Green Computing: An Awareness Survey among

University of Technology, Mauritius Students

K. Dookhitram 1*, J. Narsoo 1, M. S. Sunhaloo 1, A. Sukhoo 2, M. Soobron 2

(1) School of Innovative Technologies and Engineering, University of Technology, Mauritius,

La Tour Koenig, Pointe-aux-Sables, Republic of Mauritius

(2) Central Informatics Bureau, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology,

Level 2, Belmont House, 12 Intendance Street, Port-Louis, Republic of Mauritius

Abstract

Given the emphasis of saving the Earth against the effect of global warming, green technology
has become mandatory in every aspect of life today. Green computing is the study and practice
of using computing resources efficiently so as to reduce CO 2 emission. This paper is an attempt
to comprehend the awareness of green computing among the students of University of
Technology, Mauritius. The results suggest that students have a moderate knowledge about
green computing but their everyday green computing practices are not satisfactory. It is quite
promising however, that the students surveyed intend to adopt green computing for the
benefit of the environment and their future.

Keywords: CO2 emission; Green Computing; Awareness; University of Technology, Mauritius

Introduction
Green computing is the study and practice of using computing resources in an energy efficient
and eco-friendly manner [5]. A broader definition is provided by Murugesan [6], who defined
green computing as ``the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using and disposing of
computers, servers, and associated subsystems, such as monitors, printers, storage devices,
and networking and communication systems, efficiently and effectively with minimal or no
impact on environment".

* Corresponding author. Email address: kdookhitram@umail.utm.ac.mu Tel: 2075250

 Green Computing: An Awareness Survey Among University of Technology, Mauritius Students September
2012
K. Dookhitram, J. Narsoo, M. S. Sunhaloo, A. Sukhoo and M. Soobron

Due to the negative impact of information technology (IT) on environment, green computing
has gained much importance among researchers, commercials, universities, governments etc.
Murugesan [7] remarked that IT may be viewed as both a solution and problem for
environmental sustainability. We note that both production and use of IT-equipment are
energy consumptive, and this accounts for 2% of total carbon emissions [10]. However, the use
of IT devices will continue to rise, leading to more damages unless appropriate actions are
taken to reduce or eliminate the corresponding environmental hazards. In this respect, the
main objectives of green computing are to minimize the utility of hazardous materials, to
develop products having maximum energy efficiency throughout their lifetime and to enforce
biodegradability or recyclability of defunct products and factory waste [14].

However, green computing has various barriers that hinder its implementation. Recently a
survey carried out by Bemowski [2], among 3,500 IT decision makers in 11 countries,
demonstrated the following barriers: (i) price (ii) disagreement (internal/political) (iii) efficiency
not offsetting costs (iv) brands not convincing us of ROI (v) brands not promoting importance of
green products. In addition, the survey suggested that 70% of the participants agreed to
procure green IT products if they were persuaded that the products would have positive effects
on the environment and their business.

As such the ``cradle to grave" story of IT-related devices are being revised so as to reduce the
harmful load on environment [1]. Manufacturers are focusing more on the use of eco-friendly,
renewable or less energy requiring materials and are also striving to be ISO 14001 certified. On
the other hand, IT users are taking more environmental conscious actions, such as, printing only
when necessary, duplex printing, switching off IT machines when not in use, shifting from
desktop to laptop, using virtualization software, cloud computing etc. The latter is being
referenced as a major player in green computing uptake [8]. Savvas [9] mentioned that
organizations opting for cloud computing should be able to benefit from more efficient and
greener network equipment. Finally, to facilitate disposal of IT-related equipments,
manufacturers are using metals and separated plastics to maximize raw-material re-use. Also,
users are prolonging lifetime of IT-devices by opting for upgrade or benevolent giving.
Furthermore, certain organizations go for second hand devices and this also contribute
extension of the lifetime of the IT-equipment.

