Researchers and businesses are advancing innovative ideas with potential for mainstream Green ICT. These range from products and services available today to futuristic concepts for tomorrow. The latest is Dell's gold recycling program, including the creation of jewelry from motherboard gold.

The paper Future Energy Efficient Data Centers With Disaggregated Servers cited our post server power usage as a "highly influential" reference..

The conference paper Internet of Things Driven Waste Management System For Greener City cited our post 'Internet of Things' Presents Green ICT Challenges.

The EACO Working Group 10 Green ICT Workshop used our definition of Green ICT.

Analysis, Modelling and Characterisation of Zombie Servers in Large-Scale Cloud Datacentres used the data we published about server power usage.

Energy Management and Consumer Modeling in Smart Grid Systems used the data we published about server power usage and our calculations demonstrating how the carbon footprint of servers can vary significantly.

Data Center Energy Systems: Current Technology and Future Direction used the data we published about server power usage.

Updates from Africa and the Middle East. Our most recent is about East Africa Green ICT workshop. Click on 'ME-Africa' tag above for all news about the region. Click here for regional Green ICT updates from around the globe.

A number of projects have sprung up in Africa to up-cycle e-waste into new technologies.

Disrupt Africa reported in 2015, "Tanzanian innovation space Buni Hub has developed a 3D printer made from e-waste, the first of its kind in East and Central Africa...the e-waste 3D printer will be used to print prototypes and models at the hub, as well as assisting with small-scale manufacturing."

The BBC reports from Togo in 2018, "It looks like a spider and it moves like one, but this robot creature cannot just be dismissed as a toy...'I made this from a [discarded] 3D printer,' Ousia Foli-Bebe says, pointing as his robotic arachnid. 'The plastic retrieved from the printer became the arms and legs.'...Mr Foli-Bebe takes the robot spider into schools hoping to interest the students in science and recycling." Togo has a history on creative e-waste up-cycling. "[Foli-Bebe] admits he has learned a lot about recycling from others such as Gnikou Afate, who is credited with having made the first 3D printer [from e-waste] in Togo. So impressive was Mr Afate's homemade printer that it took first place at the Barcelona Fabrication Technology conference in 2015."

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The most recent update on global e-waste from a consortium of international organizations gives us new data about the problem's scope and grow. Per-capita e-waste growth is slowing, the overall amount is growing with the world's population.

Our latest update is about a missed opportunity for Green ICT purchasing. Click on the 'education' tag and you'll see more examples of Green ICT being applied educational institutions of all levels around the world..

There are compelling reasons why the global ICT for Development (ICT4D) movement can benefit by embracing Sustainable Green ICT. We are tracking how ICT4D initiatives incorporate GreenICT. So far, the ICT4D record is not very green.

We have long advocated for Green ICT awareness in ICT4D. A 2015 paper "Assessing University Students’ Attitude toward Green Computing Practices" from Nigeria provides insight into the short-term future of Green ICT in the region.

This is solar-powered base station on top of a mountain in Lapland (Finland).

Remote ICT infrastructures are embracing renewable energy for everything from earthquake mitigation in Japan to CO2e reduction in India. Fuel/power costs appear to have gone down since 2009 for off-grid mobile operations, but are still significant. Asia leads world in current renewable base stations and in growth potential. One operator - Indus Towers - now has 20,000 zero-diesel sites.

Our e-devices contain all sorts of exotic materials, many of which, like tungsten, tantalum, and tin, are refined from ores that originate in Central Africa. Called "conflict minerals", they fund warfare in the Congo and neighboring countries. More people are said have been killed here than any conflict since World War Two. Progress is being made, but legal setbacks and weak laws are slowing efforts. The latest critiicisms focus on proposed EU regulations.

ICT gear depends on materials whose supply is increasingly affected by environmental and political factors. This gives rise to a complex set of issues ranging from resource scarcity to conflict minerals.