IBM Green & Beyond Interactive Tool

In North America, empty shipping containers make up as much as 22 percent of total port volume, and in the UK, over 27 percent of trucks are estimated to be driving around empty. On an interconnected planet, there is an opportunity to dramatically streamline the process of moving things across borders. By enabling the exchange of shipping information in standard, open formats, by optimizing international routes and by replacing time-consuming physical inspections with more rapid electronic scanning, shipments can move faster and more efficiently across borders, reducing transport-related energy costs.

Until now, the process of producing renewable energy has been costly. But new research is making these technologies more affordable and efficient. Rooftops laminated with inexpensive ultra-thin films will convert sunlight into power to be used on-the-spot or transported for sale through a smart electrical grid system. By mimicking how a camper uses a magnifying glass to start a fire, scientists are using a large lens to concentrate the Sun’s power, capturing 230 watts on a centimeter-square solar cell – five times the amount of an average solar cell.

Nanotechnology – science and technology at scales as small as individual atoms and molecules – is expected to make it possible to design new computing systems that require dramatically less space and cooling. As nanotech solutions become more developed and accessible, they will lead to significant performance enhancement and energy cost savings.

The solar industry consumes silicon in large quantities for use in solar panels. New sources of silicon are scarce, and processing them requires a great deal of energy. With an innovative wafer-to-solar panel program, IBM is now recycling surplus or scrap semiconductor wafers from its chip manufacturing operations for use in solar panels. This program not only helps to meet the solar industry’s growing demand for silicon materials, but also generates significant energy savings.

A considerable amount of the energy generated every day never reaches a single light bulb. Governments and utilities have an opportunity to reduce energy costs by supporting the creation of smart electrical grids. A smarter grid can reduce costly power outages and enable demand-based pricing—helping consumers, businesses and producers control costs.

Gridlock is a common problem facing cities and nations. Instrumenting roadways and vehicles with sensors, RFID tags and GPS technology can make existing transportation systems more intelligent. With the ability to monitor traffic in real time and analyze the information to dynamically adjust traffic flow, governments can reduce the time drivers spend in their cars, minimize fuel consumption and cut the associated costs.

By implementing energy-efficiency initiatives in public buildings, governments can set an example for their constituents. Additionally, energy efficiency certification, award programs and new building standards can help reduce heating, cooling and lighting costs associated with operating private buildings.

Historically, computers were costly but the energy to run them was relatively inexpensive. Today, energy costs associated with running, powering and cooling computers are a major factor in the overall cost of information technology. Cities and nations can better utilize computing resources and reduce IT-related energy consumption by using power management software and consolidating workloads. Further energy reductions can be achieved through virtualization, which allows organizations to manage their IT resources as an integrated infrastructure and reduces the number of servers needed to meet IT demand. Streamlining the IT infrastructure lessens associated power, cooling and other facilities-related energy requirements. Newer models for IT, such as cloud computing, promise to yield even greater efficiency-driven reductions in energy costs.

Vehicle and equipment fleets in public service agencies constitute a significant portion of overall operating budgets, with large line items for both fuel and maintenance costs. Analyzing location and status information with sensing devices in buses, maintenance trucks, snowplows and sanitation vehicles can uncover opportunities to shorten or streamline routes while reducing energy costs. Other benefits include more efficient use of equipment and increased driver productivity.

Governments can help reduce their energy costs by using Energy Efficiency Certificates (EECs). EECs are a way to document how many megawatt hours are saved in an energy-reduction project. Organizations that successfully reduce energy consumption can earn these certificates and sell them on the EEC market. There are a growing number of markets in which EECs are traded, including many European countries and U.S. states.

Reducing work-related travel in commutes and business trips can add significant savings to an organization’s bottom line. Widespread broadband access, Web-based collaboration and advanced mobile technologies enable employees to easily maintain productivity when working remotely. This also allows organizations to realize substantial savings in travel, energy and real estate costs. For example, IBM estimates that Web conferencing alone has reduced its travel costs for internal company meetings by $97 million per year, not including the amount of time saved and fuel conserved.

Energy used in buildings for heating, cooling, lighting, ventilation and facility operations makes up 30-40 percent of total world energy use. Organizations can reduce their energy consumption and costs by tracking energy use within facilities and by retrofitting existing buildings with energy-efficient technologies. Smart meter systems, for example, help organizations identify opportunities to adjust consumption and reduce costs.

