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How to extend the lifetime of ICT: examples and case studies from the EU GPP criteria
No full textPublic procurers in the EU can apply procurement criteria to elicit tenders and select products
from the manufacturers and suppliers of products with reduced environmental impacts. The European
Green Public Procurement Criteria (EU GPP), published as Staff Working Documents of the European
Commission, and periodically updated at product group level, represent an important reference for the
selection and application of voluntary green criteria throughout Europe.
Recently, the revision process of the EU GPP Criteria for Computers and Monitors has focused attention
on criteria that can be used to extend the lifetime of these devices, when considered as a key strategy
to reduce their environmental impacts.
This paper describes criteria that may be applicable to the selection of ICT devices and services that
are characterised by:
• a more reliable design, including resistance to damage and wear,
• repair and upgrade features (e.g. key components are easy to be replaced),
• long term support (warranty and service agreement, availability of spare parts, software
updates and information)
• sufficient adaptability to future conditions of use (e.g. standardised components and ports,
upgradable components)
• reusablility at the end of the first useful life (e.g. software to ensure a secure data deletion)
• reused second hand devices that have been fully checked, serviced and upgraded.
This paper describes the EU GPP criteria based on these strategies, which are associated to the setting
of criteria based on these strategies in Green Public Procurement. Case studies and lessons learnt
from public procurers in different EU Member States are also described
Chain gang small enterprise, blockchain collaborations and textile recovery in the circular economy
No full textThe fashion supply chain is a complex network of stakeholders, connections and resources
that coalesce for the production, trade and (sometimes) recovery of textile merchandise. This dense
fashion supply system frequently conceals innumerable harmful activities including the questionable
procurement of raw materials, disputed transactions, and improper labour practices. Within this opaque
landscape, the emerging backend technology of blockchain is proposing mechanisms to make supply
chains more transparent and incentivise circularity. However, despite the possibilities, in its current state
of development, blockchain technology presents as many shortcomings as advantages. Blockchain’s
disadvantages include lack of interoperability, risk of erroneous data input and difficulty achieving
cooperation among competing parties. Furthermore, the ideal blockchain implementation of full-scale
transparency would require widespread adoption and stakeholder collaboration for the system to
operate efficiently. Indeed, blockchain cannot exist without cooperation. This study sets out to
investigate the level of cooperation required for the effective implementation of blockchain for
transparency along the fashion supply chain. The study finds that many of the current use cases of
blockchain in the fashion supply chain are limited to private, permissioned blockchains – thus effectively
shutting out other players. Through a qualitative approach this investigation examines a proof of concept
(POC) within the small to medium enterprise (SME) context. The study demonstrates that regardless of
the complexity (and immaturity) of blockchain technology, SMEs already possess agility and strong
business partnerships that are also bound by shared values. This paper adds to the growing literature
on emerging blockchain technology applications, specifically in relation to the fashion supply chain and
its potential to facilitate circular economy solutions in the SME sector
Clothing longevity: the relationship between the number of users, how long and how many times garments are used
No full textReuse of clothing is a central strategy in circular economy for keeping the resources and
materials in the loop longer. This paper studies the correlation between clothing service lifespans
measured in years, number of wears and number of users, and whether there is a difference in length
of lifespans between new and preowned garments. The analysis is based on an international
quantitative wardrobe survey conducted in China, Germany, Japan, the UK and the USA with 53 461
registered garments. Results show that newer garments are used more actively than the older
garments. Garments that are less than two years old are used about 30 times per year, while garments
that are over 15 years old are only used about 3 times a year. Second-hand garments are worn on
average 30% times less by the current user than garments that were acquired as new. Garments that
the user anticipates donating or selling are worn 22% times less than garments that are planned to be
discarded. The results show that reuse is beneficial for increasing the clothing lifespans, but it does not
increase the active wear as much as expected. These findings have theoretical, managerial and political
implications on which measures contribute to the longest garment lifespans with the least environmental
