Green Computing in Kenya Essay

AbstractThe main aim of this musical composition is to tactile sensation at what commonalty cipher is, why we should safekeeping ab forbidden it and why it is becoming such(prenominal) a force in to daytimes macrocosm. The paper aims to tackle the returns of commons calculate not simply to businesses but to a fault to individuals as intimately in their day to day lives. This paper also aims to number at antithetical blue jet cipher murders in Kenya in put together to get an understanding of the on-going state of discolour computing in the unpolished. Finally, this paper also aims to highlight key barriers and challenges to the implementation of different color computing technologies inwardly the country and suggest a direction forward. incomingIn order to look at the current state of parking lot computing in Kenya, we premiere need to understand what color computing is and what it entails. According to San Murugesan (Murugesan, 2008) in his paper on Harnes sing car park IT, viridity IT (Also know as unripenedness ICT or Green Computing) refers to environmentally sound IT. It focusses on the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using and disposing of computers, servers and every associated subsystems in an effective and approach-effective manner with minimal to no uphold on the environment. These subsystems include things such as monitors, printers, and storage devices as tumesce as some other items homogeneous communication and net excogitateing equipment.Murugesan goes on to say that Green computing also strives to hit economic viability and modifyd system per divisionance and use, while abiding to accept up to(p) and social responsibilities. It is for this reason that green computing covers atomic number 18as such as environmental sustainability, cogency efficiency, total cost of ownership as well as cost of disposal and even recycling. In ground levelation and Communication Technology (ICT) is nonpareil the winged emergence industries in the world. This is due to a combination of different factors, but more recently this growth has been fuelled by the fol paltrying factors. The first is the rapid curtilage of technology advancement. The second is the continued drop in prices of dissimilar hardware which has led to increased demand and acquisition of utter hardware.According to Wabwoba, F., Wanyembi, W. G., & Omuterema, S. (2012) this rapid growth in ICT is creating lots of challenges particularly within developing countries homogeneous Kenya. The first of these challenges is that ICT devices have much compacter lifespans. A good example of this is mobile devices which on average are replaces every 2 years. The danger of this is that it creates a lot of Electronic waste (e-waste) which is wholey of the fastest growing types of waste in the modern world today and one of the most difficult to dispose of in a safe and cost effective manner. As many third world countries rely on hardware donations, most of these obsolete devices provide find their way into these countries. This not only increases the rate of harmful emissions, it also endangers the lives of population as well as the environment. This inturn leads to environmental degradation, increases the cost of doing business as well as precedent demands and demand for social responsibility.Basically, Green computing is becoming more of a necessity and less of an option.Why Green Computing?As we discussed earlier, ICT is playing an change magnitudely important billet in both Business as well as in individual(a) undertakings. This is true for most of the world as this has been fuelled by the rapid pace at which technology has been advancing. The outstanding question then becomes, Why should anyone care somewhat Green Computing/ICT/IT? In looking at this, we allow for understand what benefits as well as what challenges we apprise expect from adopting green computing technologies not only in our businesses, but in our main offices as well. According to Wabwoba, F., Wanyembi, W. G., & Omuterema, S. (2012), green computing focuses on more than just galvanising get-up-and-go consumption. It goes beyond the function of the ICT department. Green ICT acts as a central alter technology to many aspects of sustainability. It goes beyond purchasing and usage considerations into how it can be used to lessen other aspects of environmental impact in the other sectors that it supports.The article goes on to say that this sustainability can be achieved through dematerialization and changing physical processes into virtual ones. Green ICT therefore brings together themes concerning the future of our current world, technology as well as the environment. San Murugesans article on Harnessing Green IT Principles and Practices shares a similar view to that of Wabwoba, F., Wanyembi, W. G., & Omuterema, S. San Murugesans article goes on to say that many of todays environmental issues are having an impact on the competiveness of the IT business sector. Basically, businesses with the technology and vision to provide products and service that ring the various environmental issues we have today, exit enjoy some contour of competitive advantage. Many customers are now taking into consideration a service providers environmental records as well as initiatives. These factors are having a substantial effect on customers purchasing, leasing and outsourcing decisions.What are the benefits?Green computing looks to solve many of the challenges that businesses face today. An example of one of these challenges is higher(prenominal) energy costs. Businesses face higher energy costs, and they may also fix additional government levies if they do not cite the environmental implications of their practices. (Murugesan, 2008, p.26). Investors and customers are beginning to demand more disclosures from companies with regard to their carbon footprint as well as their environmental ini tiatives and achievements, and they have started discounting share prices of companies that poorly address the environmental problems the create . This promoter that many companies today have begun to usher their environmental credentials to