This study aims to investigate the main areas of Green IT and to determine which areas of Green IT have been widely adopted and implemented in our case studies. The purpose of the proposed study is also to identify, describe and analyze underlying factors that are perceived to be important to the adoption and implementation of Green IT. Finally, this research attempts to examine which factors are more important in our two case studies, Västerås City Stad and Mälardalen University.

This research paper focuses on analog computers and creating a modular low-cost analog computer system in a single board computer form factor. The single-board analog computer will have the capacity to solve second-order differential equations. The capabilities and possibilities of the single board Analog computer will be explored as well as analog computing in general. The paper follows design science research methodology (DSRM) with the goal of creating and evaluating a working artifact. The artifacts' functionality is evaluated based on a demonstration of its ability to solve Mathieu’s differential equation as well as simulate a spring-mass dampening system. This paper proves that it is possible to create a low-cost analog computer in a modern form factor. The artifact is also placed in a larger contextual setting based on the empirical material provided where its value of it in a digital society is presented. For the world to continue its progression in computational power, but still, limit the already high energy usage, a drastic change is needed. This paper suggests adapting to analog/hybrid technology. To further the progression of analog/hybrid technology it must be made accessible to a wider group of people compared to today. The artifact in this paper offers a solution to this.

The theme of this thesis is one of the latest trends in IT -- Green IT. For companies implementation of green IT means not only acknowledging its responsibility towards society and environment, but also substantial financial benefits and improved public perception of their business. There are several motivations for companies to go green. Green IT initiatives are increasingly supported by the legislation and various standards. Different procedures and approaches to help companies in their transformation are developing as well. The objectives of this thesis include the identification of key players, the benefits and barriers to green IT, and new opportunities. The aim of this thesis is to bring a comprehensive view of the green IT trend and provide enough quality information to obtain an overall view of the green IT trend and a possible basis for deeper interest in the subject. Another objective is to analyze the frameworks used for the implementation of green IT initiatives in organizations. The achievement is approached through research and analysis, and information available in the literature, published reports and websites dealing with green IT were used. Thesis contribution lies particularly in analysis of green IT frameworks, within which there was evaluated their interests in terms of green IT waves, green IT objectives, their use in the process of implementation green IT solutions, their locus and other attributes.

The use of IT in companies is constantly expanding, and therefore, so is the energy consumption and carbon footprint from IT. If companies do not take steps towards more sustainable IT usage, the footprint will continue to expand, toxic metals will be used in hardware and the usage of world resources will not become more circular. Few studies are made regarding internal and external factors that affect the implementation of sustainable IT. Sustainability is seen as a “core IT objective” by 90% of European IT leaders. There is a knowledge gap concerning internal and external demands within sustainable IT, since no research studies have been found. The aim of this study is to understand what large companies in Sweden do to act more sustainably in their IT usage. What demands are put on suppliers to make more sustainable solutions and which demands are put on employees internally to make their IT usage more sustainable. The research question is: “What external sustainability demands do large companies put on their suppliers of IT systems and hardware, and what internal demands do the companies have on their own IT usage?”. This study will be carried out using survey as a research strategy. Data will be collected from semi-structured interviews with employees from nine different companies as well as the collection of internal documents and documents from the websites of the companies. The data analysis method used is thematic analysis. From the interviews with employees with high knowledge in the companies sustainable IT work, five themes with sixteen different demands were found. Five of the demands were identified as new that previous research has not addressed while the remaining eleven demands can be found in previous research. Some of the demands were repeated no matter how long the company have worked with sustainable IT, such as Recycling hardware, Increasing the life cycle, Involve employees in sustainable IT, Server location and Move to cloud computing. While other demands like System boundaries, Sustainable software development, and Sustainably developed software were more common among more mature companies within sustainable IT. This study found that the two most considerable demands are the external demand Hardware can be recycled and the internal demand Recycling hardware, which implies that circularity has become a more critical topic.

As there are more than 1.4 billion smartphones sold every year in the world and around four million smartphones in Sweden. In recent years there has been a growing concern to move from a linear economic system to a circular economic system. Smartphones and other electronic equipment stand for the largest growing waste streams in the European Union. The rising prices of raw materials used in smartphone manufacturing over the last decades, along with the fact that these minerals are being mined in conflict stricken areas and the growing environmental awareness among people makes the refurbished smartphone’s market very current. Thus, it is of great interest to investigate consumer behaviour linked to refurbished smartphones as it is still in its early stages. As such, many of the barriers identified in this thesis can be linked to the communication of refurbished smartphones. The purpose of this thesis is to get a deeper understanding of how companies can communicate to break the barriers that exists for the consumer acceptance of refurbished smartphones in the Swedish market. Earlier studies have also focused on refurbishment as a concept rather than the consumer’s responses towards it. The study will be conducted in Sweden which has not been done previously. Therefore, our study will contribute to a deeper understanding of the consumer behaviour in the refurbished smartphone market in Sweden and thus aid companies in their communication of refurbished smartphones. To fulfil the purpose, a qualitative study has been conducted through semi-structured interviews. The sample groups were environmental enthusiasts, technology experts, refurbished product buyers, second hand buyers and companies. From the interviews five themes were derived: initial response, benefits, risks, barriers and communication. The findings and conclusions of the thesis are derived from the themes and subthemes that were created. There are many barriers and risks that make people avoid purchasing refurbished smartphones. The findings suggest that the consumers’ initial response are generally very positive and many consumers would consider a refurbished smartphone as their next smartphone purchase. Another finding is that a lack of knowledge about refurbishment lead to doubts about refurbished smartphones. The barriers found were lack of awareness, lack of thrill of newness, naming of refurbished products and lack of knowledge. The largest barrier, was lack of awareness. A solution to resolve this barrier could be to communicate the refurbishment process. A major finding was that that the environmental aspects were a vital purchase criteria for the consumers, however, not the most vital aspect. Moreover, societal benefits were raised regarding refurbished products in terms of benefitting the entire society. The biggest risk detected in the study was the performance, risk as the consumer may believe that the smartphone will be in a poor condition even though it has been refurbished. A big risk was the financial risk in terms of the substantial price for a refurbished smartphone. To reduce this the companies could adapt to the market standard and sell their refurbished smartphones in package deals. Our findings suggest that price should be communicated in combination with warranty and also environmental aspects, however, the environmental aspect is often abstract. The companies should consider using branding more to communicate these messages. Word of mouth was seen to be important and companies should utilise customer reviews more. In terms of emotional and rational appeals both should be used, however, what appeal that the companies should focus on emphasise on is not obvious.

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