Vehicle monitoring, shipment tracking and business analysis offer organizations the ability to manage fleets with greater efficiency and cost savings. Technologies such as RFID, GPS and built-in diagnostics gather critical data that can be analyzed to help eliminate unnecessary travel and dynamically adapt routes to avoid traffic and idling, thus reducing fuel costs.

Organizations can reduce energy costs across the supply chain by leveraging business intelligence and analytics to make more informed decisions. For example, optimizing sourcing, warehouse placement, capacity management and delivery can dramatically reduce transportation and associated fuel costs.

Incorporating energy monitoring and management techniques into data center design and operations can significantly reduce energy costs. At a green data center in Austria, engineers designed both the facilities and IT elements with energy efficiency in mind. Using free cooling (which allows outside air to cool the facility in colder months) and new energy-efficient servers, energy consumption has been reduced by 40 percent per year.

IT energy usage now constitutes a major organizational cost. In this decade alone, IT energy needs are expected to double every five years. Organizations can run IT systems more cost-effectively by introducing energy-efficient hardware, power-management software and virtualization across the entire IT infrastructure.

As the amount of data flowing in email servers, application databases and other parts of the IT infrastructure continues to grow exponentially, so do energy costs. Storage can often be the largest energy consumer across IT systems. Organizations can eliminate multiple copies of the same piece of data to free up additional storage capacity. They can also automatically archive and compress “inactive” data. And through virtualization, data can be managed cost-effectively across multiple storage devices and locations.

Energy Efficiency Certificates are a way to document how many megawatt-hours are saved in an energy-reduction project. After an initial assessment, an organization can take action to reduce energy consumption. The amount of energy conserved is determined and verified, and certificates are awarded. These certificates can be sold to utilities and other program participants to provide a valuable revenue stream.

50 percent of CFOs consider energy costs to be a high priority, yet most CIOs don’t even see their organization’s energy bill. In order to reduce energy consumption, it is necessary to understand the full picture of usage and its financial impact across the whole system.

Armed with the right information, individuals can change the way they consume energy. For example, smart electric meters allow individuals to see their energy usage in real time so they can take steps to reduce it. Where demand-based pricing is available, people can choose to do energy-intensive tasks, such as running clothes washers and dryers, at times when power is relatively less expensive. Access to cost and consumption information enables practices that can significantly reduce energy costs.

Reducing traffic delays and associated engine idling can significantly reduce driving-related energy costs. Intelligent vehicles increasingly offer the ability to inform drivers of current traffic conditions, so they can take appropriate action. Real time traffic conditions are monitored and reported by sensors, cameras and people on the scene, and can be accessed via smart phones, cars and other mobile devices. As the embedded sensors in roads, intersections, toll booths and other parts of the travel infrastructure start to become more integrated into the transportation system, they can be used by drivers to track and avoid unusual conditions.

Pioneering individuals have discovered that the next “small thing” is producing clean electricity independently. Small-scale wind turbines and rooftop solar panels, for example, can generate clean power locally. A smart meter connected to a smart grid can decide when additional power from the utility is needed and when there is a locally generated surplus to sell back. Improved reliability, decreasing costs of clean tech and possible government incentives make adoption of this distributed generation an attractive way to reduce overall energy costs.

If the 33 million individuals mentioned above began to telecommute, research shows that they would collectively avoid 154 billion miles of driving, save $25 billion in fuel purchases and enjoy the equivalent of an extra 5 workweeks of free time each year. Technologies such as virtual private networks and video conferencing make working from home or even from a neighborhood coffee shop good alternatives to the daily trek to the office. By taking advantage of these virtual systems and collaboration tools, individuals can save time and significantly reduce travel and energy costs.

By 2025 the demand for fresh water will exceed the supply by an estimated 50 percent. IBM has undertaken a collaborative project with The Nature Conservancy and the University of Wisconsin to develop water-modeling and decision-making tools for more effective, large-scale watershed management. The goal is to gain a more holistic understanding of watershed behavior, more comprehensive analysis of climate, rainfall, land cover, vegetation and biodiversity, and more efficient streamlining of disparate efforts to improve land use and water quality and management.

