For the course Sustainable Development

1. MJ1261 Hållbar Utveckling
2009/10/08 That’s me!
I have a bachelor in
computer science and a
master in sustainable
technology. They seem
unrelated, but I’ll present
my view on their
connections.
JORGE ZAPICO
KTH / CSC / Media / Industrial Ecology
Centre for Sustainable Communications
http://sustainablecommunications.org
zapico@kth.se
http://jorgezapico.com

2. Computers and ICT have
changed the way we live
and work, the way we
grow, learn and
communicate with
others

3. Everywhere in the world

4. But at the same time the
old industrial way keeps
going.

5. And we are still using
this kind of stuff.

6. And environmental
problems keep growing:
climate change, pollution,
resource depletion,
And this is the result
(The graph is CO2
concentration)

7. So, what do these two
things have in common?

8. A.DIRECT IMPACT
The environmental impact of
hardware production, usage
and end of life

9. We buy more and more
electronic devices, and
new things keep coming.
For instance I want one
of these new tablets
coming soon.. And they
will be old technology
after one year.
Accelerating development
Design for obsolescence
Increased consumerism

10. A laptop average
replacement time is 3 years

11. For mobile phones it
is just 18 months

12. 1 billion handsets
per year
Only in January
2009 India got 15
million new
mobile users

13. Much of this
hardware is hidden
from our view

14. Electronic equipment
contains a big part of
the periodic table

15. We are buying enormous
amounts of electronic
devices + they are full
with scarce and toxic
materials + their life
span is short = we got a
problem!
Growing e-waste
problem

16. 8.7 million tons ewaste
each year in the EU.
There is no data of what
happen to 75% of it.

17. That’s an sculpture made
RoHS
of the amount of electric
+electronic waste that WEEE
one person generates in a
lifetime Green our
electronics
WEEE: EU directive that
makes the producer
responsible of the waste
RoHS: Ban of several
toxic substances in
electronics (as lead)
Green our electronics:
Greenpeace campaign for
increasing awareness of
these problems

18. Numbers from apple. Not
that true for Swedish Most of carbon
scenario, but still a big
part. impact is in the use
phase: electricity

19. <
Surprising but true!
Check the tool we made
at http://carbon.to and A modern laptop
you can play with
several things like this. consumes less than an
old light bulb

20. The use-phase
energy can be
sustainable
Ericsson project: solar
powered chargers

21. The network-side
energy can be
sustainable

22. Possible solutions for
decreasing these
problems
Cloud computing
Virtualization
Back to dumb clients

23. B.INDIRECT IMPACT
The environmental impact of
the changes that ICT
produces in the way we live
brings. Positive and
negative.

24. Dematerialization
of knowledge
For instance in my e-
reader I’ve got place for
all the books I could
possible read in my whole
life

25. Virtual presence

26. Optimization
Smart Grids
Computers can made
everything much
efficient. For instance the
electrical grid: making
appliances use power
when lower demand and
such things.

27. But optimization works
also for other things. ICT
optimization is one of
the reasons we have
cheap flights now, equal
lots of emissions...
Optimization

28. The paperless office Technology sometimes
hasn’t delivered what it
promised. For instance
the end of paper when
computers were
introduced in the office.

29. Telecommuting
Or reducing traveling by
just communicating
online, it has instead
increased travelling

30. Rebound effects
Technology has usually
unexpected
consequences in the real
world, sometimes the
opposite of our
predictions
Rebound effects need to
be taken into account!

31. C. SOCIETAL IMPACT
ICT use as a tool for societal
change and generator of
sustainability.

32. ICT for Development See the video:
http://www.ted.com/talks/
Access to knowledge
Empowerment

33. Using web technologies
for connecting people in
need with people with
means.
New forms of helping
Horizontal social
organization

34. Giving voice to
democracy

35. Making the electricity
consumption visible and
help in reducing it.
Making visible the
invisible

36. Accounting
Accounting for carbon
sustainability dioxide emissions is the
first step for changing.
Changing behavior In this case is travel CO2
thanks to
www.dopplr.com

37. Many ICT applications try to
change our behavior and
increase our awareness. This
one is we:offset by Nokia.
Using GPS it knows you have
taken a plane to another
country and encourage you to
offset the emissions

38. 1.1 T racking carbon footprint
People is forming
communities and coming
together on internet to
try to solve things.

39. Open source and creative
commons are great
movements coming from
the ICT world.
Check the vide:
http://www.ted.com/talks/
Bringing open source
to the physical world

40. ICT makes easier to
behave in an
environmental friendly
way.
Check http://
cykla.stockholm.se

41. My key point
is that computers have
changed our society in a
deep way, and these
changes affects
sustainability (the way
society interacts with
nature) for good or for
bad.

42. There are some
technological patterns in
the previous
opportunities
Key technologies to keep
an eye in

43. Single most used technology of
history. More than 60% of the
world population owns one and
growing.
With convergence it would be the
only device we need.
Mobile phones

44. Pervasive Sensors
Geo data
Computer control

45. Virtual knowledge

46. Virtual Presence

47. Social Media

48. The open movement

49. What will happen in the future?
Technology is developing at an
accelerating pace.
Do we have the time to
analyze its impact in society
and in the environment?
Will the environment allow this
continue development? Or will
it say stop and change the
course of technological
development?

50. Conclusion
ICT is having more impact than we
think in the pursuit of
sustainability, both positive than
negative
These positive impacts can be
That’s my point! empowered
ICTs are just tools!
It is what WE
made with them,
will be design tools ICT as any tool is what we make of
for increasing air
travel? or it
applications to
make the world
better?

51. Contact at: Thanks for watching!
Send my questions /
comments at those places
in the right!
Jorge Zapico English / Swedish /
Spanish / and easy
Japanese are welcome =)
zapico@kth.se
http:// jorgezapico.com
@zapico
Presentation at
http://slideshare.net/zapico