calculating the environmental footprint of ICT

measuring the environmental footprint of a product or service

To adopt a “Green IT” approach, a company must first assess the environmental footprint left by the services and equipment of its information systems. There are several methods for doing this. For each method, calculation is based on different input data entered into a calculation tool (specialised software, an online calculator, Excel table, etc.).

The initial phase consists of defining the objective and scope of the assessment.

The input data is determined according to the unit of measurement for the product or service in question: heating and electricity, energy associated with transportation of merchandise and employees, energy linked to manufacturing the materials used, waste processing, etc.

The calculation objective, and therefore the expected result, can be the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, the primary non-renewable energy consumed, or even the amount of ionising radiation produced.

life Cycle Assessment: a comprehensive approach

In the world of ICT, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used to evaluate the impact of a product, service, or by-product over its entire life cycle.

“This is a detailed assessment of a product’s environmental impact from ‘birth to death’. We consider the production of its different components, transportation and assembly,” explains Laurence Murad, Senior Consultant at Orange Business Services. “Then, we account for the energy and resources consumed during its use (network resources, meeting room, etc.). Finally, we assess the product’s final stage of recycling or destruction.”

For example, the LCA for a video phone service evaluates:

the manufacturing and lifespan of the required equipment (screen, camera, etc.)

the room used for the calls

the electricity consumption for the service (ventilator and power)

network resources (the amount the server is used, routers used)

any other elements

In this way, a “cost” is calculated according to the resources used (in particular, water and electricity) and greenhouse gas emissions (for example, those released during the production of the electronic components, or while the service is in use).

choosing the most ecological solutions

The LCA for a product or service makes it possible to identify which phases of the life cycle have the strongest impact on the environment. We can reduce its environmental footprint by prioritising changes to these phases. For a product, this could involve targeting certain components.

The calculation and interpretation of LCA results, as well as the demonstration of possible areas for improvement, is carried out by specialized firms, such as CODDE (Bureau Veritas), Eco Bilan (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Ecointesys (a spin-off of EPFL), or Bio Intelligence Service.

LCA is a recognised and certified method in compliance with the ISO 14040 standard. It is used both in preproduction (for eco-design) and post-production stages (to optimize a process, product or service as part of a Green IT initiative, for example). LCA helps determine "substitution services" that are better for the environment and measures the potential impact of a change in technology.

“Through LCA, we can evaluate the pertinence of specific solutions, as well as their ‘ecological profitability’ threshold,” adds Murad. “For example, adopting a videoconferencing solution to hold virtual meetings for people who work just a few hundred metres away from each other wouldn't make much sense. LCA makes it possible to determine the minimum distance that would make this solution both economically and ecologically advantageous.”