The DTV conversion is gaining momentum worldwide, along with e-waste problems and solutions.

We recently added Greenpeace and Newsweek green rankings to our directory of companies making products used by the media industry. This side-by-side comparison reveals the divergence among rating systems.

We learned that the 11 billion consumer devices attached to our global ICT infrastructure is expanding the Green ICT focus outside of the core. Now, there is growing awareness how device use can impact the energy consumption and carbon footprint of the network and core. Jenna Wortham writes in The New York Times:

Our recent post containing information about Green ICT issues at universities generated a lot of interest. Here is another insight: it is laboratory facilities are the big energy consumers on campuses.

The 20 most populous countries comprise about half of the world's population. Yet 18 of these lie outside of what is generally perceived as the North American/Western Europe Green ICT nexus. These nations aspire to rapidly build out their ICT infrastructures. Nigeria, for example, already has GSM networks connecting ~50 million phones; over 130 radio and television broadcasters; domestic communications networks utilizing satellites, coastal submarine cable, land fiber, and microwave relays; and international connectivity via satellites and submarine cable.

These countries' ICT build-outs will have a significant future impact on global energy, carbon, and e-waste. Yet we hear very little about GreenICT challenges or progress in these countries. Go to our Global Green page to see what we've learned and to contribute by posting information about these countries.

The 18 countries, listed left-to-right in order of descending population, are:

Here are some public data centers and ISPs offering various shades of green computing

An IDC survey finds that "IT decision makers in the Asia/Pacific region reveal that when green requirements are specified in a request for proposal (RFP), only 9.7% of the respondents in China say that they are mandatory. Compared to the average of 35.3% in the Asia/Pacific countries…China appears to be lagging behind in its efforts to promote the green movement…" The reason offered is instructive for all organizations.

Readers who have followed Vertatique since 2007 know that I find the photographs of and film about Edward Burtynsky make compelling arguments for getting a handle on our e-waste/cyberwaste stream. I was reminded of this by the reaction his story and work always receive when I talk about Green ICT.