As well as being joint winners of the ‘Building Community Networks’ category at the SustainIT National e-Wellbeing Awards, Knowle West Media Centre were singled out for a one-off accolade. The judges presented them with a special award to recognise the centres true, long-term commitment to digital inclusion, and the considerable social benefits that it has achieved in the area.

This video was put together to demonstrate some of the work that has been taking place and the positive impacts it has achieved;

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are holding a Bristol ICT Refurbishment and Reuse Scheme Providers Day on July 7th from 9.30-11:30 at the Council House.  Register for your place  at http://ictrecycling.eventbrite.com/

We want to support the development of an independent and self-supporting Bristol ICT Refurbishment and Reuse Scheme which is able to operate citywide and will act as a framework for distributing our redundant ICT equipment efficiently to individuals and organisations where it will have the most positive social impacts. This is likely to include older people, low income families, carers, social housing tenants, disabled people, care leavers and poorly resourced community and voluntary sector organisations.

In addition to refurbishing/distributing the equipment, we would also like the scheme to include programmes to tackle digital/social exclusion and to provide appropriate connectivity advice to enable the recipients to be connected to the Internet at an affordable price. We also anticipate that there will be interest from other public sector bodies/businesses in providing ICT equipment to the scheme.

We are looking for an organisation who are willing to run this scheme. The Providers Day gives you the chance to find out more details, ask questions, provide input into the final specification which will be put out to tender following the event and find out more about Bristol City Council procurement processes.

We will be offering Bristol City Council’s redundant ICT equipment and support to make links with organisations working on digital/social inclusion and connectivity. It is not our intention to provide long term funding to run the scheme, which will need to self-sustaining after the first year of operation. We will identify what level of funding and in-kind support is available following discussions at the Providers Day. It is our ambition to have a scheme agreed  by September 2010 and we will be happy to accept proposals from consortia or individual organisations.

Connecting Bristol is delighted to learn that both we and Knowle West Media Centre are finalists in this year’s SustainIT eWellbeing Awards.

Bristol’s work on Green ICT has been shortlisted for this prestigious national award in the category of Energy Efficiency.  Knowle West Media Centre’s Carbon Makeover Project has been shortlisted in the category of Building Community Networks.

The National eWell-Being Awards, launched in 2002, is the UK’s only national awards programme that identifies and promotes the environmental and social benefits of Information and Communication Technology. The Awards are now entering their 8th successive year, and since their launch have earned a high level of awareness and recognition, generating substantial media interest and coverage and support from a range of public, private and voluntary sector organisations.

Over 120 entries were received this year, and the judges had a tough job to whittle them down to the 41 finalists. Short listed entrants will be invited to attend the awards event on June 16th at the offices of UNISON Yorkshire and Humberside in Leeds, attended by senior representatives from the public, private and voluntary sectors, where the winning and commended initiatives will be announced.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, a mandatory emissions trading scheme, started on April 1st 2010. Around 20,000 organisations in the UK will be affected by the new regulation and 5,000 organisations will participate in a Carbon Reduction Commitment League Table.

Many organisations have yet to consider the financial, environmental and compliance implications of this new regulation. It presents an opportunity to reduce the energy consumption of your ICT, whilst also using ICT to assist with measuring and monitoring of your energy consumption, helping you to save money and become more efficient. Bristol GreenAddict (www.greenaddict.eu) hosts a free Green ICT solutions database which will assist you to identify opportunities to green your ICT and save energy. You can also find out what Bristol organisations are already doing and share your case studies.  

The CRC is being administered by the Environment Agency. Large public and private organisations that used more than 6,000 MWh of electricity in 2008 (approximately £500K spend) will have to purchase and surrender allowances each year to cover their CO2 emissions. The revenues will then be redistributed among the participants and they will receive either a bonus or a penalty, depending on the extent to which they have reduced their emissions.

The Carbon Trust has produced a booklet on Managing the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) as a business opportunity: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/cut-carbon-reduce-costs/reasons/impact-policy-legislation/pages/carbon-reduction-commitment.aspx

Google and e-Bay are just two of the companies trailing the Bloom Box  – an innovative technology device that makes use of oxygen and fuel to generate electricity without creating any emissions.

Bloom Energy, the Silicone Valley company behind the product has a vision of making clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world.