impact and which kind of measures could help to implement these changes. This should be considered
in life cycle assessments where various disposal methods are compared, as well as in policy
development where in increasing the lifespan with first user should be focused more on
Is it a bug or a feature? The concept of software obsolescence
No full textUnlike physical objects, software sees no natural wear and tear such as oxidation or physical and thermal stress. Once a software is correctly and functionally implemented into a system, it could run forever, at least in theory. In practice, recent times have seen a growing number of empirical examples, where a malfunctioning software, high performance requirements or cancelled support services caused the end of lifetime of an otherwise functioning product. So far, software obsolescence (SO) was mostly studied as software rot or software blow in sectors like aviation or military, where reliability is most crucial. But with an increasing market penetration of embedded hard- and software systems such as SmartTVs, Bluetooth Speakers, Smart Home Appliances, and other Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), there is growing attention to software induced obsolescence in the consumer electronics market. From an environmental perspective the problem is evident and is already targeted by recent strategies in national and European legislation such as the German Digital Policy Agenda for the Environment (BMU 2020) or the European Circular Economy Action Plan (EC 2020). However, applied research on SO is still young and lacks concepts and heuristics to systematically study the causes, appearances and impacts of the problem. The aim of this paper is to (i) propose a formal definition, illustrate the difference of direct and indirect software obsolescence (ii) to present a four-level scheme (legal-executable-usable-functional - LEUF) to analyze and classify mechanisms of software obsolescence; and (iii) to give a proper overview of the current state of regulations on SO. Based on our considerations we discuss mitigation strategies to prevent software obsolescence and identify further policy and research needs
Development and Validation of the Operations Procedures and Manual for a 2U CubeSat, EIRSAT-1, with Three Novel Payloads
No full textThe 16th International Conference on Space Operations, Cape Town, South Africa, 3-5 May 2021The CubeSat standard, relatively short launch timescale, and orders of magnitude difference in cost in comparison to large scale missions, has allowed universities and smaller institutions to develop space missions. The Educational Irish Research Satellite (EIRSAT-1) is a 2U CubeSat being developed in University College Dublin (UCD) as part of the second round of the European Space Agency (ESA) Education Office’s Fly Your Satellite! (FYS) Programme. EIRSAT-1 is a student-led project to build, test, launch and operate Ireland’s first satellite. CubeSats typically use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components to facilitate new teams in developing a satellite on a rapid timescale. While some of the EIRSAT-1 subsystems are COTS procured from AAC Clyde Space, EIRSAT-1 has three novel experiments on-board which have been developed in UCD. The spacecraft’s Antenna Deployment Module has also been designed and built in-house. The on-board computer (OBC), procured from AAC Clyde Space, has been adapted to interface with these novel hardware components, accompanied by in-house developed software and firmware. All of these innovative subsystems complicate the CubeSat functionality making it essential to document and rigorously test the operations procedures for EIRSAT-1. In preparation for launch with these novel spacecraft subsystems, the EIRSAT-1 Operations Manual is being developed and incrementally verified. The Operations Manual contains the procedures to command and control the satellite, account for nominal and non-nominal scenarios and guide the operator in determining the cause of any anomalies observed during the mission and facilitate recovery. A series of operations development tests (ODTs) have been designed and conducted for a robust verification process. Each procedure is written up by a member of the EIRSAT-1 Operations Team in the EIRSAT-1 Operations Manual format. During an ODT, an in-flight scenario is considered in which the procedure under test is required. The procedure is then followed by a team member who has not been involved in the procedure development process. The feedback from these tests and from the operators is used to improve the procedures and continually update the Operations Manual. This paper will present the approach to operations development used by the EIRSAT-1 team and discuss the lessons learned for CubeSat operations development, testing and pre-flight verification.Irish Research CouncilScience Foundation IrelandEuropean Space Agenc
Financing the recycling of long life products under extended producer responsibility -a case study of PV
