Compiled by the Climate Group on behalf of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, the report demonstrates that the carbon footprint of the global ICT industry will nearly double by 2020, but still has the potential to help other market sectors reduce carbon emissions by five times that amount. This is an amount equal to 7.8 gigatons of CO2 – an amount equal to the total current output of China or the United States.
It is in the area of smart technology where the impact will be greatest; technologies such as smart meters and smart grids, smart construction techniques, smart cars, and smart logistics. These market sectors present the most potential for carbon savings through ICT.
Smart power grids use smart meters in conjunction with advanced metering technology (AMI) and smart meters to enable power to be routed more efficiently and allowing consumers to effectively manage and control energy consumption in their homes. The creation of a two-way communications network between customer and utility in actual time allows for management and control on the demand side also.
The smart power grid is essentially an intelligent electricity delivery system where power providers and consumers are all connected through an IP-based network. Smart meters are used to monitor energy usage for the consumer; the devices also serve as the data collection point for the utility. Power providers can even cycle down energy usage in a customer’s home if the need arises, and the customer has provided permission.
Customers who do provide permission – residential or even commercial customers – could agree to allow certain lights in the home or office to be automatically turned off or the thermostat cycled off and on during times of critically high demand on the power grid. Reducing the strain on the grid prevents a blackout from occurring and also lessens the level of demand and amount of CO2 produced from power plants.
India is a country that presents great impact potential. Through better monitoring and management of the electrical grid there, power transmission and distribution losses can be reduced by 30 percent first by implementing the use of smart meters and then integrating the more advanced concepts of the smart grid. Currently, India is lacking a nationally coordinated effort to implement a smart grid.
While India has huge potential for enhancing energy efficiency and reducing the carbon footprint of the country, it is not the only nation with an inefficient energy distribution system. As the report states: “Current centralised energy distribution networks are often huge, inefficient grids that lose power in transmission, require an overcapacity of generating capability to cope with unexpected surges in energy use and allow one-way communication only – from provider to customer.”
Europe has formed groups focused on developing smart grids across the continent. The European Technology Platform (ETP) SmartGrids was founded in 2005 to create an overall vision for Europe’s power networks in 2020 and beyond. Included within the collaboration effort are industry representatives, power grid operators, research firms, and regulatory bodies. The ultimate goal of ETP SmartGrids is to develop interactive power generation and distribution across Europe where large, centralized power production is replaced by distributed, renewable generation, demand-side management, demand response, and energy storage.
The so-called “energy Internet” has the greatest potential of any market sector in reducing global carbon emissions. The SMART 2020 report concluded that it could be reduced by 2.03 gigatons – an amount equal to saving $124.6 billion. The power sector is responsible for 24 percent of the global output of CO2, according to figures from 2002 detailed in the report.
Climate Group
The Tower Building, 3rd Floor
York Road
London SE1 7NX
United Kingdom
http://www.theclimategroup.org
Global e-Sustainability Initiative
GeSI Secretariat
c/o Scotland House
Rond Point Schuman 6
B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
http://www.gesi.org
European Technology Platform
http://cordis.europa.eu/technology-platforms/home_en.html
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