Computing and Information Technology is committed to making the university more sustainable and efficient, both saving energy and preserving resources.
UB’s environmental footprint is significant. As an early signatory of the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment, UB is implementing a comprehensive strategic plan to minimize our negative environmental impact. The action plan calls for UB to become climate neutral by 2030.
In fall 2012, CIT replaced nearly 50 personal computer workstations with virtual desktop devices in the 2nd floor of Lockwood Cybrary, with plans to add more going forward. These thin client box computers provide display, keyboard and mouse connectivity to a virtual workstation emulation on a server. These boxes are more energy efficient and reduce computer waste.
Through My Virtual Computing Lab, students access UB software
remotely from their personal computers. The number of
computers needed, as enrollment increases, in UB cybraries can be
stabilized instead of increased. This will have a long-term impact
on UB’s drain on electricity and cuts down on fossil fuel
usage as fewer students require transportation to a cybrary to
work.
Google Apps for Education for UB students is another cloud-based
application like My Virtual Computing Lab. By offering the
application to UB alumni, UB incurs no further energy use.
Through UBlearns, students and faculty have online access
to course and classroom tools and materials. This system provides a
tremendous savings and environmental impact by reducing printed
course material distribution.
UB’s iprint@ub management system has reduced the number of
pages printed at public computing sites by more than
half—from approximately 50 million paper sheets in 2001 to 15
million in 2011. It has also drastically cut associated costs and
waste materials such as paper and toner. UB cybraries also only use
recycled paper for printing.
UB Virtual Classroom is currently under development. It will
allow students to participate in courses and seminars remotely from
their computers or mobile devices. The virtual classroom will
alleviate classroom demands, saving resources and cutting travel
costs for students, faculty and guest speakers.
Transformation and server consolidation efforts have reduced the
number of UB servers, retiring 53 of 97 servers in CIT. Comparable
reductions in the 537 departmental servers outside CIT are nearly
complete. Several end-of-life servers have been replaced with more
energy and space-efficient models.
Any UB-owned electronic equipment which plugs into a wall, has a cord, battery or circuit board can be recycled. UB-owners arrange for inventory removal and pick up for recycling.
CIT maintains CD recycling boxes around campus. CDs are professionally destroyed to prevent re-use and avoid dumping in landfills.
Data centers full of servers with high-end power and cooling needs are among the campus’ largest consumers of electricity. "Green” data centers are designed for maximum energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact. Dell is providing their expertise in designing and configuring energy efficient data centers to CIT as the university consolidates on-campus servers.
UB's Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences received a $300,000 contract from the NY State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), matched by a $150,000 investment by UB, to replace older servers with more energy-efficient ones. The end result is an energy savings of approximately $150,000 every year.
