Unique role of telecoms to support all industries in efforts to be more energy efficient

Stephan Scholz from Nokia Siemens Networks joined the COP15 summit to emphasize the unique ability that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has to foster environmentally sustainable development.

“ICT is fundamental to measuring and directly improving energy efficiency across all industries, including its own, which makes it different from all the other industry sectors”, Scholz said during his presentation for the ‘iSeeT@theClimateChangeKiosk’ exhibition at the UN Climate Change Conference.

“The potential of ICT to have a positive impact on climate change has been recognized by many global studies, but this understanding has to be brought to the attention of governments for them to take this into consideration when defining environmental policies. In a favorable business environment, maximizing the positive impact of ICT supports environmentally sustainable development and makes other sectors more intelligent“, Scholz said.

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry is taking serious measures to improve its energy efficiency, but as the industry’s footprint creates only two percent of the global CO2 emissions, it is imperative that attention is also turned to the remaining 98 percent, and to the benefits ICT can bring to other business sectors.

In line with this thinking the company recently announced it is using its existing portfolio combined with new partnerships to address opportunities in the energy sector. The energy sector can benefit from the technologies and expertise gathered from the telecommunications sector and apply it to make power grids more intelligent and efficient, reducing the overall need for power.

Nokia Siemens Networks is collaborating with Irish software company ServusNet, to help wind farm operators optimize power generation and delivery. A ServusNet customer may have multiple wind farms distributed across Europe, with each farm made up of tens to hundreds of turbines.

Consumers' improved understanding and control over their use of electricity can make a difference. An encouraging example comes from a trial deployment in the US, where the introduction of smart electricity meters led to 20 percent reduction in peak power loads.

Bringing the intelligence of ICT networks into the energy sector can bring a number of benefits such as the management of energy consumption in real time, distributed generation using renewable energy sources, and optimization of generation versus use of energy. Fully realized, ICT can also help other sectors in meeting the 21st century environmental standards.

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