Background
In 2016, the University of Virginia published the University Sustainability Plan to set strategic guidelines for environmental improvements at UVA. As part of this plan, the University Committee on Sustainability (UCS) was formed to address the goals of the sustainability plan. UCS is composed of three subcommittees: the Environmental Stewardship Subcommittee (ESS), the Teaching and Research Subcommittee, and the Civic Engagement Subcommittee. The Sustainable Information Technology (IT) Working Group is one of the 12 working groups that make up ESS, which aims to promote environmental stewardship across all members of the UVA community. The other 11 working groups are show in the diagram below.
Purpose
The Sustainable IT working group was formed to enforce green computing initiatives, but has expanded its focus to a wide range of different topics to that positively impact technology on grounds. The ultimate goals of the working group is to conduct projects and studies that will help the university achieve a net-positive ecological impact by maximizing IT's potential positive environmental benefits and minimizing IT's necessary negative environmental impacts---generating a surplus of ecological benefit. In order to work towards such a complex goal, the UVA Sustainable IT Working Group is working on initiatives with topics including reducing e-waste, lowering energy waste, and maximizing workstation efficiency. In the future, the working group will continue to expand its work to other focuses such as servers and data centers. Learn more about our specific goals here.
Public Resources
We have found that many people want to make a positive difference, but do not have sufficient time or money to devote towards researching and implementing sustainable practices. This website serves as a step-by-step guide for organizations and individuals that do not have the time to research sustainable practices, but want to make a positive impact on their environmental footprint. In the Resources section, there are both interactive and educational resources that can be used to quickly learn about different sustainable IT practices and how to implement them. For those who are new to sustainable IT, the 5-question Resource Recommendation Survey outputs personalized webpage suggestions, so that everyone can navigate the website as efficiently as possible. Altogether, the website was designed to help teach others about the benefits of sustainable IT and give them the tools and resources to quickly make changes without having to sacrifice large amounts of time or money into research and implementation.
Going Forward
This is a dynamic, student-run website and will be continuously updated as we make new discoveries and receive feedback. We want to make sure that our website is as impactful as possible. Therefore, if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas while working through the website, please contact us so we can make sure we develop as powerful a tool as possible. We appreciate your feedback in advance.