ICT Sustainable Design

Issues such as climate change and resource depletion coupled with an enormously expanded customer base for ICT products has led to a situation where the existing paradigms for engineering design are no longer compatible with sustainable development. The research in sustainable design of ICT products and services examines how this sector can become aligned with sustainable development and, guided by life cycle methodologies, proposes design features that can reduce environmental impacts. Specific projects are examining the use of signalling to promote lifetime extension and RFID as a means of implementing closed loop manufacturing.

Other work focuses on how appliances can be more accommodating to the integration of greater amounts of renewable energy.