Government sustainability

Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010 - 2015

Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2010

Appendix 2. ICT sustainability initiatives

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) released Green ICT Quick Wins in July 2009. The Quick Wins are a set of immediate measures to address ICT energy performance and management in Australian Government operations.56 The table below lists the Green ICT Quick Wins and other sustainability initiatives. It is intended to serve as a planning guide to assist agencies schedule initiatives in the context of reaching environmental performance targets.

To maximise cost saving opportunities, agencies should schedule ICT infrastructure changes around refresh cycles and contract renewals.

This list will be expanded over the duration of the plan as new technologies and practices develop.

  Planned  In-progress  Completed  Not actioned
Sustainable ICT procurement
1 Improve ICT sustainability requirements in tenders
  • apply mandatory environmental criteria
        
 
  • minimum EPEAT Silver or equivalent (based on ISO14021/ISO14024)
        
  • ENERGY STAR
        
  • product take-back for toner cartridges, mobile devices, and ICT equipment covered under the National Waste Policy
        
  • minimum 50 per cent post-consumer recycled content paper
        
  • participation by ICT suppliers in the NPC/compliance with the NEPM
        
  • ICT suppliers EMS aligned to ISO 14001
        
  • apply Green ICT Procurement Kit provisions
        
  • apply relative weighting (or other model) to environmental criteria
        
2 Zero e-waste and packaging waste to landfill
  • recycling infrastructure for batteries, mobile devices, cables and ICT equipment
        
  • re-use or recycling of packaging waste
        
  • National Packaging Covenant requirements or NEPM compliance
        
  • National Waste Policy requirements
        
  • responsible gifting of usable ICT equipment
        
Energy and carbon management
3 Zero active screensavers
  • black screens
       
  • static screens
        
4 Zero PCs left 'on' after office hours
  • staff shutdown PCs at the end of the day
        
  • PC fleet power management solution (auto shutdown)
        
  • set monitors to standby after 10 minutes of inactivity
        
5 Optimise paper and toner cartridge use
  • printers set to default duplex printing
        
  • follow-me print solutions
        
  • printing multiple pages per sheet
        
  • online reading and editing
        
  • effective use of the print preview function
        
  • eco-font and fast draft
        
  • printer density settings
        
  • default grey scale for colour printers
        
  • e-forms, e-claiming and e-payments
        
6 Increase energy efficiency for desktop fleet
  • energy efficient PC, laptop and monitor
        
  • desktop virtualisation
        
  • thin client technology
        
  • activate power management settings on all desktop computers and peripherals (where operationally practical)
        
7 Optimise total number of desktop PCs and laptops
  • minimise PC and laptop duplication
        
  • conduct a comprehensive analysis of desktop fleet numbers and rationalise where necessary.
        
  • laptop pooling and/or docking stations
        
  • hot desking
        
8 Optimise telephone handsets
  • minimise handset duplication
        
  • integrate telephony
       
  • soft phone technology
        
9 Optimise printer utilisation
  • centralised MFDs
        
  • follow-me print solutions
        
10 Optimise ICT equipment and facilities energy efficiency in data centres and server rooms
  • conduct independent energy assessment for PUE or NABERS energy rating
        
  • server virtualisation (where suitable)
        
  • cloud computing
        
  • storage de-duplication
        
  • thin provisioning
        
  • disk spin-down
        
  • location of data centre or server room
        
  • optimise air conditioner coefficient of performance
        
  • mitigate air blocks and leaks, and maximise air flow
        
  • mitigate cold/hot air short circuiting
        
  • optimise hot air collection and return air locations
        
  • optimise server rack selection and use
        
  • hot aisle and cold aisle containment and layout
        
  • free cooling or liquid cooling
        
  • Power distribution efficiency
        
  • and other Australian Government 'Data Centre Strategy 2010-2025' initiatives
        
Effective use of ICT
11 Optimise ICT utilisation in Government operations
  • video and web conferencing
        
  • electronic records management system
        
  • tele-working
        
  • follow-me network solutions
        
  • e-learning and video streaming
        
  • e-forms, e-claiming and e-payments
        
  • integrated software systems
        
  • integrated building management systems and smart metering
        
Environmental management systems
12 Improve ICT sustainability governance and decision making
  • update CEIs, policies and procedures
        
  • update business case templates
        
  • update new policy proposal templates
        
  • update risk assessment templates
        
  • update job description and performance agreements
        
  • align processes to ISO 14001
        
13 Improve organisational knowledge
  • ICT sustainability awareness programs
        
  • ICT sustainability education and training
        
  • induction training - staff, contractors and suppliers
        
Reporting
14 Establish ICT energy baseline
  • measure energy consumption for each ICT equipment category
        
  • independent energy assessments for data centres and server rooms
        
15 Report Green ICT performance
  • Green ICT Scorecard with energy intensity measures and other Green ICT key performance indicators
        
  • Annual Report - ESD reporting
        
  • Energy and carbon reporting - OSCAR database
        

 

56 Green ICT Quick Wins, Australian Government Information Management Office, July 2009, www.finance.gov.au/e-government/strategy-and-governance/sustainable-ict/quick-wins.html