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Education, Green Government

Schools: The Public sector’s green Champions

By Kelly Ng | 5 January 2010

FutureGov Research revealed that Asia’s education sector has taken the lead in going green. Kelly Ng exposes the reasons behind its success and profile lessons from the educators

169 education executives participated in a FutureGov Research survey on the future trends transforming teaching and learning in June. The results, from 13 countries across Asia Pacific, will have put a smile on the faces of tree huggers.

The research, commissioned by Fuji Xerox, revealed that 95 per cent of schools have implemented or are considering some form of green initiatives. The respondents came from a mix of student population sizes – less than 500 to over 10,000 – and academic levels – from primary, secondary to tertiary and universities. Much of the growth in green acceptance came from developed countries, particularly Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and South Korea.

Close to 50 per cent of campuses which have dipped their toes in green projects reported concrete benefits. In Singapore, approximately 60 per cent of respondents say they had experienced success in their environmental projects, which contrasted with six per cent who did not discover real gains. Australian institutions on the other hand, with 67 per cent who have not discovered benefits, revealed the need to focus efforts on evaluating the merits of their green projects. Moving ahead, results could get better if institutions from all countries track and measure their green progress, suggested the report.

The study showed slight differences based on the size of organisation in the way green initiatives are approached. Larger education institutions tend to have a clear green strategy with measurement tools in place, while smaller institutions take a conservative view and require more time to evaluate the benefits. The few respondents – five per cent – who have yet to consider adopting any green initiative came from middle-sized schools of 501 to 5000 students.

As it stands, the education sector is ahead in the green race compared to government and healthcare organisations. So why is green IT picking up speed within campuses and not elsewhere?

Much of education’s lead, ironically, was a result of a push from government. Governments, responsible for ensuring the sustainability of its populace, see the importance of educating the future generation. In Pakistan, “the government has been pouring a lot of money into primary schools to create awareness about climate change,” notes Maliha Kabani, President & Education Specialist, International Sustainable Development Resource Centre, Geneva. “The Ministry of Environmental Protection works with schools to create events, including those for green IT. These efforts pale in comparison to those focused on internal campaigns for government officials.” Kabani, who is currently based in Pakistan, partners government schools in setting up Green Learning Resource Centres around the country.

Students – idealistic and hopeful for the future – do not need much coaxing to embrace all things green. “The younger people of our world are very conscious of the environment and they want to do what is right. I don’t think it is the faculty or IT administrators who are pushing green within schools because they are overwhelmed and don’t have time to think about it. I believe green initiatives are often student-driven. They have time to think about it and they are more tuned in,” says Marci Powell, Global Director for Higher Education and Corporate Training, Polycom.

Since March this year, Queensland schools have guidelines from government on sustainability, called ‘enough for all forever’, to help them reduce their ecological footprint. “I would not say my school is more advanced in green IT compared to any government departments in Queensland. But schools are definitely exciting places – we have so many kids who are excited about making a difference for the environment,” says Clayton Carnes, Principal, Hermit Park State School, an Australian school.

Being an educational institution, staff and teachers naturally feel the need to lead by example and practise what they preach. Among the array of green initiatives at Hermit Park State School is a ‘paper reuse and reduce’ project. A thousand sheets of paper is shredded per week and repurposed as bedding in the school’s worm farm, vegetable patches and hen coop. “Our six resident hens love laying eggs on the recycled paper,” Carnes adds. And once the school launches its e-newsletter and goes completely digital in its communication with the community, Carnes predicts saving 4500 sheets of paper a week.

Paul Gandel, CIO, Singapore Management University agrees that universities tend to be more aware of the long-range implications. He puts it simply: it is the right thing to do. “As technologists, we have the responsibility to think about how we can reduce the impact IT has on the environment, especially when we know how much energy IT consumes. Clearly, it is an important issue.”

Tightening education budgets have emerged as a new driving force behind green IT initiatives. Powell has witnessed a gradual shift from ‘it was good to go green’ to ‘this is what we need to do to face the economic situation’.

New Zealand schools’ initial green efforts in reusing old computers was spurred by the lack of budget for new IT equipment among many campuses and communities in the late 1990s. The average PC to student ratio in schools was one to 30. Since 1999, the Ministry of Education has been supporting an initiative that provides refurbished used computers donated by government and companies. The initiative, Computer Access NZ Trust (CANZ), has contributed close to 20,000 refurbished computers to schools and lower-income homes. As cost of hardware decreases, schools are now open to other options, such as netbooks and leasing desktops. “In the past, a refurbished computer which costs around NZ$300 (US$220) could be ten times cheaper than a new desktop. Today, you can get a netbook for NZ$800 (US$580). The lease scheme has became a popular option because the total cost of ownership is lower,” explains Laurence Zwimpfer, Chairperson, CANZ.

While there is less incentive to take the ecological route of reused computers, New Zealand schools today have new reasons to go green by consolidating IT resources and services. Although computers are getting cheaper, schools need a lot more of them. The average PC to student ratio has improved to four students in primary schools and three students in secondary schools. The burden is worsened by escalating software, maintenance, upgrade, and other IT costs. According to Zwimpfer, “a survey published in November revealed that close to 75 per cent of schools favoured the centralised procurement of computers and other ICT equipment, server infrastructure, technical support, software licensing and broadband access”. This jarred with how schools have traditionally been run independently. Not only will centralisation lower costs, it often reduces energy consumption by increasing efficiency, most evidently in the consolidation of data centres.