Today, moving goods across borders can be an inefficient process involving multiple sets of paperwork, physical inspections and lengthy delays – often while engines idle, refrigeration units run and perishable goods move toward their expiration dates. Putting in place open standards for shipping information and adopting electronic means of tracking and managing cargo would help shipments move to their destinations faster and conserve shipping-related resources.

One of the major challenges facing the solar industry is a severe shortage of silicon. And yet, each year, millions of silicon wafers from the semiconductor industry are scrapped – either sent to landfills or melted down. What if the waste from one industry could be repurposed for another? Through a new reclamation process, removing the intellectual property from the water surface of silicon wafers allows them to be resold to the solar cell industry. These recycling programs translate into overall cost savings, as well as reduced environmental impact for both industries.

Cities everywhere face increasing traffic congestion. Instead of adding roads, bridges or lanes, cities can build intelligence into existing infrastructure. Roadside sensors, radio frequency tags and global positioning systems gather traffic data in real time. This data can be analyzed at a macro level to shorten drivers’ commutes, shrink fuel use and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Governments have implemented a variety of mechanisms to drive pollution-reduction behaviors, including new regulations, voluntary partnerships and market-driven schemes. For example, ten U.S. states created the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which provides a market-based emissions auction and trading system for CO2 emissions. Participating organizations can buy carbon credits (when their emissions exceed the limit) or sell them (when their emissions are under the limit). Proceeds to the government from auctioning emissions credits can be invested in a number of sustainability-related causes, such as incentives for energy-efficiency actions, support for innovation in clean energy and new opportunities for “green” job creation.

By implementing sustainability initiatives in their own operations and by using incentives and regulation, governments can encourage “greener” building design and management. Many governments are incorporating standards for energy and water conservation into building guidelines and are setting the pace for change by making improvements in the environmental impact of their own building operations.

Cities and nations are experiencing dramatic increases in IT system requirements, and they have a unique responsibility to citizens to make the most of existing resources. Inefficiencies in the way IT resources are used can result in unnecessary energy use. Governments can better utilize computing resources and reduce IT-related energy consumption by using power management software and by consolidating workloads. Further energy reductions can be achieved through virtualization, which enables IT resources to be managed as an integrated infrastructure and reduces the number of servers needed to meet IT demand. Streamlining the IT infrastructure lessens associated power, cooling and other facilities-related energy requirements. Newer models for IT, such as cloud computing, promise to yield even greater efficiency-driven reductions in energy use.

As demand for the planet’s limited freshwater resources increases, optimizing water usage becomes a higher priority. To make the most of water across their operations, organizations can better monitor its use with smart water metering tools, implement recycling programs, reduce associated energy costs and educate employees about conservation techniques.

By working with utilities and improving incentives and regulation, governments can encourage the development of Intelligent Utility Networks that enhance network performance and reliability, improve asset utilization and provide users with information that helps them manage their consumption. These smarter grids are also better able to integrate renewable energy from distributed sources and can lead the way to the widespread deployment of new technologies, such as plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles.

Weather conditions have a broad impact on the delivery of public services ranging from disaster relief to firefighting to management of ice and snow on roadways. With weather micro-forecasting technology, governments can take advantage of more accurate predictions for areas as small as an individual neighborhood. More accurate and localized weather information can enable governments to plan better for situations like snow removal, repairs to weather-damaged power lines and flood evacuation. Having the right predictive tools can help governments provide critical services when citizens need them most.

Governments can help meet sustainability goals and serve their citizens in a more efficient way by shifting from manual to digital processes. For example, a state tax agency was once manually processing $75 billion in various paper tax forms each year. By converting to an electronic tax-filing format, the agency significantly reduced paper use and processing costs. Additionally, the online forms proved more accessible and user-friendly, which helped taxpayers make fewer mistakes and receive faster payment.

Technology that promotes collaboration has become reliable, simple and widespread. Employees can use broadband access in homes or public spaces. With Web conferencing, instant messaging, online chat, virtual private networks and e-mail they can connect with systems and people in ways that previously required a physical presence in dedicated workplaces. Virtual workspaces make working remotely easy and effective, so that employees can maximize their time and productivity. They also help organizations reduce both resource use in facilities and unnecessary travel costs, while decreasing their overall environmental impact.

