Environmental-oriented information systems design - the concept of life cycle impact modelling and its application to cloud computing

Abstract

Information technology is increasingly perceived not only as a driver of economic value creation, but also as a critical factor in the context of environmental sustainability. However, it is uncertain how the adoption of a new information technology within a specific organizational context can be evaluated from an environmental perspective. Consequently, there is a great need for methods relating the organizational use of IT with environmental assessments of different information system design alternatives. This work uses an outwardlooking, problem solving and interdisciplinary research approach to address this problem. It aims to evaluate the environmental impact associated with the use of information technology within an organizational context, proposing an approach to compare different design alternatives for the implementation of an information system. Thus, existing information modelling approaches are extended by (life cycle) impact modelling; a concept that is grounded in the widely considered Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The methodological foundation for this work is therefore constructivist and design science oriented.