Archives: January 2011
Being green is never easy
Environmental issues are always on the classroom agenda, but now they are joined by green ICT. Of course, we all want to do our bit for the environment, but is ‘green’ being done effectively in ICT? I had to look up quite a few articles to get a grasp of green ICT as it isn’t covered in teacher training. Perhaps it’s assumed we know what it involves, but do teachers even understand the term? I asked a few and none had a good understanding.
Designing to win
Students at Accrington Academy challenge professional software users with their design of an eco-classroom.
The whole thing started out innocently enough, with one of the academy’s regular enterprise days that focused on the environment. Groups of students designed an eco-classroom with the help of an architect, a structural engineer and Alison Watson, a qualified surveyor and director of Class of Your Own, a company that offers workshops to schools to allow them to address sustainability in a practical way.
The criminal of climate change
Transport and manufacturing are often viewed as the world’s worst environmental threats, but ICT must also be scrutinised.
As concerns grow about the environmental impacts made by modern society and as demands on resources amplify, we are seeing rises in energy costs. Electricity is becoming an expensive commodity, with every 1W of electricity consumed by a computing device costing around £1 per year if left running 24/7. With a typical PC consuming 114W (as quoted by global analyst, Gartner), the costs of running this one PC will be £114 a year.
Sustainability in schools
The 2016 deadline for schools to be carbon neutral will be difficult to meet, but there are key opportunities for schools to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprints.
It is often observed that the push towards sustainability and being green tends to take a bit of a backseat during an economic downturn. Schools, like many organisations in the private sector, have got enough to worry about besides their carbon footprints. However, sustainability and making increasingly tight budgets go further aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. In light of this, it’s timely to see how schools are attempting to improve their green credentials. When it comes to ICT, what steps are schools and suppliers taking towards meeting the government deadline for schools to be carbon neutral by 2016?