Sustainability Report 2023
IT
To the pages of the BITS.
Blue Angel
The Blue Angel is an eco-label awarded in Germany for particularly environmentally friendly products. It is awarded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment. Further information can be found here.
Energy Star
Energy Star is an American environmental label for energy-saving devices, among other things, in accordance with the energy-saving criteria of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy. Information for Energy Star for monitors.
IT is largely the responsibility of the Bielefeld IT Service Centre (BITS), a central services unit of the university. Here, sustainability aspects are already taken into account when purchasing equipment.
Framework parameters for tenders
- Blue Angel (e.g. servers, printers)
- Power supplies with "Gold", "Platinum", "Titanium" efficiency rating
- "EnergyStar 8.0" (e.g. IT clients)
- Printers with separate, replaceable toner and drum systems or refillable ink tanks
The useful life of the devices can also be extended so that new devices need to be procured less frequently. The useful life of pool computers, for example, is over five years, and that of monitors over seven years or until they break down. The useful life of workstation computers, including notebooks, is extended to five to six years by replacing batteries.
In its sustainability mission statement, the university has set itself the goal of strengthening green IT by utilising potential savings and efficiency gains in the procurement and current operation of systems. Comprehensive information is to be provided with recommendations for action.
Where possible, each employee has only one laptop that is used both at the university workplace and at home. Instead of a complete docking station, a simple USB-C cable is now sufficient to connect the notebook and monitor and supply them with power at the same time. If more monitor space is required, a larger monitor is now offered instead of two individual smaller monitors. These automatically switch to standby if they are not used for a longer period of time. PCs in the pool rooms for students are switched off completely at night.
As BITS will also be affected by the refurbishment work at the university in the medium term and will have to vacate its current space, care is being taken to ensure that the new data centre space required is characterised by a low PUE value, i.e. high energy efficiency. In addition, increased server virtualisation, which now stands at 70 - 80 %, means that less server hardware and energy is required.
- PUE value
To calculate the PUE value (Power Usage Effectiveness), the total energy consumption of a data centre - including building technology such as air conditioning, etc. - is divided by the energy consumption of the IT infrastructure (servers, storage, etc.). The closer the value is to 1, the more of the total energy flows into the actual IT infrastructure and the less is consumed for the building infrastructure.
- Server virtualisation
Although the University also uses proprietary software (such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat), some systems have been developed in-house at the University, such as the Bielefeld Information System (BIS). It integrates various applications, such as the electronic course catalogue (eKVV), the BIS examination management system, the directory of staff and departments (PEVZ) and much more. On the one hand, this creates independence from commercial providers and, on the other, enables customised solutions that are precisely tailored to the needs of the key players in central administration and the Faculties.