Australian Government Replacing Tens of Thousands of PCs by End of 2013

In "Old computers go as upgrade aids targets" (SMH, April 2, 2013), Trevor Clarke describes federal government agencies progress with replacement of PCs. He reports the Department of Human Services alone will replace 30,000 PCs by the end of 2013. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations is reported to be aiming to reduce the number of PCs to 1.2 per employee, multi-function printers/copiers to one per twenty PCs and paper use to 4500 sheet per person.

The proposed saving for the public service appear very modest. It is likely these could be acheived  by the move from desktop to mobile computing and consolidation of data centers, with few other changes required.

Since 2009 I have been teaching ICT Sustainability to masters level students for the Australian Computer Society and the Australian National University. Many of these student are public servants in local, state and federal agencies, as well as major companies. The students estimate the carbon footprint from ICT in their workplace and recommend reductions. The student's work shows that greater savings are possible.