Design and implementation of an open framework for ubiquitous carbon footprint calculator applications

As climate change is becoming an important global issue, more and more people are beginning to pay attention to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To measure personal or household carbon dioxide emission, there are already plenty of carbon footprint calculators available on the web. Most of these calculators use quantitative models to estimate carbon emission caused by a user\u27s activities. Although these calculators can promote public awareness regarding carbon emission due to an individual\u27s behavior, there are concerns about the consistency and transparency of these existing CO2 calculators. Apart from a small group of smart phone based carbon footprint calculator applications, most of the existing CO2 calculators require users to input data manually. This not only provides a poor user experience but also makes the calculation less accurate. The use of a standard framework for various carbon footprint application developments can increase the accuracy of overall calculations, which in turn may increase energy awareness at the individual human level. We aim for developing a carbon footprint calculation framework that can serve as a platform for various carbon footprint calculator applications. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a platform-agnostic Open Carbon Footprint Framework (OCFF) that will provide the necessary interfaces for software developers to incorporate the latest scientific knowledge regarding climate change into their applications. OCFF will maintain a clouded knowledge base that will give developers access to a dynamic source of computational information that can be brought to bear on real-time sensor data. Based on the OCFF platform, we developed a Ubiquitous Carbon Footprint Calculator application (UCFC) that allows the user to be aware of their personal carbon footprint based on their ubiquitous activity and act accordingly. The major contribution of this paper is the presentation of the quantitative model of the platform along with the entire design and implementation of UCFC application. We also present the results, analysis, and findings of an extensive survey that has been conducted to find users’ awareness of increased carbon footprint, feature requirements, and expectations and desires to alleviate CO2 emissions by using a footprint calculator. The design of UCFC application incorporates the analysis and inferences of the survey results. We are also developing a fuel efficient mobile GPS application for iPhone suggesting the greenest/most fuel efficient route to the user. In this paper, we also point out some important features of such an application

5G network deployment and the associated energy consumption in the UK: A complex systems’ exploration

Investing in the communication infrastructure transition requires significant scientific consideration of challenges, prioritisation, risks and uncertainties. To address these challenges, a bottom-up approach was used to demonstrate the future of wireless network transmission and deployment. This study developed an agent-based model to explore the future deployment of non-standalone 5G networks, synthesizing multi-dimensional data visualization. In particular, this research took the UK as an example to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamic characteristics of 5G evolution, and further analysed the energy consumption and carbon footprint of 5G networks, as well as the consequent change in the operating expenses pattern. The simulation results show that 700 MHz and 26 GHz will play an important role in 5G deployment in the UK, which allow base stations to meet short-term and long-term data traffic demands respectively. Furthermore, due to the geopolitical restrictions and embargos, telecommunications may face additional costs of £0.63bn to £1.19bn when deploying 5G radio access networks. Network densification may cause some environmental and economic problems. Take a medium demand scenario as an example, it is found that the electricity consumed by the 5G radio access network will account for more than 2.1% of the total electricity generation, and indirectly lead to 990,404 tonnes carbon emissions in 2030

Assessment and Reduction of Carbon Footprint of Constructed Model by Proportional Carbon Emission Calculations

Global attention to carbon emissions that are perturbing the environment causing grievous global warming and associated consequences is turning to an individual’s contribution or “carbon footprint”. Carbon footprint is commonly expressed as the total amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced directly or indirectly as a result of an activity. It has become an indicator for sustainable development in numerous sectors including the construction industry. While there have been several studies documenting calculators that estimate the carbon footprint of individual activities, the literature describing the process of carbon footprint calculations for construction industry remains limited. In the effort to reduce the carbon footprint of a constructed model, this project presents a tool developed by the Environment Agency that assesses the carbon footprint via proportional carbon emission calculations. The carbon calculator relies on primary data collected from a construction project and three components of a constructed model; wall, floor and column. The carbon footprint of the construction project and the materials used for each component of the constructed model are then assessed thoroughly. Consequently, construction materials such as green concrete, green brick, cement brick and bamboo play an important role in reducing the total carbon footprint of a project with carbon emissions of 1.8 tCO2e, 3.6 tCO2e, 3.2 tCO2e and 0.2 tCO2e respectively. In addition, a set of guidelines based on Best Management Practices (BMP) is established to be adopted in construction sites with the aim to reduce the carbon emission significantly