customers as a way to pass watering an upper pass away over competitors.Many businesses as well as individuals are also looking to achieve kick downstairs energy efficiency through adopting green initiatives. This in turn will lead to financial benefits especially when electrical energy is at a premium and energy prices continue to rise. This is very one of the major(ip) reasons for individuals as well as companies to start adopting eco-responsible practices. This content that many companies are bound to prioritize environmental issues for energy efficiency as well as cost-control benefits. An example of this in the real world is companies such as Dell and Wall-Mart. These two companies have both adopt initiatives that force their suppli ers to adhere to environmentally sound practices.In a paper titled Pervasiveness of green ICT awareness amongst Kenyan ICT personnel Wabwoba, F., Wanyembi, W. G., Omuterema, S., & Mutua, S. M., (2013), the authors listed some of the various benefits of green ICT.The benefits of green ICT to the Environment/Society as well as to Companies include the followingLower carbon emissions.Reduced resource consumption. contour with legal requirements.Reduced energy costs.Reduced operating costs of schooling Centres.Less Hardware needed.The paper goes a step further by grouping the benefits of green ICT according to the metropolis Market, Employees, Customers as well as Public levels. These are shown below Employees level benefitsIncreased employee satisfaction. great loyalty.Easier recruitment.Capital Market level benefitsImproved ratings.Higher share prices.Greater high society value.Customers level benefitsGreater customer loyalty.Appeal to new customer groups.Greater customer satisfa ction.Public level benefitsImproved image.Rounded-out CSR strategy.Greater brand value.Examples/implementations of green computing in KenyaHere we shall look at examples of green computing implementations and initiatives within Kenya.The first example we shall look at is from Tea companies in Kenya go green through carbon finance (2013). Basically, several tea cartridge clip factories from the Nyeri district, all under the management of the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) chose to go green through a project titled Guru Project. The reboot Guru Project comes from the nearby Guru River in the Nyeri region. Much of the tea-manufacturing process requires electricity for processes like withering, cutting and drying tea leaves. Unfortunately, the factories would experience frequent force play outages and poor power quality.The Guru Project aims to construct a hydro-power plant using water from the Guru River to furnish power for the factories, thus allowing them to stop using the n ational grid. The benefit of this is that it will help reduce carbon emissions by some 38,400 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. On top of that, the factories will regain additional returns on their enthronisation in lower emissions through carbon credits provided by the dandy Development Mechanism as part of the United Nations Framework principle on Climate Change (UNFCCC).The second example we shall look at shows how Kenyan companies that are going green can be rewarded for it. on that point was an article in the Business Daily from December 10th 2013 that looks at this, Ciuri, S. (2013). The newspaper Article looks at how 2 Kenyan companies that won 6.5 one thousand million Kenya Shillings for running green Enterprises. The companies in question are Continental renewable Energy caller-up and Wanda Organic Company. Continental Renewable Energy Company converts plastic waste into low cost building materials and they won 4.23 billion Kenya Shillings as a reward. Wanda Organic Company on the other grant is an organic fertiliser Distributor and won 2.16 million Kenya Shillings. They were rewarded the money by Growth Hub which is an initiative to support businesses that want to pursue environmental conservation.The succeeding(prenominal) example looks at how choosing to go green can help you gain a competitive advantage over other companies, as well as gain recognition in certain markets. We shall refer to an article on the East Africa Top 100 website from January 29th 2014, Going green wins enterpriser the 2013 SME crown (2014). It follows the story of Dinesh Tembherkar who is a mechanical engineer by profession. He founded his own beau monde called Lean Energy Solutions after worldunsatisfied with formal employment for many years. Lena Energy Solutions is a company that provides Energy Management consultancy services within East Africa. They have been gnarled in energy and project management and offer comprehensive energy audits, investment grade au dits, trainings in energy management, manufacturing of Lean Briqs and other related projects such as Boiler conversion from oil fired to unbendable fuel fired and swimming pool heating. Basically, their methodology helps their clientele to improve on productivity and maximize bottom line performance. This has allowed them to differentiate their goods and services from those of competitors, and it allowed them to be recognized as one of Kenyas fastest growing mid-sized companies in the 2013 edition of the Top 100 mid-sized firms. This competition is held in the form of a survey that is sponsored by the Nation Media Group and the consultancy firm KPMG.Finally, we shall look at how various individual can play a role in contributing to the adoption of Green computing technologies and what impact it can have on their lives. Mbori, C. (n.d.) has a very good article in one of his blogs that looks at the cost of conventional energy in Kenya. In the article we see that Kenya is classified a s an energy poor country since majority of the population spend huge amounts of their household income on energy. This is especially true for rural areas. As at the time of writing the article, Kenya only provided 15 percent of the population with access to grid electricity out of which only 4 percent was in rural areas. Less than 25 percent of Kenyas population had access to modern energy forms. This means that many households