We found back in 2010 that the European market for Green ICT products had many local standards with few certified products. That did not appear to best serve sustainability-oriented computer buyers - consumer or enterprise - who need to make practical purchasing decisions incorporating sustainability. The situation has not improved in recent years.

Our recent update of Finding the Greenest Tablets illustrates the continuing challenges for conscientious buyers trying to sort through standards.

We raised questions about the GreenICT implications of wearable technology four years ago. There seems to have been little effort made by wearable tech creators since then to address sustainability issue. A recent article from battery recycler Call2Recycle again sounds the warning.

Mobile devices replace the storage capacity and I/O options laptops with a host of cloud services. We first saw this when iPhone users began placing unprecedented demands on the cloud in 2009. Statistics compiled since then reveal the the amazing growth and scope of this demand. This only increases the urgency for cloud providers go green.

ICTworks wrote in March 2017, "Of the 1.2 billion people who lack basic energy access around the world, 772 million are covered by mobile networks." This means that the bases stations serving these are likely power all or in part by dirty diesel generators. The situation will get worse as coverage expands unless we have a covered effort to integrate #GreenICT into #ICT4D.

There are compelling reasons why the global ICT for Development (ICT4D) movement can benefit by embracing Sustainable Green ICT. We are tracking how ICT4D initiatives incorporate GreenICT. So far, the ICT4D record is not very green.

Electricity and water don't mix? Our quest for innovative Green ICT concepts has turned up many unusual concepts doing just that. The latest is a proposal for submerging entire data centers.

Information and Communications Technology for Development - ICT4D - is an explosive force in the developing economies. It could become an environmentally damaging force unless Green ICT becomes an explicit part of ICT4D. Now is the time to make that happen.

The American state of California is home to ~70 million end-user computers, servers and computer monitors. It is now planning to role out a series of energy standards for new units beginning in 2018.

The Open Compute Project (OCP) is an American-lead initiative to collaboratively develop shred technology to improve data center performance and efficiency. Three Chinese large companies, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, founded a similar initiative in 2011.

We first encountered air-borne pollution as a threat when we reported about the impact of volcanic ash on Icelandic data centers. Man-made pollution is also an issue.

Our 2013 post "Too Little Focus on Green ICT in American Higher Education" looked at a number of indicators, including a Sierra Club program.

Sierra Club's 2013 10 Coolest Schools' rating system gives "...a percentage of [7] available points based on the percentage of computers purchased that are registered EPEAT Silver or Gold." Also, "Institutions earn half of [20] available points by having a program to refurbish, reuse, or recycle electronic waste generated by the school. Institutions earn half of available points for having a similar program for electronic waste generated by students." Those two account for less than 3% of the 1000 points available, so it is not surprising the Sierra Club offers only one Green ICT citation as well: American University for its "quarterly e-waste drives."

Things have not improved three years later.