The paper aims at understanding the awareness of green computing among the students of
University of Technology, Mauritius. Recently, many universities have worked on several pilot
projects in the direction of green computing. For example, it is common practice for universities
2|Page
 Green Computing: An Awareness Survey Among University of Technology, Mauritius Students September
2012
K. Dookhitram, J. Narsoo, M. S. Sunhaloo, A. Sukhoo and M. Soobron

to get their examination papers moderated. For IT modules moderation, IT faculties at a private
higher education institution in South Africa opted for scanning marked examination scripts and
uploading them on a site, which were then accessed by moderators [11]. This method
encompasses several benefits. For instance, there is no need for the moderators to move and
this implies savings in fuel. Also, this strategy reduces the use of paper.

At Colorado State University, Herrick et al. [4] illustrated several practical solutions to energy
efficiency, consumption reduction, and environmental stewardship. The authors came up with
measures like use of thin clients, virtualization, remote management of IT equipment by
technicians, teleconferences, purchase of Energy Star compliant personal computers with 80
PLUS certified power supply, paper re-use, double-sided printing, use of blank option for screen
savers, hibernation feature and switching off lights when not required in server rooms.
Furthermore, the Colorado State University enforced a fee for printing by students and this
initiative aimed at making students more responsible towards their printing style and ultimately
helping in reducing the use of paper.

To increase awareness among university students and provide insights for sustainability
development, Cai [3] proposed sustainability integration in computing education at
undergraduate level at the Michigan Technological University. In the sequel, the university
came forward with three schemes for sustainability integration in computing, namely a new
course on green computing, design and development of green computing modules and projects
plugged into existing computing courses and re-designing of some existing courses.

According to Talebi et al. [12], computer science educators are best positioned to promote
awareness of green computing, for instance, using the academic settings to encourage
environmentally-conscious use of technology. The movement towards a paperless classroom
can also bring benefits through the use of online forms, tests, quizzes, electronic handouts. A
questionnaire and interview questions were prepared by Batlegang [1] to establish the levels of
awareness of negative impacts of IT, and of environmental sustainability awareness or green
computing at the Boltho College, Botswana. The findings revealed that students and staff had
to be provided with the relevant education so that they could adopt green IT. It was also noted
that a higher level of awareness could lead to behavioral changes and welcome greener uses of
IT. The author also found that a green computing awareness course could have produced an
immediate impact with regards to reduction of power consumption by computers and
associated peripherals.

3|Page
 Green Computing: An Awareness Survey Among University of Technology, Mauritius Students September
2012
K. Dookhitram, J. Narsoo, M. S. Sunhaloo, A. Sukhoo and M. Soobron

The outline of the paper is as follows: In section 2, we briefly describe the objectives and
methodology. In section 3, we demonstrate the results obtained and section 4 provides some
recommendations on how to increase awareness of green computing. Finally, section 5
concludes the paper.

Objectives & Methodology

This paper is an attempt to figure out the awareness of green computing among the students of
University of Technology, Mauritius, more specifically the School of Innovative Technologies
and Engineering. The survey research focuses mainly on the following questions:

1. The use of computer and technology by the students

2. Green computing knowledge of the students

3. Green computing practices by the students

4. Attitude of the students towards green computing

To seek answers to these questions, a 56 items questionnaire was prepared and distributed to
students of the university. The survey consists of the following three sections: (A) demographic
questions; (B) a computer use section consisting of seven parts; (C) a green computing
knowledge and practices section including questions about the information sources and
channels used to gain IT-related environmental knowledge.

In the demographic section, questions regarding gender and level of study were presented to
the students. Section B of the survey consisted of the following questions:

(i) How many years have you been using a computer?

(ii) How many hours per day do you usually use the computer?

(iii) How many hours per day are you normally connected to the internet?

(iv) How many years have you been using your current personal computer?

(v) How many computers have you owned in total?

