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ICT and Big Data

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Kraft, General Mills, Monsanto Join Food LCA Database

Kraft Foods, General Mills and Monsanto are among the first to join the World Food LCA Database (WFLDB), which aims to develop a comprehensive database for food and beverage life cycle assessments (LCAs). Launched last week by the Swiss Federal Research Station Agroscope and consulting firm Quantis, the project is expected to be completed by 2015. A slew of funding partners have already come on board, including Mars, Nestlé, Mondelez International, Bayer, Syngenta and Yara. The French Environment and Energy Management and Swiss Federal Office for the Environment have also committed to the program. Agroscope and Quantis say they hope to continue to recruit additional companies and government agencies to join the project.

GE Brings Big Data to the Masses with Web Series 'Datalandia'

GE’s imagination at work is going Hollywood with Datalandia, a web series created to help consumers understand the cumbersome world of the industrial Internet. Filmed at Miniatur Wunderland, an attraction featuring model trains and towns in Hamburg, Germany, the "summer blockbuster"-like series, replete with blood-sucking vampires and extraterrestrials, aims to show that the Internet as we know it infiltrates much more than what meets the eye.

IT and Big Data Channel Examines Possibilities for Social Transformation

Technology is the great hope for those who fear environmental degradation has moved beyond the point of no return. Advancements in clean energy or scalable methods for scrubbing pollutants from the air and water could allow us to turn back the clock.However, with a growing global population, it won’t be enough just to shift the timeline via breakthroughs in the physical sciences. In order to preserve the natural resources required to sustain future generations, we need to fundamentally change the way we do things in society, and this is the great promise of Information Technology.

Follow-Up to SB'13: Lucid's Michael Murray on Using IT to Drive Behavior Change

Cross-Posted from Behavior Change. Michael Murray is the president and co-founder of Lucid, a software company providing real-time information feedback designed to “teach, inspire behavior change, and save energy and water resources in buildings.” Since the company’s founding in 2004, over 275 schools and organizations have adopted Lucid’s Building Dashboard, which it describes as a social network for buildings that allows people to view, compare, and share resource usage data online.

Ecodesk Launches Monitor to Help Businesses Track Conflict Mineral Use

Cross-Posted from Supply Chain. Global supply chain sustainability site Ecodesk has launched a monitoring tool for businesses to track conflict mineral use in supply chains.The company says the aim of the monitor is to help businesses track the materials using a standard EICC declaration form and the Ecodesk digital supply chain dashboard.As each supplier completes a declaration on their Ecodesk sustainability profile, data is automatically connected to a customer dashboard, which enables businesses to analyze in one simple view, conflict mineral use by geography, industry and by individual smelters.

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What Internet Citizens Should Know About the Personal Data Economy

Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. John C. Havens is founder of the H(app)athon Project, a contributing writer for Mashable, and author of the upcoming book, Hacking Happiness. At Sustainable Brands ’13 last month, he spoke on the main stage about “Unleashing the Personal Data Economy,” and we later dove further into the subject.What exactly is the personal data economy?

How Can Information Technology and Big Data Help Us Innovate for a More Sustainable Future?

Calling all technologists and data-heads! Beginning in August, Sustainable Brands will launch a new Issues in Focus editorial channel examining how information technology and data are being used as platforms for innovation in sustainability.Guest editor Bart King of New Growth Communications and the SB editorial team are seeking articles, interviews and case studies for publication throughout the year.

From Food to Human Tissue, How 3D Printing Is Changing the U.S. Manufacturing Game

As 3D printers are being used to make everything from pottery to human tissue, the domestic manufacturing industry is evolving into something new and robust. As manufacturing begins to step into a growth phase, we examine the brands Stratasys and Organovo and take a closer look at what the introduction of their products means to the marketplace.There is no shortage of areas that were crippled by the financial crisis, and United States manufacturing ranks high on that list. Production jobs were already fleeing overseas in favor of inexpensive labor in the mid-2000s, and the combination of the domestic consumer recession and a burst of Chinese market dominance only amplified the situation.

Cloud Computing: The Latest in Tech Also Has Hidden Environmental Benefits

Looking for ways to reduce your company’s environmental impact? While cloud computing may not seem all that eco-friendly at first glance, a closer look reveals a number of benefits. surprisingly, the answer to that question may very well be yes. Recent studies have shown that a large enterprise that moves its HR application to the public cloud can, in five years, cut its CO2 emissions by as much as 30,000 metric tons. This amount is about the same as you would get if you took 5900 cars off the road.Here are some of the ways that the cloud can help your organization cut its carbon footprint down to size:Energy Savings

Climate Group Competition Seeks Creative Approaches to Tackling Climate Change

The Climate Group has launched its first EarthHack competition powered by the Marblar platform, which asks competitors to reimagine existing technology for a more sustainable modern home and save one million tons of carbon dioxide a year by 2020.

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SAP Donates Mobile App to Help Deliver Food to Families In Need

With SAP's Mobile Platform, SAP says truck drivers at food distribution centers across the country can use mobile handheld devices to track their daily inventory against demand from food pantries and shelters.

JustGreen Facilitates LEED Certification with Green Power Calculator

Natural gas and energy retailer Just Energy Group has launched a new instant green power quote system that makes it easier for commercial customers to acquire LEED certification.

SAP Launches Carpool App To Help Businesses Save Money and Engage Employees

SAP this week introduced a new cloud-based carpool app to help companies reduce costs by encouraging employees to ride-share to work rather than commute solo.

Cisco, Google Top Greenpeace's Cool IT Leaderboard for Energy Innovation

“Tech giants have the capacity to lead society to cleaner, smarter energy systems, as both Cisco and Google have demonstrated,” announced Greenpeace International Senior IT analyst Gary Cook. The two companies tied for first place in a recent evaluation of the top 21 IT and telecom firms that prioritize energy solutions to climate change as a core aspect of their business model.

EcoGrader Helps Companies Evaluate, Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Their Web Presence

The world of corporate social responsibility has long been dominated by the physical needs of sustainability, with companies focusing on implementing recycling programs, reducing emissions or using renewable energy. Mightybytes, a full-service digital creative firm in Chicago, hopes to add a new dimension to the field.The company has developed a website called EcoGrader to help companies evaluate the carbon footprint of their websites. Although this is largely overlooked, a website actually can have as sizeable a carbon footprint as a Sunday newspaper, page for web page. However, there are several strategies to reduce that and EcoGrader provides companies with many of those solutions.

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IBM's Water Watchers App Gives South African Citizens Power Over Water Challenges

In honor of World Water Day last Friday, IBM unveiled a revolutionary new app for Android phone users in South Africa.

Salesforce Announces Commitment to a Cloud Powered by 100% Renewable Energy

Salesforce, a company that pioneered and helped define the cloud computing market, announced yesterday a goal of becoming fully powered by renewable energy.

Dominant Logic Shifting from Customer Service to Sustainability, Paper Says

Environmental concerns are compelling businesses to shift their primary focus from serving customers to addressing sustainability, according to a new paper published last month as part of the Thirty Third International Conference on Information Systems.

‘Physical Internet’ for Logistics Could Boost U.S. Profits $100 Billion, Cut Emissions 33%

Handling, storing and transporting goods in a shared network of manufacturers, retailers and transporters would benefit the U.S. economy and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study by engineers at the University of Arkansas and Virginia Tech University. If 25 percent of the U.S. supply chain operated with this so-called “physical internet” system, profits for participating firms would increase by $100 billion, carbon dioxide emissions from road-based freight would decrease by at least 33 percent and consumers would pay less for goods, researchers said.