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In a new report, SMART 2020: enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, the two organisations argue that emissions from information and communication technologies (ICT) will almost double by 2020, but that the carbon benefts they bring will be

Despite major advances in the energy effciency of products, the report estimates that the ICT sector’s own footprint – currently 2% of global emissions – will grow at 6% per year (CAGR) and double by 2020, driven by increased technology uptake in India, China and the rest of the world. To help the fght against climate change, the report’s authors call on the ICT sector to manage its growing impact and continue to reduce emissions from data centres, telecommunications networks and the manufacture and use of its products. Trends like the virtualisation of data centres, long-life devices, smart chargers, Next Generation Networks and the growth of renewable energy consumption (e.g. solar powered base stations) could all help in this regard.

Global reductions

Even though the ICT industry’s own footprint will expand, its products and services have the potential to reduce global emissions by as much as 15% by 2020 – a volume of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) fve times greater than its own footprint in 2020 – delivering energy effciency savings of £400 billion worldwide (based on December 2007 prices).

The report estimates that today’s much-heralded ‘dematerialisation and substitution’ activities, which replace physical products and services with virtual equivalents e.g. teleworking, videoconferencing, e-paper and e-commerce, will account for just 6% of the estimated low carbon benefts delivered by the ICT sector. By far the greatest benefts will come from applying ICT’s ability to measure, optimise and manage energy consumption to global infrastructure and industry. Based on regional case studies, the report identifes four major opportunities for emissions reductions:

1) Smart industrial motor systems.

The report has calculated that, applied globally, smart industry motors and industrial automation have the potential to cut emissions by 0.97 billion tonnes of CO 2 e in 2020. A review of manufacturing in China shows that without technological improvements 10% of China’s emissions in 2020 (and 2% of global emissions) will come from China’s motor systems alone.

To improve China’s industrial effciency by even 10% would deliver up to 200 million tonnes of CO 2 e savings.

2) Smart logistics.

Global emissions savings from smart logistics e.g. the effcient planning of delivery routes could reach 1.52 billion tonnes of CO 2 e by 2020. The European logistics industry is set to grow by 23% between 2002 and 2020, but CO 2 e emissions in 2020 could be 225 million tonnes lower thanks to more effcient transport and storage.

3) Smart building design and use.

Buildings are the second highest consumer of power in the world behind industry. Globally, smart buildings technologies, e.g. lighting and ventilation systems that turn themselves off when a room is empty, could reduce emissions by 1.68 billion tonnes of CO 2 e. An analysis of buildings in North America indicates that 15% of building emissions could be avoided through better building design, management and automation.

4) Smart electricity grids.

Smart grid technologies to manage demand and reduce consumption present the largest opportunity for reductions, totalling 2.03 billion tonnes of CO 2 e. In India, over 30% of generated power is lost through aggregated technical and commercial losses (AT&C). Reducing these losses in India’s power sector by 30% is possible through better monitoring and management of electricity grids, frst with smart meters and then through integrating more advanced ICTs into the so-called ‘energy internet’. As a result of these fndings the report calls for the ICT sector, national governments and industry to implement a SMART framework, encompassing standardisation (S), monitoring (M) and accounting (A) of energy consumption; a rethink (R) of lifestyles to optimise energy effciency in a low carbon world; and the diffusion of business models that drive low carbon alternatives across all sectors of the economy to bring about a transformation (T).

The full ICT report can be

downloaded at: www.smart2020.org

0870 903 9500

Smart Thinking

Rising carbon emissions from the IT industry will be offset by smarter use of technology,

enabling a 15% reduction in CO 2 emissions by 2020.

The Climate Group and Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) are urging business to make smarter use of technology to reduce man-made CO 2 emissions by 15% by 2020 and in the process save £400 billion in annual energy costs.