Members

• Mick Houlahan (University of Western Sydney and Chair)
• Alison Davis (Queensland University of Technology)
• Margo Hellyer (Monash University)
• John Dixon (University of Ballarat)
• Joe McIver (University of Wollongong)
• Wayne Riggall (University of Canterbury, NZ)
• Peter Nissen (CAUDIT)

Latest Minutes and Documents

For access to the minutes of the committee and background information, go to the Green IT Document Repository

Terms of Reference: Standing Committee on Green IT

Preamble and Statement of Purpose

The University Sector within Australia and New Zealand are significant consumers of Information Technology products and services. With annual IT turnover in excess of $1 billion p.a. and a significant energy consumption to support the Information Technology environments within institutions, the sector is aware that it can make a positive contribution to the sustainability agenda by spearheading "Green IT" initiatives. Normal activities carried out have an effect on the environment, either through the generation of waste materials ('e-Waste') destined for landfill or with a potential to contaminate the environment or by contributing to greenhouse gases through the use of power.

CAUDIT has already supported an investigation into e-Waste with a subsequent report that was published on the CAUDIT Web Site. This report has enjoyed a very high number of downloads not only from members but from outside the sector and in particular industry.

As awareness of environmental issues grows within higher education, it is likely that over the coming years institutions will put in place strategies to mitigate their impact on the environment and measures to demonstrate that they are being good corporate citizens.

Building on CAUDIT's earlier initiatives in e-Waste, the CAUDIT Standing Committee on Green IT will leverage the existing body of work in this area to build a set of resources, strategies and best practice examples to enable members to address Green IT in a timely and responsible manner.  Further, in conjunction with the Standing Committee on Benchmarking, it will develop a benchmarking framework to enable members to measure their current state and track their progress over time.

Terms of Reference

1. Conduct a literature review of existing Green IT strategies and frameworks and using this body of work, develop a library of relevant strategies and frameworks for use by members.
2. Develop cooperative relationships with other like bodies around the world including UCISA, SCIT, CUCCIO, CANARIE, EDUCAUSE as part of developing a Green IT Strategy and Framework.
3. Work with the Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association to develop a sector wide standardised strategy to measure the power consumption of data centres and other major IT facilities that can be incorporated into CAUDIT's Green IT Benchmarking Framework.
4. Develop a benchmarking framework to enable members to baseline their current environment and track their progress as they implement Green IT strategies.
5. Create a Green IT Special Interest Group to help build a community of interest within the sector.
6. The chair will be appointed by the CAUDIT Executive.  Whilst it would be preferable for the chair to be an IT Director, the appointment would be at the discretion of the CAUDIT Executive and need not necessarily be a current serving IT Director.  The Chair will be appointed for a period of 2 years, with the option to extend this for a further 2 years at the discretion of the CAUDIT Executive.
7. Up to 4 general members; drawn from the membership of CAUDIT.
8. General members are appointed for a period of 2 years, with half of the members being up for re-appointment each year.  There are no limitations on the number of times a member can serve on the committee.
9. One or more other members appointed by the CAUDIT executive as appropriate.
10. One member nominated by the NZ Standing Committee for Information Technology.
11. Where there are more nominations than positions available, the Chair of the Committee along with the CAUDIT Executive will review the applicants and make a selection at its discretion.
12. The CAUDIT General Manager will provide support for the standing committee.

Reporting and Communication

The Chair of the SCoGIT will report to the executive of CAUDIT, with updates on the activities of the SCoGIT to be available for each CAUDIT Executive Meeting. The Chair will also provide a report on the activities of the SCoGIT to the membership of CAUDIT at both the AGM and GM.

In general communication between the committee and the membership of CAUDIT and constituent groups should be through the Chair or delegate. For specific activities which are focused around a particular vendor or arrangement, the Chair may nominate an individual to take a lead role to facilitate direct communications relating to the activity.

Updated: 18 February 2010