Vehicle monitoring, shipment tracking and business analytics help organizations manage fleets systemically – saving on fuel and repair costs while improving efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Technologies such as RFID, GPS and built-in diagnostics sense and transmit critical data that can be analyzed to optimize routes, assign appropriately sized vehicles and minimize maintenance issues.

Organizations have many opportunities to design, retrofit and manage buildings in ways that make them “greener.” For example, new buildings can be designed with systems that take better advantage of natural light and outside air to help regulate indoor conditions. Existing buildings can be fitted with sensors and intelligent control systems that adjust internal temperature and lighting conditions, depending on whether spaces are in use or not. Intelligent building systems also monitor energy and water usage on an ongoing basis, which allows closer management of resource use and can result in significant cost reductions and reduced environmental impact.

The supply chain is a key area of focus for many organizations looking to enhance their corporate social responsibility practices. Environmental and ethical considerations, such as energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use and socially responsible procurement must be considered in the context of business priorities. By connecting systems, monitoring operations and analyzing flows, organizations can make their supply chains more sustainable, while reducing costs and preserving the quality of their products and services.

Inefficiencies in the way IT resources are used can result in unnecessary energy use. Organizations can better utilize computing resources and reduce IT-related energy consumption by using power management software and consolidating workloads. Further energy reductions can be achieved through virtualization, which allows organizations to manage their IT resources as an integrated infrastructure and reduces the number of servers needed to meet IT demand. Streamlining the IT infrastructure lessens associated power, cooling and other facilities-related energy requirements. Newer models for IT, such as cloud computing, promise to yield even greater efficiency-driven reductions in energy use.

As demand for the planet’s limited freshwater resources increases, optimizing water usage becomes a higher priority. To make the most of water across their operations, organizations can better monitor its use with smart water metering tools, implement recycling programs, reduce associated energy costs and educate employees about conservation techniques.

Converting records from paper to digital formats can help reduce costs, compliance risks and environmental impact. By “dematerializing” operations, organizations can streamline business processes, reduce storage costs and conserve resources. For example, an automotive corporation switched to an automated electronic document management system for its loan and lease processing services. This reduced paper consumption by 168,000 pages annually, enabled better compliance with corporate records policies and helped the company realize significant time and cost savings.

Detailed information on local weather conditions can be used to determine how to deploy resources most efficiently. Weather micro-forecasting technologies provide high-resolution predictions for areas as small as a square kilometer. This information can help organizations quickly prepare for conditions by adjusting delivery routes, optimizing asset deployment, adjusting energy consumption and making better-informed investment decisions.

Organizations are facing greater demands from consumers, investors, business partners, governments and other stakeholders to reduce carbon emissions. Implementing comprehensive carbon management strategies will not only help reduce environmental impact, but can often yield increased efficiency, reduce operational costs and create a competitive advantage in an increasingly environmentally-conscious marketplace.

Individuals are increasingly looking for new ways to reduce energy use in their homes. Obtaining a home energy rating can provide a detailed usage analysis and specific tips on where to make improvements. Using “smart” electric meters helps individuals stay informed in real time about energy use. Armed with this information, individuals can change the way they manage heating/cooling systems, lighting and appliances to reduce overall energy consumption.

According to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association, 3.9 million telecommuters in the U.S. alone have reduced gasoline consumption by about 840 million gallons, while curbing carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 14 million tons—the equivalent of removing 2 million vehicles from the road every year. Individuals can stay connected to the office while reducing work-related travel by using virtual systems and collaboration tools. By taking advantage of technologies such as Web conferencing, instant messaging, online chat, virtual private networks, e-mail and personal wireless devices, people can save time, increase productivity, conserve energy and decrease travel-related environmental impact.

Tackling the challenges of traffic and transportation requires a “smart systems” approach that accounts for factors like time, location, energy use, emissions, driver/passenger preference and cost. Many locations are exploring demand-based pricing to reduce traffic congestion and the related impact on fuel and greenhouse gas emissions. Individuals can consider the impact their personal transportation choices have on the environment and choose options such as smarter cars, public transportation and employer-sponsored “commuting benefit” programs.