K.R. Sridhar, their CEO suggests that in the next 10 years Bloom Boxes will be placed in backyards or basements to power homes. He estimated the cost of systems for individual homes will be about $3,000.

Our live webcast will be broadcast here from 6pm. You can interact with the event using twitter (#gosbr) or by using the Cover It Live panel below.

This event is now sold out. You can add your name to the waiting list at greenopenandsocial.eventbrite.com and we will release tickets on a first come first served basis if they become available.

If you are not able to obtain a ticket you will still be able to follow and interact with the event via a live stream. The webcast will be shown at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/green-open-and-social.

To follow and interact with this event on Twitter use the hashtag #GOS

Bristol is an unorthodox city. This is certainly true when it comes to ICT. The city is home to businesses, public bodies and community groups who are leading the way in open source and energy efficient uses of technology and who are exploiting the power of social media to engage the city’s communities.

At this event you will:

• Hear thought leaders from BT, Wikimedia and Sirius explore how “Green”, “Open” and “Social” media/technology/computing can help position Bristol as one of Europe’s leading smart, digital cities
• Understand how Bristol organisations are successfully putting these principles in to practice
• Experience an interactive theatrical performance that will tell the Green, Open and Social story
• Network with like-minded people, organisations, innovators and champions
• Hear about the City Council’s new Innovative Data Projects programme/competition

The event is free but numbers are restricted so booking is essential. We expect demand to be very high so reserve your place now at greenopenandsocial.eventbrite.com.

If you have any contacts who you think might like to attend the event why not download our pdf flyer and email it on to them.

#GOS

The Sustainable Development Commission has released a report encouraging the Public Sector to deploy the latest ICT innovations to cut down on unnecessary journeys, improve fuel consumption on the journeys we need to take, and make the time we spend travelling more useful and enjoyable.

The report called ‘Smarter Moves: How Information Communications Technology can promote Sustainable Mobility’ looks at how eco-driving and videoconferencing  could help reduce the need to travel, impacting carbon emissions, congestion, accidents and noise levels. It also claims that increased connectivity on public transport would make it a more useful and pleasant option thereby encouraging people to travel more efficiently.

A major new Bristol project on saving energy by using information and communication technology has been shortlisted for the European ICT for Energy Efficiency Project Award – only a month after its launch.

On 1st November Connecting Bristol launched www.greenaddict.eu a web site on the greener use of ICT.

The website was developed as a result of an innovative study to calculate the carbon footprint of business use of ICT in the city and to develop a Green ICT solutions database.

With funding from the Carbon Trust, Connecting Bristol commissioned the study, during the last year, which revealed among other things that the business use of ICT costs Bristol approximately £11 million per year in energy costs and produces over 67,000 tonnes of CO₂.

This study is the first of its kind to provide a baseline for a city to measure progress in reducing ICT-related carbon emissions, and provides a template for other cities who wish to follow Bristol’s lead. The project will support Bristol’s commitment to achieving its carbon reduction targets, to reduce emissions by 40% by 2020 and 80% by 2050

The European ICT for Energy Efficiency Project Award was set up to promote innovation in ICT that will contribute to substantial and measurable improvements in energy efficiency, and that have the potential to provide visible and convincing showcases for investment by business, citizens or both.

People can vote for the project by registering at the EU ICT for Energy Efficiency website The competition attracts a 20,000 Euro prize which, if Bristol wins, we will use to fund more green ICT activity across the city.

In a smart and Connected City, ICT increasingly underpins the sustainable development of new homes and businesses, intelligent transport, flexible jobs, efficient public services and future energy supply. As the prominence of ICT increases, so does its impact on the environment and carbon emissions. Whilst ICT consumes energy it is also an enabler of new smarter, greener ways of living and working that will, over time, bring about major reductions in energy use and carbon emissions.

ICT technologies are expected to reduce total carbon emissions in Europe by up to 15% by 2020 according to the European commission. This presents a real business opportunity for companies innovating in the field, also an opportunity for all businesses to make significant cost and carbon savings by using Green ICT hardware and services.

This event will showcase both collaborative projects and commercially focussed solution providers from Bristol and Bath.

Date: Thursday, 12 November 2009,
Time: 6:00pm – 8:15pm (with more time for networking)
Location: Lecture Theatre 2, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantocks Close, BS8 1TS

To book your place please use the Bristol Environmental Network online booking system.