Designing individualisation of eco information via a user centred design approach

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThis thesis stemmed from the likely future scenario that the advancement of technologies will enable new ways for information display in everyday life. Following an initial review of existing research related to sustainable behaviour change and emerging technologies, a focus group study was conducted to explore people’s expectations for a ubiquitous eco information device at the point of purchase. It was found that there was a need for eco information provision that resembles eco labelling, but provides information in an interactive manner. This led to the definition of the research aim, which was ‘to encourage sustainable individual consumer behaviour at the point of purchase by proposing the design of eco information individualisation’. A literature review was undertaken to i) identify consumer issues of existing eco labelling practice and opportunities for improvement; ii) investigate the state-of-the-art of the development of various eco information solutions; and iii) explore the opportunities for eco information provision enabled by various contextual technologies. The literature revealed that nowadays consumers are facing difficulties in perceiving and understanding eco labels, and a number of the issues can potentially be tackled using a design approach. This thesis proposed the first conceptual framework of eco information individualisation for designers. ‘Eco information individualisation’ is a concept of tailoring eco labels according to the specific needs of individual users using contextual technologies. With technologies embedded on the product and the user, both of them can act as data carriers and have a traceable record (a ‘life history’). Information can be exchanged ubiquitously. An enabled product can be intelligent enough to appeal to a user with particular preferences. A second focus group study was conducted to evaluate the framework. A card sorting study was carried out to understand user's perception towards information conveyed on existing eco labels to inform the refinement of the framework. A design tool was developed to support designers in the designing of eco information individualisation. The tool was applied and evaluated in a design workshop. A mobile app prototype was then built based on a design output generated from the workshop. Findings from these studies have provided a greater understanding of designing for eco information individualisation, in particular through the creation of the framework, the design tool and the app, as well as the identification of user requirements for eco information design

A Cloud-Oriented Green Computing Architecture for E-Learning Applications

Cloud computing is a highly scalable and cost-effective infrastructure for running Web applications. E-learning or e-Learning is one of such Web application has increasingly gained popularity in the recent years, as a comprehensive medium of global education system/training systems. The development of e-Learning Application within the cloud computing environment enables users to access diverse software applications, share data, collaborate more easily, and keep their data safely in the infrastructure. However, the growing demand of Cloud infrastructure has drastically increased the energy consumption of data centers, which has become a critical issue. High energy consumption not only translates to high operational cost, which reduces the profit margin of Cloud providers, but also leads to high carbon emissions which is not environmentally friendly. Hence, energy-efficient solutions are required to minimize the impact of Cloud-Oriented E-Learning on the environment. E-learning methods have drastically changed the educational environment and also reduced the use of papers and ultimately reduce the production of carbon footprint. E-learning methodology is an example of Green computing. Thus, in this paper, it is proposed a Cloud-Oriented Green Computing Architecture for eLearning Applications (COGALA). The e-Learning Applications using COGALA can lower expenses, reduce energy consumption, and help organizations with limited IT resources to deploy and maintain needed software in a timely manner. This paper also discussed the implication of this solution for future research directions to enable Cloud-Oriented Green Computing