Individuals can now donate unused processing power from personal computers to advance humanitarian research. Grid computing joins together many individual computers, creating a system with massive computational power that can drastically expedite research and reduce costs. Joining programs like World Community Grid is as easy as downloading a small, secure and free software agent to a personal computer. Whenever the computer is on, and the agent senses that it is idle, it runs the work unit assigned from "command central" servers, returning the results and requesting a new assignment when a unit is completed. More than 416,000 individuals are currently running the World Community Grid on over 1.2 million computers around the world, donating the equivalent of over 200 years of unused computing time to find new treatments for diseases, more efficient ways to generate energy and more nutritious grains.

With advanced mapping of the human genome, complete genetic testing will expand quickly, adding highly targeted data to people’s medical records. New technologies and scientific discoveries are making tests more affordable, and electronic records will make genetic information more accessible. While this development could improve medical care, it could also leave sensitive data within reach of employers, insurers or other firms who could use it to deny, limit or cancel health insurance, or discriminate in the workplace. As a result, maintaining genetic information privacy is becoming increasingly important.

Gaining a better understanding of global climate issues will help identify ways to preserve human and natural systems. IBM and the University of Cape Town have a virtual supercomputer grid where unused computing time is applied to model the effects of climate change in Africa. Climate change is of grave concern in all areas, but in developing regions such as Africa, the impact can be more acute because of the lack of access to healthcare and other social services. Advances in climate modeling can give regions around the world the ability to prepare for and potentially prevent threats, such as the spread of disease, food shortages and environmental damage.

There are growing concerns over potential outbreaks of new strains of infectious disease and their ability to spread more easily because of modern transportation. This makes it essential to develop advanced analytical and computer technology that helps prepare for and respond to outbreaks around the world. The IBM Global Pandemic Initiative partners IBM scientists with worldwide health organizations and universities to guide efforts to address this issue.

Technology has radically changed the way information flows around the world. Just consider the global nature of online commerce and the ability of a single data center to support the operations of an international business. Fortunately, it is still possible to maintain the privacy and security of data, regardless of where it’s processed. Nations currently have varying standards for data privacy in international information processing, and there is an opportunity to set uniform expectations (even in locations that lack domestic regulation). IBM is participating in a privacy rules project, sponsored by Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), that aims to streamline organizational compliance while protecting consumers.

Governments have a dual role to play in setting sustainability goals and improving how progress is tracked and reported. They can take a leadership position in developing socially and environmentally responsible goals for their own operations. Additionally, they can use public and private partnerships, standards and incentives to drive results for their cities, regions and nations. Having clear standards and methodologies for developing sustainability goals and for tracking and disclosing progress toward them helps governments set clear expectations and gain trust and support among constituents.

As part of an overall sustainability strategy, many governments are leading by example and specifying sustainability standards for suppliers that wish to do business with them. Governments can usually adapt existing guidelines that have already been developed by not-for-profit groups and other governments in order to develop standards that are appropriate for their specific needs. Once the standards are established, governments can take advantage of best practices in teaching, managing, monitoring and enforcing the requirements to foster sustainability across all their suppliers.

As citizen concerns about the impact of greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, many local and national governments are taking steps to support reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Through public and private partnerships, energy programs and transportation initiatives, governments can develop long-term climate change strategies that help address emissions from government and private sources.

New technologies make it possible to “instrument” water systems with sensors that measure and transmit data about conditions in real time. By applying advanced analytical capabilities and massive computing power, complex water systems can be modeled and used to study and better understand the dynamics of changing environmental conditions and the impact of human activity. The insights gained can be applied to inform programs that address both water quality and water conservation.

Public fleet managers face pressure to achieve greater efficiency while complying with social and environmental policies. Governments have a diverse range of vehicle-related responsibilities, such as the safe transport of people (from students to detainees) and the secure delivery of currency and hazardous materials. Additionally, they must reconcile aging fleets with new environmental policies. Fleet optimization can help governments continually monitor vehicle location and status in order to streamline transport operations, mitigate potential risks and demonstrate public accountability.

