An Australian Rules Football Club Approach To Green ICT

An Australian Rules Football Club Approach To Green ICT

Jeffrey Phuah
Copyright: © 2011 |Pages: 7
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61692-834-6.ch024
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Abstract

This chapter discusses the Green ICT approach of an Australian Rules football club. In the role of their IT Manager, I had the opportunity to undertake formal training and then formulate an approach to uplifting the club’s environmental credentials. This chapter is all about understanding the ICT equipment’s contribution to the overall emissions of the respective clubs and the industry as a whole. As a case study, this chapter starts with how the football industry is addressing the efforts to reduce carbon emissions, considers the potential for IT to be a low-carbon enabler and then applies it to a specific football club.
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The State Of Green Ict

A Green ICT Audit undertaken by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) in August 2007 found that the amount of carbon emissions attributable to ICT usage by Australian businesses was approximately 8 million tonnes CO2 per annum, or 1.54% of the total emissions from total energy consumed2. While ICT’s contribution to annual emissions might appear minute, the audit concluded that it still represents an opportunity for ICT to contribute to overall reduction schemes. It recognises the potential for ICT to be a low-carbon enabler.

The Climate Group on behalf of the Global eSustainability Initiative reached a similar conclusion in their Smart 2020 Report which states, ‘The ICT sector has both a profitable opportunity and a critical role to play with other sectors to design and deploy solutions needed to create a low carbon society’.3

Fujitsu Australia, in a report on ‘Green ICT: The State of the Nation’, mentioned that ‘Green ICT needs a champion. There must be someone in the organisation responsible for Green ICT technologies and policies to achieve truly sustainable outcomes’4. On the question of responsibility, the report concluded that the Australian Government agencies were well ahead of the private industry in appointing a leader in the Green ICT role. (See Figure 1)

Figure 1.

Who is Responsible for Green ICT? (Extract from Fujitsu Australia, Green ICT: State of the Nation, p13)

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Where Is The Afl And Its Clubs With Green Ict?

When reviewing the websites of the AFL and those of its league clubs, only six had content that highlight their participation in some form of environmental awareness program or had performed some environmental awareness activity within their respective communities. There were however ten clubs and the AFL that had participated in the ‘Go for Green Footy’ program and of the five who had performed environmental awareness programs, only two appeared to be actively involved in promoting environmental awareness through environmental projects (Essendon Football Club)5 and adopting an environment strategy (Carlton Football Club).6

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