A Survey on Energy Consumption and Environmental Impact of Video Streaming

Climate change challenges require a notable decrease in worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across technology sectors. Digital technologies, especially video streaming, accounting for most Internet traffic, make no exception. Video streaming demand increases with remote working, multimedia communication services (e.g., WhatsApp, Skype), video streaming content (e.g., YouTube, Netflix), video resolution (4K/8K, 50 fps/60 fps), and multi-view video, making energy consumption and environmental footprint critical. This survey contributes to a better understanding of sustainable and efficient video streaming technologies by providing insights into the state-of-the-art and potential future directions for researchers, developers, and engineers, service providers, hosting platforms, and consumers. We widen this survey's focus on content provisioning and content consumption based on the observation that continuously active network equipment underneath video streaming consumes substantial energy independent of the transmitted data type. We propose a taxonomy of factors that affect the energy consumption in video streaming, such as encoding schemes, resource requirements, storage, content retrieval, decoding, and display. We identify notable weaknesses in video streaming that require further research for improved energy efficiency: (1) fixed bitrate ladders in HTTP live streaming; (2) inefficient hardware utilization of existing video players; (3) lack of comprehensive open energy measurement dataset covering various device types and coding parameters for reproducible research

One Save Per Day: How Mobile Technology Can Support Individuals to Adopt Pro-Environmental Behaviors

The pressing issue of climate change requires humanity to reduce its ecological footprint drastically. While policymakers and companies must ensure the availability of green options, individuals are requested to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions substantially. However, even when individuals recognize the need for pro-environmental behaviors, they often have difficulty meeting their expectations. Mobile technology for sustainability has the potential to support them in overcoming this issue by providing the decisive impetus for environmentally friendly behavior. Drawing upon the affordance perspective, we conducted a longitudinal qualitative study with users of a mobile app that encourages individuals to take daily sustainable actions. We present the affordance strands made possible by the app's features and how they lead to environmentally-friendly behaviors. We could observe behavior change with the app’s features. We also identify enablers and obstacles to affordance actualization. Our study contributes to Green IS research at the individual level and provides practical implications for mobile technology providers

Performance impacts of mobile carbon footprint calculators in South Africa

Modernization and advancement in technology have contributed towards the increased use of mobile phones in South Africa. The increased demand for services and energy has resulted in the increase in generation of electricity to meet the country's need. Consequently, South Africa now possesses the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emission per capita relative to other developing countries. Conservation organizations in South Africa argue that the first step towards reducing carbon footprint is through its measurement. In spite of the high penetration of mobile phones and the alarming GHG emission, there is hardly any research to investigate the fit and performance impacts of mobile carbon footprint calculators in South Africa. In fulfilment of this gap, the rationale of this study was to (1) investigate factors that are suitable to determine the fit of mobile technology for carbon footprint tasks, (2) adopt an existing model from the vast base of theories and models on technology usage and impact, (3) test the research model based on a South African sample within a mobile technology and carbon footprint context in order to determine the performance impacts on individual carbon footprint tasks. Sample data were collected, through a survey instrument, and was analysed quantitatively. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis was used to evaluate the study's outer and the inner model. The study revealed that only task-technology fit was the cause of performance impacts on individual carbon footprint tasks. In addition, there was no significant difference in the estimation and offsetting of carbon footprint between the users and non-users of mobile technology. In conclusion, this study established that performance impacts on individual carbon footprint tasks are only determined by the fit of the mobile technology. The insignificant difference between users and non users of carbon calculators, in performance impacts on carbon footprint tasks, was an unexpected result but yet relevant to practitioners. Further implications to practice and theory are outlined in conclusion to this study

Carbon accounting management in complex manufacturing supply chains: a structured framework approach

Improving the management of carbon emissions in the drive to Net-Zero can involve both complex measurements and the development of cleaner technologies, which is a demanding challenge for both the private and public sectors. Specifically, within complex and often sensitive supply chains such as aerospace manufacturing, accounting for carbon management requires quantification of the extended enterprise’s direct and indirect emissions as a system. Currently however, there is a lack of standardised methods for carbon accounting suitable for use in the measurement and auditing of carbon performance both in the production process as well as in the supply chain. This research presents a structured framework-based approach, that could facilitate accurate, consistent and simplified management of carbon scoping, measurement and reporting, across complex extended supply chains. The proposed five step approach sets a thematic orientation for future customisation of carbon accounting tools at every step of the framework