The deployment of resources and relief efforts during a natural disaster requires complex planning, tracking and modeling capabilities to help adapt to constantly changing scenarios. By using software tools to integrate and automate relief processes, and by applying advanced analytical capabilities to model and optimize deployment based on changing weather conditions, resource availability and staff location, governments can significantly improve disaster relief efforts.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the way companies manage their businesses to produce an overall positive impact on society through economic, environmental and social actions. Proactively addressing CSR issues can also help organizations to manage risk, differentiate from competitors and stimulate growth. An IBM global CSR survey of over 250 C-suite executives showed that 68 percent are focusing on CSR activities to create new revenue streams and 54 percent believe that CSR gives them a competitive advantage. Additionally, of the 1,100 CEOs surveyed in IBM’s biennial global study, over half plan to increase their investments in CSR by 25 percent over the next three years.

As part of an overall corporate social responsibility strategy, many organizations are specifying sustainability standards for suppliers that wish to do business with them. When creating these standards, organizations should consider existing guidelines that have already been developed by industry associations, not-for-profit groups and governments. Organizations can then adapt the general guidelines to meet the specific needs of their businesses. They can also take advantage of best practices in teaching, managing, monitoring and enforcing the requirements to foster sustainability across the supply chain.

Customers, investors, employees and governments are increasingly expecting organizations to lower their carbon emissions. Organizations that are proactive in adopting carbon management programs will not only lessen their environmental impact and help meet the requirements of important stakeholders; they will also be better prepared to meet carbon reduction standards that are expected to be implemented in the future.

Organizations should be open about how they manage sustainability programs and perform on their goals. Disclosing information about sustainability policies and periodically reporting on progress can help organizations pinpoint risk, gain stakeholder trust, generate new opportunities for innovation and build brand equity. For example, due to comprehensive reporting practices and a longstanding commitment to sustainability, IBM was recently named the top company for climate change strategy and practices by the Ceres investor coalition.

In order to achieve sustainability objectives, an organization needs the commitment and support of its employees. The first step in gaining support is to broadly communicate the organization’s goals and articulate how employees can play a part. Engaging employees around sustainability also requires harnessing their passions by empowering them to be better volunteers in their communities and by investing in their ideas. IBM, for example, initiated a global InnovationJam in 2006 with employees, clients and business partners. Ten big ideas from the session were funded by a US$100 million investment over the following two years. Whether by encouraging participation in internal CSR initiatives, or promoting external citizenship efforts, organizations can enable employees to make a difference both in their communities and in the world.

Water and waste management are critical components of the environmental strategy of any organization. Whether acting to comply with existing government regulation or working to meet the organization’s own, more aggressive sustainability objectives, organizations can use audits, key performance indicators and ongoing monitoring systems to assess and improve water and waste management practices in operations and minimize their overall environmental impact.

With a wide array of media channels available for public commentary, organizations can benefit from a proactive approach to protecting their reputations. Software is now available to help track public perceptions across electronic bulletin boards, forums, blogs and other digital communications channels. Automated monitoring of various topics, customized alerts, and analysis of historical trends and patterns helps organizations to manage reputational risk and to gain a competitive advantage by better understanding the sustainable practices customers seek.

Whether it’s closets filled with old IT equipment or an impending IT infrastructure upgrade, dealing with e-waste can be a headache for IT managers not familiar with environmental regulations. An asset disposal strategy, supported by the purchase of refurbished equipment can help organizations save money while achieving their environmental goals.

A steady number of food and product safety scares in the past several years has forced consumers to rethink everyday purchases. Skeptical consumers demand even more information about the source, the production methods and the contents of products they buy. Preference goes to the brands that have invested in product transparency and traceability measures.

Whether it’s volunteering locally, or applying professional skills to global sustainability efforts, individuals have found new ways to influence and contribute to environmental and social causes that matter to them. A growing number of organizations have also adopted programs to help employees pursue sustainability-related opportunities in their communities and industries.

Environmental education is pushing into new territory with programs for all ages. For example, PowerUp, a 3D online multi-player game, teaches children and teens about clean energy. In higher education, curricula have been revamped to serve students who want jobs in the area of environmental sustainability. Many institutions are adopting green bachelors, MBA and PhD programs. At every level, educational institutions are preparing students to live greener and work in a growing number of sustainable fields.

