Forum'10 "Smart Energy Usage for a Sustainable Society"

Interactive Discussion 3: Addressing the challenge of Energy Efficiency through ICT

ICT is responsible for about 2% of the global CO2 emissions. Like all industries we are doing our best to minimise our carbon footprint; streamlining our own operations and developing more and more energy efficient products. Clearly, that is our responsibility. But if we are aiming towards a low carbon, or zero carbon society, an even bigger opportunity lies with the other 98%, the fact that we can help other sectors reduce their CO2 emissions (smart grids, smart cities, dematerialization etc.). There our absolute impact can be bigger than within our own sector.

In order to be succesful in both approaches we need to link digital technology more closely to EU climate and energy policy and economic development. We need to demonstrate the commitment and leadership of our sector to work in partnership with other sectors and to manage the energy efficiency of our own processes.

As always in the dawn of a new era, uncertainties abound. Therefore, it is important to continue the dialogue with all stakeholders and find answers to questions like:

• What are the fair and sensible baselines and targets for ICT energy consumption reductions?
• How and who should regulate smart grids and smart metering (environment, power, telecommunications, automation…)?
• How do detailed energy usage control and privacy fit together?