Sustainability and Ecological Economics of ICT

The objective of this course develop an understanding of ICT's pervasive and transformative role in modern economies, and the need for people who develop ICT products, including computer scientists and electrical engineers, to embrace approaches that lead to products that contribute to societal sustainability considering for dimensions of this term: human, social, economic and environmental sustainability. The course conveys basic concepts in sustainability theory, explores economic models behind the way ICT systems are currently developed and marketed, and dives into concepts of just sustainability, ecological economics, but also into technical aspects of designing and assessing the sustainability of ICT systems. Students will critically reflect on current practices and develop a toolbox that allows them to build upon in their future careers.

The course strives to link theoretical knowledge with current industry practice and will feature a few interventions from guest lecturers who highlight and discuss recent industry trends, policy development, as well as a number of exercises and self-study tasks to provide hands-on experience and to deepen the students' knowledge on more specialised subjects.

The course is open to engineers/computer scientists from different backgrounds: computer sciences, computer engineering, telecommunications, and others.

Connaissances et compétences pré-requises ou co-requises

• Understanding of software engineering and ICT product life-cycles
• Programming skills, preferably some background in Python

The course involves students in group projects to identify challenging problems in developing the relationship between Information and Communication Technologies and different aspects of sustainability through lectures, extensive reading, practical challenges, and discussion.

Laboratories and self-study exercises include:

• Life-Cycle Assessment of ICT products
• Measuring the environmental footprint of software systems
• Exploring and studying different system designs under sustainability perspectives
• Literature surveys, focus groups, collaborative exercises

Références, bibliographie et lectures recommandées

• Becker, C., 2023. Insolvent: How to reorient computing for just   sustainability. MIT Press.
• Hauschild, M.Z., Rosenbaum, R.K. and Olsen, S.I., 2018. Life cycle assessment (Vol. 2018). Springer International Publishing, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3.
• Manjunatheshwara, K.J. and Vinodh, S., 2021. Sustainable electronics product design and manufacturing: State of art review. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 14(4), pp.541-551.

Support(s) de cours

• Université virtuelle

Contacts

Jan Tobias Muehlberg <jan.tobias.muehlberg@ulb.be>

Campus

Solbosch

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Examen écrit

Examen écrit

• Question ouverte à réponse courte
• Question ouverte à développement long

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• anglais