Nearly all online activities – from filing taxes, to banking, shopping, gaming or using a company intranet – require identity information to be shared. Today, most users must establish their identity each time they use a new application, usually by filling out an online form and providing sensitive personal information. In the future, individuals will not have to re-enter personal data each time they pursue a new activity. Instead, by using an identity service, they will have control over who has their personal data and how it is used – minimizing the risk of identity theft and fraud.

The Eco-Patent Commons is an initiative to create a collection of patents that can be used by anyone to protect and preserve the environment. Companies and intellectual property rights holders open access to patents in areas such as energy conservation, pollution prevention, environmentally friendly materials and recycling, to make them available free of charge. Sharing these innovations and solutions can help foster new relationships and lead to further global, cross-industry advancements in sustainable development.

Every city is a combination of interdependent systems. Smarter integration of these systems can help cities create value in unexpected ways. Using solar power plants to desalinate water, recycling water for use in farming, and incinerating biological waste to generate power are just a few opportunities for cities to drive progress. Smart cities invest in productive relationships among people, resources and systems to maximize efficiencies, decrease environmental impact, improve quality of life and create business opportunity.

“Spintronics” is a developing area in physics and electronics that operates at the nanoscale level and uses the “spin” of electrons to record and process information. Today, information stored in electronic memory is usually stored using integrated circuits or magnetic flux to record the ones and zeros that are used to represent information in computing. But when these ones and zeros are stored in individual electrons, it becomes possible to store more information in a much smaller area. IBM predicts that, one day, these technologies may lead to memory that could hold 100 times more data than flash memory does today and with far lower cost and power consumption. The promise of new memory storage devices – for example, the ability to carry massive amounts of information in your pocket – could unleash creativity and lead to new uses that nobody has imagined yet.

With 416,000 members in 218 countries supporting 10 research projects, World Community Grid is the largest public humanitarian user of excess computing power. Aggregating individual processing power contributions has helped scientists reach important discoveries across the globe in a fraction of the usual time. For example, this grid technology has enabled cancer researchers to analyze in one day the number of specimens that would take approximately 130 years to analyze using a traditional computer.

Advances in three-dimensional (3-D) imaging, modeling and simulation are helping scientists gain a better understanding of interactions at the molecular level. For example, IBM scientists have developed a new technique that can enable researchers to capture 3-D images of viruses at a resolution about 100 million times better than traditional M.R.I. technologies. At the University of Washington, researchers are running a 3-D modeling program to study rice proteins in order to develop more nutritious and disease-resistant strains of rice. These 3-D modeling innovations, underpinned by massive computing power, are making possible significant advances in research to help cure disease and improve nutrition.

Intelligent transportation adds advanced technologies to infrastructure and vehicles to manage traffic systems more effectively. For example, Stockholm’s investment in a new smart toll system has resulted in 25% less traffic, a 15% drop in emissions and a reported 40,000 additional daily users of the public transport system. Smart transportation infrastructure development and upgrades can create green jobs and improve quality of life in urban areas.

Intelligent Utility Networks use digital technologies to produce and distribute energy with less loss and enhanced reliability. “Smart grids” enable more diverse, decentralized power generation that facilitates the production of renewable energy. This production can also be optimized with advanced analytics tools that incorporate real-time environmental data. Developing new methods to generate and distribute renewable energy creates new jobs and stimulates economies.

Cities and regions can undertake sustainability initiatives that help attract new residents and employers, and thus increase economic activity. New developments can include more sustainable buildings and infrastructure systems from inception, while more established areas can upgrade existing buildings and infrastructure to improve quality of life for prospective residents. Governments can work with academic institutions and other stakeholders to sponsor research and develop skills for sustainability-related jobs. Having a good labor pool with sustainability skills can also attract business and investment, spurring economic growth.

Deutsche Bank research indicates that investments in smart energy create almost four times as many jobs as similar investments in traditional energy. Typically, when governments invest in research projects, other investors soon line up to participate – thus unlocking private sector funding and partnerships. Along with sponsoring sustainability research, governments can train a pool of qualified people to develop “green-collar” jobs, introduce new channels of economic activity and contribute directly to preserving or enhancing environmental quality.