4|Page
 Green Computing: An Awareness Survey Among University of Technology, Mauritius Students September
2012
K. Dookhitram, J. Narsoo, M. S. Sunhaloo, A. Sukhoo and M. Soobron

(vi) What is the average number of pages printed per day?

In section C of the questionnaire, questions were presented to observe ``attitude of the

students towards their responsibility for the environment'', ``students' knowledge about green
computing and its advantages'', ``students' compatibility with green computing'', and ``their
intention to practice green computing''. The following scale was used for these questions:
strongly disagree, disagree, fairly disagree, neutral, fairly agree, agree and strongly agree. In the
same section, twenty-nine issues pertaining to computing-related activities were presented to
the students to allow them to rate their level of practice with the scales: never, rarely,
sometimes, often and always.

The school consists of about 900 students and for our survey research; questionnaire was
distributed among 5% of the student population [1]. The respondents study different IT-related
courses and the level of study of the participants ranged from year 1 to year 3.

Result
Demographic Data

According to the collected data, out of the 5% of students polled, the pair $(female, male) was
(45%, 55%). Analysis of the students' year of study revealed that 36% of the students were in
Year 1, 50% were in Year 2 and the remaining 14% were in Year 3.

Computer Use

According to the descriptive statistics, 71% of the students polled have been using computer for
more than five years and 45% have owned two computers in total with a majority of them using
their current personal computers more than five years. We further observe that most of them
use the computer for around three to six hours per day and the same is true for the number of
hours per day they are connected to the internet. In terms of printing, 88% of the students print
an average of one to five pages per day.

Green Computing Knowledge and Practices

The results show that 80% of the students are aware that one definition of green computing
may be the environmentally responsible use of computers and related resources.

5|Page
 Green Computing: An Awareness Survey Among University of Technology, Mauritius Students September
2012
K. Dookhitram, J. Narsoo, M. S. Sunhaloo, A. Sukhoo and M. Soobron

Fig. 1 depicts the different ways from where the students gather information to gain IT-related
environmental knowledge. We observe that Universities/Colleges/Schools are the primary
information sources followed by friends and family, whereas only 5% of the students get IT-
related environmental knowledge from Government Agencies. Concerning information channel,
we find that Social Networking Sites and Online Forums hold 60% of votes from the students
and only 12% recognize Radio as a channel for environmental information-related to IT.

6|Page
 Green Computing: An Awareness Survey Among University of Technology, Mauritius Students September
2012
K. Dookhitram, J. Narsoo, M. S. Sunhaloo, A. Sukhoo and M. Soobron

Table 1 shows the level of agreement concerning `responsibility for the environment',
`advantages of green computing', `compatibility' with respect to green computing, `attitude
towards green computing' and their `intention' to practice green computing. We observe from
statements 1, 3-8 and 12-18 that more than 50% of the students have positive thoughts
towards environment and green computing. However, 44% of the students feel that industries
should take the lead in improving environmental issues. Around 40-50% remained in neutral
response to the statements corresponding to their compatibility with green computing, while
around 30% think green computing fits with their everyday style of work.

Table 2 demonstrates the students' computing-related activities, where we observe that most
of the students do not practice the low hanging activities (statements 1-3, 5 and 26) that may
reduce energy use and consequently the carbon footprint. In particular, only 18% of the
students turn off their computers when away.

Discussion & Recommendation

The results obtained for the computer use of the students indicate that the majority of the
students are computer literate and use computer every day. In addition, they utilize internet

7|Page
 Green Computing: An Awareness Survey Among University of Technology, Mauritius Students September
2012
K. Dookhitram, J. Narsoo, M. S. Sunhaloo, A. Sukhoo and M. Soobron

most of the time and this may be a major reason why Social Networking Sites and Online
Forums are the primary information channels for gaining IT-related environmental knowledge.

In general, from the descriptive statistics, we observe that the students do have some
knowledge about green computing and their computer-related activities also adhered to their
knowledge. Bearing in mind that they are university students, the result seems reasonable.
However, some basic practice gaps were identified, particularly in the students' practice of
screen savers, monitor and system sleep, and switching off of the computer when away. It
appears that the students are unaware of the fact that screen savers and sleep functions
consume the same amount of energy as any running application.

