Exploring Practices to Utilize Information Technology Towards a Greener Environment, and Studying the Financial Implications of those Practices on Individuals and Corporations

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2017-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The British University in Dubai
Abstract
Green information technology practices refer to ones that have proven to be beneficial in protecting the environment. These approaches have been devised as a response to the continued environmental degradation realized due to the constant level of industrialization and usage of computing devices. Information technology hardware infrastructure consumes enormous amounts of power for running, cooling, and maintaining this equipment. Thus, there is a need for growth in green technology adoption. Information technology practices discussed in this dissertation are server virtualization, cloud computing, business process automation, internet of things, green software engineering, and value engineering. Some of these practices provide real-time monitoring of environmental behaviour. Others directly establish proper resource management, leading to reduce power consumption and heat dissipation. The overall effect is that pollution is reduced significantly, in addition to a great value added to the users in terms of effort saving and financial cost. The hypothesis that needs to be tested is that green information technology practices have a substantial benefit not only to the environment, but also to the society and the economy. If green technologies do not have a positive financial implication in reducing cost, individuals and corporations will be less likely to adopt them. This dissertation will give a brief history of the interaction between technology and the environment and critically analyse the concept of green technology. Data will be collected from literature, case studies, and conducted interviews with professionals in the environmental and information technology fields. Also, this dissertation will find whether green information technology practices add enough value to the environment and the society compared to their financial cost.
Description
Keywords
Information Technology, green environment, financial implications, green information technology
Citation