Energy Star was launched in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a voluntary labelling programme recognising the value of energy-efficiency in a broad range of computer-related products, from personal computers to air-conditioning systems.
The programme’s major success was the widespread adoption of the energy-saving “sleep mode” in consumer electronic devices. Energy Star’s innovative breakthrough represents an important platform from which today’s concept of computational sustainability was launched.
Computational sustainability is defined as a field of interdisciplinary research that attempts to optimise societal, economic and environmental resources using advanced decision-making algorithms supported by the ever-increasing processing power of today’s evolving computer systems.
Computational sustainability’s key goals include the development of computational models, methods and tools to assist in the management of the delicate balance between environmental, economic and societal needs.
Advancements in AI and HCI have enabled combinations of robots and humans to carry out critical functions in the most hostile of environments.
These models can be used to resolve challenges ranging from the management of natural resources, to the reduction of greenhouse gasses. They are also used to optimise the recyclability and biodegradability of discarded packaging, end-of-life products and factory waste.
Among the applications that clearly illustrate the advantages of computational sustainability is the “smart grid”; examples of which are now frequently employed to facilitate the production, control and storage of energy derived from renewable resources, such as solar and wind.
Unlike many technology-based initiatives, computational sustainability brings together the knowledge and expertise of a broad cross-section of professionals, including scientists working in various disciplines, operations researchers, applied mathematicians, statisticians, biologists and economists.
One of the technologies closely aligned with the concept of computational sustainability is ICT sustainability or green ICT. According to the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education, global ICT operations account for around 2% of man-made CO2 emissions; a figure similar to that of the airline industry which is beginning to attract the attention of environmental protest groups.
In this regard, green ICT advocates champion the use of cloud-based computing services which they claim have enormous potential to transform the ICT world by reducing costs and improving efficiencies.
Importantly, organisations are able to reduce their carbon emissions by between 30% and 60% using applications such as video conferencing services that lessen the need for executive travel and the associated CO2 emissions.
Other green ICT objectives include the reduction of hazardous gasses such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and other pollutants common to ICT operations in industrialised third-world countries and China, the globe’s largely unregulated manufacturing powerhouse.
A technology playing a key role in achieving these goals as well as the maximisation of energy efficiency in manufacturing processes is the Internet of things (IOT).
The IOT is, in essence, a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines and objects able to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. These devices bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds to improve the quality and productivity of life, society and industries.
Focusing on the industrial sector, the industrial Internet of things (IIOT) is empowering industrial engineers with sensors, software and big data analytics to create new-generation smart machines able to help companies immediately identify inefficiencies and problems without human intervention. The IIOT thus holds great potential for quality control and sustainability.
Another technology associated with computational sustainability is human computer interaction (HCI), a relatively new, multi-disciplinary field of study focusing on interactive techniques and the exploitation of ideas-sharing opportunities associated with the interaction between humans and computers.
Paired with advances in artificial intelligence (AI), HCI is geared to expedite the design, development and manufacture of products, systems and platforms via concurrent engineering, computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, flexible computer-integrated manufacturing and other automated design and production technologies and techniques.
Moreover, the hardware, software, reasoning and representation technologies that make up AI and HCI are playing significant roles in replacing humans in a number of tasks, particularly hazardous assignments, by perceiving and reasoning mechanical-electronic surrogates.
As demonstrated by the military and security organisations, advancements in AI and HCI have enabled combinations of robots and humans to carry out critical functions in the most hostile of environments, while the remote control of robots and human-robot systems substantially reduces the risk to human life in these situations.
Against this backdrop, HCI researchers are making progress in addressing issues in areas such as Sustainability Informatics, described by the Sustainability Informatics Group at the University of Toronto in Canada as “an inter-disciplinary research field focused on the role of computer and information sciences in enabling human society to thrive on planet earth”.
Through data analytics and computational models, the group believes industry can improve its understanding of the dynamics of sustainable systems and, through virtualisation, be able to replace a raft of resource-intensive activities.
There is every hope that the sustainability sciences and technologies will be able to work together to significantly increase organisations’ and individuals’ ability to make informed, professional, personal and ethical choices able to help with the management of the planet and lay the foundations for a genuinely sustainable future.
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