in Kenya still rely on older forms of energy for heating, cooking and lighting like kerosene, charcoal and even candles.Kenya is located a longsighted the equator, which means that there is an abundance of renewable energy in the form of sunlight which many people are yet to take advantage of. Though, there has been a surge in the adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies or solar electric systems. These systems allow you to assume the suns energy using photovoltaic cellular telephones and can work even on a cloudy day. Many of these PV modules are m ainly use for lighting, cell phone charging as well as refrigeration and entertainment. At the time of writing the article, there were more than 200,000 PV modules installed in Kenya. That number was steadily increasing at a rate of around 30,000 PV modules annually. Mwaura, M. (2010) shared a short YouTube video and article about how one old man named Ben Mureithi who is a retired civil servant was able to use renewable energy to better his life.He settled down in a very contrary part of Kiserian where there was no electricity and no running water. By installing solar panels, he was able to power his entire home for entertainment, lighting and heated water. To solve his water problem, he was able to capture rain water usingdrainage pipes from his roof into a big underground tank. He is able to use the water for his day to day needs and even to irrigate plants that he grows. This proved to be so effective that in 2006 during a drought in the area, he was able to supply water to som e other people in the area. concourse like Mr Mureithi are able to succeed in such coarse areas because they have adopted green technologies and green practices in order to exculpate the best use of the resources available to us all. Another factor that has enabled this is the climax of low-cost solar in Kenya. Traditionally, solar has always been out of the puddle of most people because the cost of setting it up has always been high. cheap Solar Invades Kenya (2010) looks at some low cost solar ply technologies and kits which are currently available in Kenya today. The first one the writer looks at is the Solantern which is essentially solar powered lantern that can be super delegationd during the day and runs at night.The lantern was intended to help replace kerosene lamps in many Kenyan households and allow them to save money and the environment at the same time. It was retailing for about 2000 Kenya Shillings in the year 2010. Another low cost solution discussed is theTou ghStuff which is a solar kit that comes with a pocket-sized solar panel and different kinds of connectors. It can be used to charge a small LED lamp, mobile phones, a rechargeable power pack and some cheap rechargeable D-cell rechargeable batteries for powering other devices. The unit is sold through Chloride Exide in Kenya as well as in a some other shops. These are just a few of the many examples of technologies that promote selfsustainability as well as changing peoples lives for the better. mop upFrom what we have discussed in this article, we can see that Kenya still has a long way to go before we are able to achieve any major milestones in regards to green computing and adoption of green technologies. to a lower place we shall look at a few of the major challenges that have prevented us from advancing with regards to green computing. We shall refer to the article Barriers to Implementation of Green ICT in Kenya, (Wabwoba, F., Wanyembi, W. G., Omuterema, S. 2012, p.832, p.83 3).Lack of technical skilled or instruct manpower in green ICT. (1)Green implementation is too costly. (11)Lack of green ICT workshops/seminars to modify knowledge. (5)Overreliance on donations for ICT hardware acquisition. (7)Lack of top management support. (4)The rapid technology changes. (8)Lack of legislation to support green ICT implementations. (6)Existence of policies that hinder green ICT implementation. (10)Not knowing where to start in implementing green ICT. (8)General rampart to change. (11)No budget is allocated towards implementing. (2)From the article, we see that the number one barrier to implementation of green ICT in Kenya is the lack of technical skilled or trained manpower in green ICT. This goes to show that a lot of work still needs to be done in creating awareness about the importance of going green and the opportunities available by making the switch.The way forward is to first focus on changing peoples opinions about green computing as a whole since a lot of the major adoption challenges are due to poor attitude and lack of information in general. It is only in this waythat we can get people to see the importance of creating a self-sufficient country, and all the good it will do not only for the environment but for all citizens as well.ReferencesMurugesan, S. (2008). Harnessing Green IT Principles and Practices. IEEE Computer Society. Retrieved from University of Pittsburgh Websitehttp//www.pitt.edu/dtipper/2011/GreenPaper.pdfWabwoba, F., Wanyembi, W. G., Omuterema, S. (2012). Barriers to Implementation of Green ICT in Kenya (Vol.2, No.12). International journal of Science and Technology. Retrieved from e journals of science website http//ejournalofsciences.org/archive/vol2no12/vol2no12_3.pdfWabwoba, F., Wanyembi, W. G., Omuterema, S., Mutua, S. M., (2013). Pervasiveness of green ICT awareness amongst Kenyan ICT personnel (Vol.2, No.1). Retrieved from International Journal of Application orInnovation inEngineering & Management websi tehttp//ijaiem.org/volume2Issue1/IJAIEM-2013-01-15-021.pdfTea companies in Kenya go green through carbon finance. (2013). Retrieved from UNDP websitehttp//www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/articles/2013/02/20/sustainable-teacompanies-in-kenya-go-green-through-carbon-finance/Ciuri, S. (2013). Kenyan firms receive Sh6.5m for going green. BUSINESS DAILY. Retrieved from BUSINESS DAILY Website http//www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenyan-firmsreceive-Sh6-5m-for-going-green/-/539546/2106862/-/dls7qqz/-/index.htmlGoing green wins entrepreneur the 2013 SME crown. (2014). Retrieved from East