Recording of the first panel debate
Recording of the second panel debate
Programme
Thursday, January 25
Open house from 12:00 - 16:00 with poster exhibition, taking laptops and mobile phones apart, materials library, and energy visualisation.
Friday, January 26
- 10:00 Coffee & tea with the opening at 10:15
- Panel 1, from 10:30-12: Repair of IT equipment at UiO, with:
- Gard Thomassen (leader for IT-department/UiO)
- Anders Wiland Skumsnes (Leder seksjon for innkjøp/UIO)
- Vebjørn Bakken (leader UiO:Energi og miljø/UiO),
- Kari-Anne Lyng (Regenerative Technologies/UiO og NORSUS),
- Jonas Fløde (Grønn liste/Studentparlamentet/UiO),
- Toril Finbråten (Grønn kontor/UiO).
- Moderator: Ellen-Marie Forsberg (leder NORSUS) (panel in Norwegian).
- Panel 2, from 13-14:30: Regulation of repair in Norway, Sweden, and the EU, with:
- Carl Dalhammer (Lund University)
- Sonja Leyvraz (European Environmental Bureau)
- Ulrikke Bryn Wethal (Centre for Development and Environment/UiO).
- Moderator: Eléonore Maitre-Ekern (Sustainability Law/UiO) (panel in English).
Background
What is the climate impact of the IT equipment used at UiO? Is it always better to repair than to recycle and buy new? How is repair of IT equipment regulated in Norway, Sweden, and the EU? How can we include the ecological footprint of IT equipment in our sustainability strategies?
These questions and more will be explored in different ways at the final seminar of the Circular Energy for a Sustainable Circular Economy (Circular Energy) thematic research group.
Circular Energy was funded by UiO Energy and Environment and consisted of the Sustainability Law research group at the Department of Private Law and the Regenerative Technologies research group at the Department of Informatics, both at the University of Oslo.
Research in Circular Energy has contributed to 5 master theses, a PhD thesis, and several academic articles.
We implemented a variety of activities, such as repair workshops (electronics, clothes, bicycles), a permanent exchange/reuse cupboard (byttebod) for used electronics, plastic recycling, and a small poster exhibition about repair.
We developed a new model for the lifecycle assessment (LCA) of the laptop (publication forthcoming); organised a two-day symposium on repair (Fixing for Future), with contributors from all over the Nordics; and supervised two student summer projects - one on independent repair in Oslo and one on the twin transition in Norway.
For this final seminar, we produced a brochure with data and environmental analysis of repair scenarios for the laptop and the mobile phone (download the brochure PDF).
As a follow-up on the project, we want to go deeper into the topic of sustainable digitalisation, by focusing on the (his)tories and life cycles of the main materials in digital technologies. We propose to do this through the design and development of a Materials Library for the Digital World.
We are actively seeking funding and partners for this project. You can also participate in the materials library workshop we are organising at the EASST/4S conference in Amsterdam. Contact Maja van der Velden for more information.
Hope to see you at the seminar,
Maja, Andrea, Tigist, Eléonore, Kari-Anne, and Ines