Zero Waste Illinois
April 30, 2015
Presented by Shantanu Pai – Assistant Sustainability Researcher at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The presentation will briefly cover the concept of zero waste and our objectives through the Zero Waste Illinois program, covering the current projects undertaken through the program, the long term goals for the program, as well as ways for people to collaborate and partner with ISTC in achieving the Zero Waste program.
More information: Zero_Waste_Illinois
How sustainable is information technology? Trends, challenges, and opportunities
May 07, 2015
Presented by Eric Masanet – Morris E. Fine Junior Professor in Materials and Manufacturing and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University
The growing numbers of information technology (IT) devices–and the environmental impacts associated with their manufacture, use, and disposal–are topics that have received much attention in both the media and research communities. While the environmental footprint of IT devices is indeed significant, each new device generation typically brings substantial operational energy efficiency improvements. Furthermore, a singular focus on their direct impacts ignores the indirect environmental benefits that IT devices might provide by improving societal energy and resource efficiencies. A growing body of research suggests that such benefits might be substantial across the economy through such applications as replacing physical goods with digital services, building controls for energy efficiency, and real-time logistics optimization. This presentation will review the life-cycle impacts of IT systems, discuss trends in these impacts as a function of technology progress and growing consumption over time, and highlight the challenges and opportunities associated with managing and reducing the environmental impacts of IT systems moving forward.
More information: Sustainable IT
How sustainable is information technology? Trends, challenges, and opportunities
October 2, 2014
Presented by Anita Kedia – Senior Business Development Manager, Waste Management Sustainability Services
In a world of finite resources and growing human populations, dramatic changes in the ways we produce and consume goods and services will become more and more imperative. Historical production models favored linear patterns of resource extraction, consumption and disposal, with ecological, climatological and human health consequences as a result. With increasing pressures to change the way they do business, learn why and how companies are making the shift away from traditional, disposable models toward a more sustainable, circular economy.
More information: Trends waste management