No full textThis paper presents an estimation of the quantities of WEEE arising for the Solar PV waste stream in Ireland up to the year 2050. Solar PV will be a new WEEE waste stream in Ireland, one which has a significantly longer lifetime compared to the majority of other WEEE streams. As such, the Solar PV WEEE recycling operations and considerations need to be financed. Estimations of the quantities of WEEE arising into the future will be essential for such financing decisions to be made at the present time. The work presented in this research estimates the quantities of Solar PV arising across both residential and commercial installations for Ireland up to the year 2050. It also discusses some of the options available to finance the recycling of this waste stream under an extended producer responsibility framework
Perceived capabilities and barriers for do-it-yourself repair
No full textUnderstanding the extent of common users’ capabilities to repair products themselves, and the barriers during the repair could help legislators and manufacturers improve the design of products. This paper investigates users’ capacity for using various common repair tools, their experience in repairing different household appliances, and the degree to which greater repair experience enables them to overcome related barriers to repair. Data was collected through questionnaires by 276 participants. Most respondents said they were able to use basic mechanical tools, but less than half stated proficiency in using soldering irons or multi-meters for repair. This indicates that more users may be able to perform diagnosis and repair of mechanical problems than electrical problems. However, 74% have repaired an electronic household appliance at least once in their lifetime (even if the repairs were mechanical). This suggests that repair could be a widespread activity. Users with no repair experience listed significantly more design-related barriers to repair than users with repair experience. These design-related barriers mostly concerned diagnosis and disassembly. Thus, designing products with features facilitating ease of diagnosis and disassembly with basic tools could remove some of the major barriers towards repair, and stimulate more users to repair their products
Students as Partners in Peer Mentoring: Expectations, Experiences and Emotions
No full textIncreasing emphasis in recent years has been placed on how faculty, staff and students in higher education can be drawn into more collaborative learning relationships through partnership working. The significant challenges in terms of negotiating shifting roles and responsibilities have been well documented. Less attention has been paid to the affective challenges, and particularly the emotional labour involved. This paper focuses on the adoption of a partnership approach to first year peer mentoring and orientation in a large Social Science programme. Peer mentors played a critical role as designers of the programme, as partners delivering the programme, and as co-researchers, offering a unique understanding and insight into aspects of the peer mentor experience that often remain hidden. Our findings draw attention to the need to consider and manage more carefully the impact of students on each other in mentoring relationships but also suggest an opportunity to harness the mentoring experience to embed a partnership culture more fully.IReL ConsortiumUCD College of Social Sciences and La
An ADMM-based optimal transmission frequency management system for IoT edge intelligence
No full textIn this paper, we investigate a key problem of Internet of Things (IoT) applications in practice. Our research objective is to optimize the transmission frequencies for a group of IoT edge devices under practical constraints. Our key assumption is that different IoT devices may have different priority levels when transmitting data in a resource-constrained environment and that those priority levels may only be locally defined and accessible by edge devices for privacy concerns. To address this problem, we leverage the well-known Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) optimization method and demonstrate its applicability for effectively managing various IoT data streams in a decentralized framework. Our experimental results show that the transmission frequency of each edge device can converge to optimality with little delay using ADMM, and the proposed system can be adjusted dynamically when a new device connects to the system. In addition, we also introduce an anomaly detection mechanism to the system when a device\u27s transmission frequency may be compromised by external manipulation, showing that the proposed system is robust and secure for various IoT applications
On the interpretation of MOS impedance data in both series and parallel circuit topologies
No full textWe investigate the interplay between the series (S) and parallel (P) equivalent circuit representations of the MOS system conductance (G) and capacitance (C) in inversion. Experimental and simulated data for Si and InGaAs MOSCAPs are firstly analyzed mathematically. It is found that by interpreting the measured data in both the series and parallel mode, five independent values are obtained for the magnitude and frequency of the maxima and minima points of the −ωdCS,P/dω and GS,P/ω functions versus angular frequency (ω). The significance and application of the approach is presented and discussed