THE STATE OF GREEN COMPUTING KNOWLEDGE AMONG STUDENTS IN A MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITY

ANALYSIS

Two-hundred and eight (N = 208) university students from a Malaysian public university took part in the survey. They were randomly and positively sampled from its nine faculties, and comprised an equal number of males (n = 104) and females (n = 104). The portion representing the ICT group was 46.6% (n = 97), positively sampled from two main faculties offering ICT-related degree programmers, i.e. the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The ICT group consisted of students pursuing various ICT-based degrees in Computer and Information Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology and Multimedia, and Computer-Aided Design and Drawing. The non-ICT group constituted 53.4% (n = 111) of the total sample, randomly selected from faculties and departments not dealing specifically with ICT-related studies, such as Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, Management Sciences, Religion, Education and English Language. All of the students were computer literate with a computer experience ranging between 10 and 20 years.

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FIGURE 1 : University Students’ Perceived Knowledge of Green Computing (N = 208)

KNOWLEDGE      NON      LOW     MODERATE QUIT HIGH    HIGH GREEN COMPUTING 44.2% 15.4% 27.4% 10.6% 2.4% GREEN PC 47.6% 15.9% 20.7% 12% 3.8% CARBON FOOTPRINT 51.4% 18.3% 21.2% 6.7% 2.4%

THE STATE OF GREEN COMPUTING KNOWLEDGE AMONG STUDENTS IN A MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The study, hence, set out to address the following objectives:

1. to explore the levels of green computing knowledge among students in a Malaysian public university by identifying whether they were knowledgeable with its core vocabulary, basic ideas and important facts;

2. to examine the influences of gender and field of study on university students’ perceived and objective knowledge of green computing

3. to establish the relationship between perceived knowledge and objective knowledge of green computing.

THE STATE OF GREEN COMPUTING KNOWLEDGE AMONG STUDENTS IN A MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITY

PROBLEM STATEMENT

University students around the world form a huge segment of ICT users. They are part of the group responsible for the 2% global carbon emission attributed to computing activities . In today’s higher education context, virtually every aspect of learning and scholarship is influenced or shaped by ICT, and students will spend most of their adult lives in a technology-driven world. As such, they must be equipped with the knowledge to use ICT effectively, as well as to use it in responsible and eco-friendly ways. It must be emphasized that ICT literacy should be complemented with environmental literacy in relation to computer use. Much research informs us about the development of students’ ICT literacy over the years  how they have moved from being digital immigrants to digital natives , but there is little information available to tell us about their environmental literacy in relation to ICT use. This study, therefore, was an attempt to fill this gap in the literature by looking into the state of students’ knowledge about the relationship between their computer use and its resulting impact on the environment.

THE STATE OF GREEN COMPUTING KNOWLEDGE AMONG STUDENTS IN A MALAYSIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION

This research was galvanized by the sentiment and conviction that green computing knowledge is fundamental to sustaining a green environment.defined green computing as “the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems, such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communication systems, efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment”
Definition offers a broad framework to understand green computing from four different but equally important perspectives, i.e. the domains of design, manufacture and production, use, and disposal of computing resources. Green computing covers the broad scope of energy-efficient and hazard-free computing; energy-efficient in that it promotes computing activities and use of resources that consume only the necessary amount of electricity and generate the least amount of carbon emission into the atmosphere and hazard-free in that it advocates the use and disposal of computing resources in responsible and non-harmful ways to the user and the environment.
Knowledge is the first step in the adoption process. An individual cannot begin the adoption process without knowing about the idea, the practice or the device to be adopted. Therefore, the importance of knowledge in embracing green computing ideas cannot be overstated. A lack of knowledge in energy-efficient computing has in fact already led to much energy wastage and financial loss around the globe.

Programs to reduce GHG and Toxic wastes in their products and supply chains.

Carbon Neutral, Headquarters uses 100% Renewable energy, computer products use 25% less power (by 2010)

Focus is on increasing speed while reducing energy usage in their products.

ENERGY STAR

Source :http://ecobabymamadrama.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/go-green-and-save-energy-star.gif

Many governments worldwide have initiated energy-management programs, such as Energy Star, an international standard for energy-efficient electronic equipment that was created by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 and has now been adopted by several other

countries. 

Energy Star reduces the amount of energy consumed by a product by automatically switching it into sleep mode when not in use or reducing the amount of power used by a product when in standby mode. 

Surprisingly, standby leaking, the electricity consumed by appliances when they are switched off, can represent as much as 12 percent of a typical household’s electricity consumption. In Australia, standby power is a primary factor for the country’s increased greenhouse gas emissions more than 5 megatons 

(CO2 equivalent) annually.

GREEN COMPUTING SUGGESTIONS