Guidelines for Environmental Sustainability for the ICT Sector

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Guidelines for Environmental Sustainability for
the ICT Sector
Sustainable Products

• Thomas Okrasinski (Alcatel-Lucent)
• Shailendra Mudgal (BIOIS)

Contributors Alcatel-Lucent, BIOIS, BT, Climate
Associates, Datec, Dell, Ernst Young, ETNO,
Huawei, Imperial College, IRCPhoNeT, ITU,
MicroPro Computers, Microsoft, PE International
AG, RIM, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Pisa), StEP
Initiative, Thomson Reuters, UNEP Basel
Convention, UNU, Vodafone Ghana
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Sustainable ProductsBest Practices Guidance
Standard

• Provides technical guidance on environmentally
  conscious design principles and best practices as
  to how ICT companies can provide products that
  are more environmentally conscious throughout
  their full life cycle
• Initial version focuses on the environment.
  Future input will need to encompass social and
  ethical aspects for sustainable design.
• Standard covers 3 main areas
• ICT network infrastructure equipment (NIE)
• ICT customer premises equipment (CPE)
• ICT life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies,
  standards, life-cycle thinking approaches,
  estimators, tools, databases
• Key criteria used to select the guidance
  principles and best practices
• Designer-based the principle / practice is
  within the scope of a product designer
• Actionable the principle / practice proposes a
  means for improving the design
• Broad-ranged the principle / practice applies
  to a broad range of products within the ICT
  sector
• Best-in-Class the principle / practice focuses
  on creating the best solution possible

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Sustainable ProductsBest Practices Guidance
Standard
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Sustainable ProductsBest Practices Guidance
Standard

• Document layout
• Scope
• General References to Other Standards / Work
  Streams
• Best Environmental Practices
• General Principles and Guidance
• Specific Guidance
• Product Value / Lifetime Extension
• Energy Efficiency
• Substances and Materials
• Emissions
• Batteries
• Product Packaging / Packing
• Designing for End-of-Life Treatment
• Checklists
• Metrics

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Sustainable ProductsBest Practices Guidance
Standard

• International Standards
• ECMA-341 (4th Edition, December 2010) -
  Environmental Design Considerations for ICT and
  CE Products
• ETSI Environmental Engineering (EE) Life Cycle
  Assessment (LCA) of ICT equipment, networks and
  services General methodology and common
  requirements (finalized on 7 October 2011).
• IEC TC-111 Environmental standardization for
  electrical and electronic products and systems.
• ISO 140442006 - Environmental management - Life
  cycle assessment Requirements and Guidelines
• ISO 140622002 - Environmental management -
  Integrating environmental aspects into product
  design and development
• ISO 14067 Greenhouse gases Carbon footprint
  of products (under development). The standard
  will consist of two parts Part 1 for
  quantification of carbon footprint and Part 2
  for harmonization of methodologies for
  communicating the carbon footprint information.
• ITU L1410 Methodology for environmental impacts
  assessment of Information and Communication
  Technology (ICT) goods, networks, and services
  (pending finalization in late 2011).
• ITU L1420 Methodology for energy consumption and
  greenhouse gas emissions impact assessment of
  Information and Communication Technologies in
  organizations (pending finalization in late
  2011).

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Sustainable ProductsBest Practices Guidance
Standard

• General guidance
• Ensure inputs and outputs in the product life
  cycle do not cause environmental degradation or
  adversely affect human health by
• specifying the cleanest source of energy
• specifying non-hazardous and otherwise
  environmentally clean substances, especially in
  regards to user health
• specifying clean production processes for the
  product and in selection of components
• installing protection against release of
  pollutants and hazardous substances
• ensuring that wastes are water-based and
  biodegradable
• Specific guidance
• Product Value / Lifetime Extension improve
  durability of the product and components by
• improving aesthetics and functionality to ensure
  the aesthetic life is equal to the technical life
• ensuring minimal maintenance and minimizing
  failure modes in the product and its components
• specifying better materials, surface treatments,
  or structural arrangements to protect products
  from dirt, corrosion, and wear

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Sustainable ProductsBest Practices Guidance
Standard

• General Energy Efficiency Measures
• Be aware of the product life cycle phase that
  will consume the most energy. The intended use
  patterns of the product, including its typical
  system interactions, need to be considered. Where
  possible, the designer should strive for
  improving the overall system performance with
  respect to energy efficiency.
• The designer should enable the most energy
  efficient on-modes and transitions to energy
  saving- modes as the default modes. The
  end-user should be made aware of this and
  instructions on proper use of available energy
  saving controls and/or settings should be
  provided to the end-user.
• Software is highly relevant for the overall
  energy efficiency of a system. The designer
  should balance the flexibility of software
  running on multipurpose devices and the energy
  efficiency of special purpose hardware. Consider
  power saving modes and peak energy shaving
  opportunities. The key will be to make sure that
  service and/or functionality is not adversely
  affected when the system goes into and later
  recovers from sleep or peak-shave mode.

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More information

• Additional partners and contributors are needed
  and encouraged to become part of the project
• Contact Cristina Bueti (cristina.bueti_at_itu.int)
• http//www.itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange/ess/index.h
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