1. Meeting report
Meeting/Event:
“Green I.T. for Green Policy” conference
Organiser: Belgium Federal Ministry of
Finance/ OASIS
Date: 2010-10-13/14
Presentation by CCMC CCMC attendees
N/A Maël Baseilhac (trainee)
Participants/audience: +/- 60 people CCMC objective:
Networking, highlighting standardization added
value, updating info on Green IT
Summary:
The aim of this 2-day conference was to provide a unique opportunity for the public and the
private sectors to debate ways ICT can enhance environmental and energy sustainability and
competitiveness in line with the goals of the Belgian EU Presidency.
An extensive panel of speakers from diverse horizons shared their views on the concept of green IT
and on the importance of such field for our future.
Despite the announcement of the death of one of the OASIS colleagues as introduction to this
conference, debates have been interesting and fruitful. A tremendous amount of information has
been passed on and several crucial issues raised.
In a nutshell, what can be extracted from this event is that green IT has been extensively portrayed
as not just a simple hype but rather a revolution, it provides added-value to products and services
and is fundamental for sustainable economic, societal and industrial growth.
According to the different panels and speakers, different issues have been raised which could be
summarized chronologically as following:
- Services linked to Green IT will be “greener” but also more efficient
- A standardization approach in the field of green IT can be feasible and taken into account
although difficult
- Several examples have been given on the use of green IT in our daily lives. For instance, tax
registration on the web will inevitably lead to a more efficient fiscal policy
- A recurrent point stressed was the value-adding aspect of the use of green IT
- Green IT will create a virtuous economical circle for today and future generations
- In panel 1, the importance of including security in IT transformations was brought up by a
representative of ENISA
- As far as standards are concerned din this matter, there seemed to be a general consensus to
admit that in the field of security there were too many standards to choose from. The
question is not so much about how to create MORE standards but rather about how to
implement them and create incentives to get this done
- The role of “cloud computing” (using Web applications and/or server services that you pay to
access rather than software or hardware that you buy and install) was repeatedly stressed
- Panel 2 and 3 were dedicated to speakers highlighting the issues revolving around cloud
computing. For instance, how to expand this model, its benefits (societql, economical and
ecological)
- An important chunk of panel 4 was dedicated to smart grids. The main argument is that we
do need a more efficient use of IT in order to change simple power grids into smart grids.
The role of green IT in the field of smart grid’s development is to enable an increased
reliability, increased efficiency and greater consumers’ choice.
- Finally, the importance of measurement was brought up by the representative of Schneider
Electric. According to him, the very first step in the development of green IT and ecological
processes is measurement of needs, waste and cost in order to then come up with feasible
solutions and innovation techniques.
- Panel 5 gave a very relevant example of the Danish example in the field of green IT and
environmental sustainability.

2. Evaluation:
General comments about the conference:
Very little attendance despite the perfect organization of the event. Moreover, very little has been said
about the role of standards and standardization in the field of green IT despite the presence of several
OASIS speakers. The presentations were fairly short and accessible. Perhaps too many speakers have
been invited thus a rush in the order of presentations. Finally, a blatant lack of concrete outcomes is
to be mentioned despite the wish of the moderator in the welcoming speeches to come to tangible
ideas put on paper by closure.
For more information on the 2010 OASIS conference on green IT, visit the following pages:
- http://events.oasis-open.org/home/greenit/2010
- On smart grids : www.echelon.com
MB/2010-10-15