The lower requirement for processing power allows schools to opt for low-voltage computing. Two years ago, Carnes rolled out 60 netbooks to grade three to six students. “We realised that the kids were powering up desktops to do simple calculations, create a Word document, or browse the web. We want to teach them to choose appropriate devices for their needs. For example, if they are doing basic calculation, a calculator or PDA is sufficient,” comments Carnes. Netbooks use an average of 5 watts, compared to laptops that use 30 watts and desktops 126 watts. “The children love using netbooks. They do not mind the ten-inch screens and smaller keyboards. This year, we are expanding the netbook program by doubling the number of netbooks,” he says.

Having explored the drivers and reasons behind green successes on Asian campuses, what lessons can government and healthcare organisations learn?

1. Start tracking your carbon footprint Whether you are starting small or on an ambitious green project, you need to know your organisation’s baseline. That way, you have a clear intended outcome and target in mind. “We want to become carbon neutral by 2012. Next year, we have engaged Ergon Energy, a local electricity company, to do a complete carbon audit for our school early next year,” shares Carnes. “If you are starting on this green journey, you need to do this. An external validator is also important because it gives the data some rigour.”

2. Engage all your employees, especially the younger ones It is clear that the younger generation tends to be more passionate about fighting the climate crisis – after all, they have a bigger stake in the future. So, get your younger employees to spearhead sustainability committees! “The new generation has been exposed to environmental awareness messages and practices since they were kids. It is natural for government employees in the mid 40s and 50s to need more time to adjust their habits,” notes Kabani.

3. The more senior you are, the more green you must be Teachers and principles are great at leading by example, and public sector leaders should follow suit. A top-down push is necessary and effective in initiating changes around the office. Implementing and mandating easy green IT practices, such as double-sided printing and better power management of computers can be a good way to start (refer to ‘The Green Scale’ page 44 in issue 6.5 of FutureGov for 12 quick tips).

4. If your budget is tight, think green Rising costs and expectations have driven schools to consider innovative ways of doing things, such as video conferencing, online learning, and consolidation of IT resources. While you may not start off wanting to make a difference to the environment, green can be a happy byproduct. “Consolidation of infrastructure across schools will mean lower power consumption from computers, servers and air-conditioners,” Zwimpfer says.

5. Think before you power up Learning from the netbook programme at Hermit Park State School, governments and healthcare organisations should reassess users’ requirements. While many government officials need to run complex and power-hungry applications, there might be some computers that do not require huge processors, such as computers at citizen service centres.

6. Green IT is smart IT When it is tough to get senior management buy-in or you fail to get budget approval for a green project, it is helpful to keep Gandel’s advice in mind. “Green IT is not a separate initiative. Green IT is just good IT. You virtualise because it is a smart and efficient thing to do. You print less, you make your data centre use less energy because it makes financial and practical sense to do it,” he concludes.

EDUCATION CIOS’ SECRET WEAPON: STUDENT GREEN CHAMPIONS
The younger generation in education, government and healthcare can be great partners in the green IT mission. These student examples show how it can be done.

Christensen Woo Zheng Wei, School of Business, Singapore Management University (SMU) My team and I introduced Eco-Font to SMU. It can save up to 20 per cent of the ink we use. Students can now download the font for free at the school’s web site. We held a university-wide campaign that encouraged students to use the font for the informal printing of notes. A pilot class has also started mandating Eco-font for all homework submission. Our goal is to implement Eco-font as the mandatory default font for all printing. In the medium term, we hope to share this green IT initiative with corporations and government in Singapore.

Li Qian, Graduate School of Contemporary Information Cultural Resources, Surugadai University, Japan As my campus is surrounded by schools, many of our environmental initiatives are focused on forest protection. In the area of IT, initiatives have primarily been on energy management. Signs are placed in libraries and computer labs to remind students to turn off computers and devices when they’re not in use. I believe students can do more to spearhead green campaigns. For example, we are huge users of paper when we work on our reports. We can run campaigns to encourage responsible printing and the reuse of paper that has been printed on only one side.

Zhou Feng, Japanese Studies, Dalian University of Foreign Languages, China We have a student-led environmental society which is extremely popular with students. Based on its membership size, I believe many of my school mates are environmentally conscious and would want to make a difference. The society launched a number of marketing campaigns and organised talks which included the promotion of green IT. However, I noticed that its efforts have not been very successful in recent years because students do not understand how it would benefit them directly. Personally, I hope my university can step up its green IT efforts and I’m sure students can play a bigger role.

Melanie Ho, Speech Pathology, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia This year, the Curtin Volunteers! Team, a student run organisation, spearheaded several programmes – including environmental and IT related ones – which the rest of the student community can sign up for. It makes a big difference to know that my university is ecologically responsible because a school which cares for the environment is one which looks beyond its own interests. This is indicative of the values of its leaders. For this reason, I am proud of Curtin and would definitely recommend potential students to

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