Consumers, investors, business partners, employees and other stakeholders are increasingly looking to do business with companies that proactively address corporate social responsibility (CSR). Successful companies have already proven that they can differentiate their products and services through CSR. For example, IBM is helping restaurant company 4Food link CSR to its business strategy to attract and retain customers. 4Food’s CSR approach spans its entire operations, including environmental practices in restaurants, supplier and labor policies, involvement with local communities and the nutrition of the food it serves.

Today, stakeholders are better informed and more concerned about sustainability. Many investors look for organizations that meet corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals and standards. Governments look for “good corporate citizens.” Current and prospective employees want to work for organizations that act responsibly. Customers are more discerning, empowered and connected. They expect the organizations they do business with to provide more information about their social and environmental policies, practices and impact. Rather than viewing these expectations as a threat, many organizations see an opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitors and strengthen stakeholder loyalty.

Organizations can realize significant financial benefits from reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Entire markets are being developed around these sustainability goals. For example, Energy Efficiency Certificate trading markets enable organizations to sell the certificates they earn for reducing their energy use. Carbon “cap and trade” markets provide economic motivation for meeting or exceeding voluntary or regulatory emissions targets. By participating in energy and emissions trading markets such as these, organizations can not only help meet their sustainability goals, they can also generate new revenue streams.

By participating in partnerships or initiatives that promote sustainable practices, organizations can help achieve large-scale mutual goals. Organizations can also collaborate with groups in the public or private sector to take advantage of complementary capabilities in order to advance research efforts and address major societal challenges – thus making a far greater positive impact than they could have acting alone.

Anyone who has read closed captions on a television at a noisy airport or listened to an audio prompt at a self-checkout machine has benefited from technology originally designed to increase accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Bringing new products, services and capabilities to the estimated 750 million to one billion people who are physically challenged is a huge opportunity. However, the benefits of these technologies can be extended to help improve access to information and services for anyone, anywhere. For example, advances in text-to-speech conversion has the potential to help people with visual impairments as well as the quarter of the world’s population that cannot read.

In today’s global economy, people and institutions are more connected than ever before. This creates opportunities to harness diversity of thought and the power of collaboration to tackle some of this century’s most significant challenges. IBM’s Global Innovation Outlook (GIO) combines IBM’s technical and business forecasting processes with those of external thought leaders in a series of “deep dive” brainstorming sessions on a wide range of subjects. Previous topics, such as Security and Society, Water and the Oceans, Africa, and Energy and the Environment, represent trillions of dollars in economic activity and have far-reaching societal impact. Collectively, these sessions result in an explosion of ideas and diverse insights that spark new relationships, policy initiatives and market opportunities for all involved.

New energy-generation technologies and the burgeoning smart grid are combining to enable new revenue streams. In addition to saving money on utility bills by generating power at home, there is an opportunity to sell locally generated surplus energy back to the grid. A smarter grid can combine energy generated from thousands of decentralized sources to handle fluctuations of supply and demand. This can include sourcing power from rooftop solar panels and small-scale wind turbines across a city. Energy from new sources is also coming from new technologies such as vehicle-to-grid capabilities, which allows owners of hybrid cars to discharge and sell back to the grid power that was generated and stored when driving.

Everyone can take immediate action in helping to solve some of the world’s most critical humanitarian challenges. For example, through World Community Grid, individuals can collectively contribute their unused computing time to supply scientists with the power to break new ground in areas such as infectious disease, genomics, climate, the environment, natural disasters and global hunger. With the help of World Community Grid, researchers have examined more than 1 million compounds to identify the best candidates for new protease inhibitors to be tested as treatment for AIDS.

Individuals can develop new skills by getting involved in sustainability-related initiatives. Programs like IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC), a corporate version of the Peace Corps, provide a 21st century take on traditional approaches to leadership development. CSC offers short-term assignments with economic or sustainability-oriented organizations in developing countries. IBM’s On Demand Community supports employees and retirees in working with cause-related organizations of their choice. By offering access to resources and technology, the On Demand Community encourages IBMers to share valuable skills and learn new ones.

Mashups combine data from more than one Web source to show how the information interrelates. Because mashup technology is easy to use, it allows non-programmers to create innovative Web tools that integrate information in unexpected and revealing ways. The winner of IBM’s Mashup Center’s “Best Personal Productivity Mashup” created an environmental mashup that combines data, public news and mapping services to track a certain fish species.