An Assessment of Green ICT Implementation Benefits to Kenyan Organizations- a Possible Motivator for Adoption of Green ICT

Abstract

There has been an increase in the use of computers and computing devices in Kenya and generally in the world due to the reduced cost of ICT equipment and improved technological advancements. This increased use of ICT, despite bringing positive effect to an organization do also pose some environmental and monetary negative effects on an organization and the planet. Studies have shown that ICT contributes to 2% of the world's greenhouse gases and in addition ICT resources have increased the overall consumption of electricity within organizations. Most computer hardware also has components like mercury, cobalt, lead, etc that are considered hazardous to both environments, people, and animals. This study's objective was to establish if the expectation of green ICT benefits could be a motivator for adopting green ICT practices within and organization. The research also sought to establish some explicit benefits of green ICT enjoyed by organizations that practice green ICT within the study population. The methodology employed for this study was a purposive stratified research design. A study of organizations within the Nairobi metropolitan was conducted and results were analyzed from a population that constituted organizations from different sectors, mainly government, private, and not for profit organizations, with a majority of respondents being from the government. Due to challenges arising from the COVID 19 pandemic data collection was restricted to online questioners and secondary data from literature review. Study results pointed to the availability of possible benefits of practicing green ICT within organizations and at the same time also shed some light on factors that do not persuade organizations to practice green ICT. The overall study finding greatly highlighted a strong correlation between organizations practicing green ICT and anticipated monetary benefits that result from the practice. Most organizations do not have a green ICT policy and therefore the practice of green ICT is still not as pervasive as expected. Key Words: End of ICT use, Sustainable ICT, Energy efficient, environmentally friendly, ICT equipment lifecycle, ICT, WEEE, Disposal, ICT equipment end of life, ICT procurement, Kenya, University of Nairobi.