The survey further suggests that students’ attitude is positive towards green computing. It is
quite promising that the students intend to practice green computing even though we found
that around 50% are neutral in response to the issue of compatibility with green computing.

Even though the survey results are optimistic, to help in reinforcing the practice of green
computing among the students, we propose the following recommendations, adopted from
many text studies, from research journals, books and the internet.

8|Page
 Green Computing: An Awareness Survey Among University of Technology, Mauritius Students September
2012
K. Dookhitram, J. Narsoo, M. S. Sunhaloo, A. Sukhoo and M. Soobron

To promote practicing green IT activities by the students, the university must define green IT
policies that are managed by environmental advisory committees and these policies must be
revised on a regular basis so as to build a strong foundation of green policies. Since most of the
time students are online, the university should create a green IT web-site to increase green
awareness. The web-site may for example have contents about green computing, some tips
about how to save energy, the university green policies and any other information-related to
green IT. The university may organize various workshops and competitions geared towards
green computing and also sensitize the students about green computing during classes by use
of green-related examples and questions. Lastly, since most of the students are neutral towards
compatibility, the university must conduct more high level awareness programs which may lead
to behavioral changes.

Conclusion
This paper was motivated by the rising cost of energy through information technology. The
main aim of the paper was to quantify the awareness level of students with respect to green
computing, in particular, green computing knowledge of the students and green IT practices by
the students. Attitude of the students towards green computing was also focused on. A
questionnaire was designed and distributed among the students of the School of Innovative
Technologies and Engineering, University of Technology, Mauritius. The respondents were of
both genders and the year of study ranged from year 1 to year 3. On whole, we observed that
the students have moderate knowledge of green computing, but lack some low hanging
practices.

References
[1] B. Batlegang, Green Computing: Students, Campus Computing and the Environment - A Case
Study for Botswana, Journal of Information Systems and Communication, 3(1) (2012) 256-260.

[2] K. Bemowski, Barriers to Green Computing, Windows IT Pro., 14(10) (2008) 78-78.

[3] Y. Cai, Integrating Sustainability into Undergraduate Computing Education, Proceedings of

the 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, (2010) 524-528.
9|Page
 Green Computing: An Awareness Survey Among University of Technology, Mauritius Students September
2012
K. Dookhitram, J. Narsoo, M. S. Sunhaloo, A. Sukhoo and M. Soobron

[4] D. R. Herrick, M. R. Ritschard, Greening your Computing Technology, the Near and Far
Perspectives, Proceedings of the 37th Annual ACM SIGUCCS Fall Conference, (2009) 297-303.

[5] C. E. Landwehr, Green Computing, IEEE Security \& Privacy Magazine, 3(6) (2005) 3-3.

[6] S. Murugesan, Harnessing Green IT: Principles and Practices, IEEE IT Professional, (2008) 24-
33.

[7] S. Murugesan, Making IT Green, IT Professional, (2010) 4-5.

[8] S. Ruth, Green IT, IEEE Internet Computing,(2009) 74-78.

[9] A. Savvas, Cut Costs with a Green Network, Computer Weekly, 24 (2012) 12-13.

[10] J. Servaes, Introduction to `Green ICT', Telematics and Informatics, 29(4) (2012) 335-336.

[11] C. J. V. Staden, IT Moderation going Green, Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Research
Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists,
(2010), 426-428.

[12] M. Talebi, T. Way, Methods, Metrics and Motivation for a Green Computer Science
Program Proceedings of the 40th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education,
(2009) 362-366.

[13] D. Tebbutt, M. Atherton, T. Lock, Grren IT for Dummies, John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2009

[14] L. Wilbanks, Green: My Favorite Color, IT Professional, (2008) 63-64.

10 | P a g e