1 futo intl. conference on renewable energy march 29 – april 2, 2009 use of ict to mitigate...
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1FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
Use of ICT to Mitigate Climate Change
Sahalu B. Junaidu
Computer Science Unit
Department Mathematics
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
2FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
Use of ICT to Mitigate Climate Change
The Problem
Policies for Mitigating Climate Change
Role of Renewable Energy
ICT and Climate Change
ICT Abatement Techniques
Efficiency Paradox
Zero Carbon ICT Innovations
Summary
Recommendations
3FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
The Problem
Global warming is one of the greatest challenges facing this planet
Caused, in part, due to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions
Must be tackled to make life worthwhile for future generations
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Policies for Mitigating Climate Change
Currently industry and policy makers have focused on three approaches o promote smaller carbon foot prints:
1. Carbon offsetting Companies and individuals undertake to reduce their carbon footprint Rewarded with money from heavy emitters or make direct donations of money to
compensate for their carbon emission Has become very controversial as there are no industry standards and it has
attracted some unsavory organizations and practices.
2. Cap and trade Tax receipts are only spent on carbon reduction or sequestration projects Has been very unpopular and is unlikely to gain much traction with the public in
the near future. Governments may treat as revenue source!
3. Carbon taxes Apply to heavy GHG emitters like power plants Record mixed success and are largely dependent on the arbitrary trading line as
established by governments between those can sell credits and those who need to purchase them.
5FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
Role of Renewable Energy
What is renewable energy? Energy generated from natural resources – sunlight, wind, rain, tides
and geothermal heat – which are renewable (naturally replenished)
Offers our planet a chance to reduce carbon emissions, clean the air, and put our civilization on a more sustainable footing
Also offers countries around the world the chance to improve their energy security and spur economic development.
More than 65 countries now have goals for their own renewable energy futures, and are enacting a far-reaching array of policies to meet those goals
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… Role Renewable Energy
And many renewables technologies and industries have been growing at rates of 20 to 60 percent, year after year, capturing the interest of the largest global companies
In 2007, more than $100 billion was invested in renewable energy production assets, manufacturing, research, and development a true global milestone
In 2004, 3,000 delegates from 150 countries came together to share ideas and make commitments at the “Renewables 2004” conference in Bonn, Germany
Renewable energy has reached the top of the agendas of international policy processes under the United Nations, the G8, and other multilateral fora
7FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
… Role Renewable Energy $43 Billion Stimulus for Energy Technology
Obama’s administration
$30 billion for smart power grid, advanced battery technology and energy efficiency initiatives.
$20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next decade.
$400 million to fund establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy
$580 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology for technology innovation and manufacturing standards programs.
This energy funding is estimated to create nearly 500,000 jobs
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ICT and Climate Change
It is estimated that ICT industry consumes anywhere from 6-10% of the world's energy and is responsible for 2-3% of the world's GHG emissions
About 40% of these emissions are from personal computers and cell phone
About 60% of the output comes from businesses, network operators, and application providers.
This emission is estimated to grow at 6% each year until 2020 Due to growth in demand for its products and services
9FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Emissions: PCs and Peripherals
PCs are expected to be ubiquitous in developing countries, too, as the proliferation of Internet cafes indicates The number of PCs globally is expected to increase from 592 million
in 2002 to more than four billion in 2020.
In 2002, the PC and monitors’ combined carbon footprint was 200 MtCO2e
This is expected to triple by 2020 to 600 MtCO2e A growth rate of 5% per annum!
10FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Emissions: Data Centers
Buildings that house a collection of servers, storage devices, network equipment, power supplies, fans and other cooling equipment
Data centers will grow faster than any other ICT technology Driven by the need for storage, computing and other information
technology (IT) services. Despite first-generation virtualization and other efficiency measures
In 2002, the global data centre footprint, including equipment use and embodied carbon, was 76 MtCO2e
This is expected to more than triple by 2020 to 259 MtCO2e A growth rate of 7% pa The fastest-growing contributor to the ICT sector’s carbon footprint,
11FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Emissions: Telecoms Infrastructure and Devices
Increased mobile phone and Internet use had led to increase in telecoms infrastructure
Telecoms emissions has grown from 150 MtCO2e in 2002 to 300 MtCO2e in 2007 and is expected to reach 350 MtCO2e in 2020
The majority of emissions from mobile devices come from standby mode, the power used by chargers that are plugged in but not in use.
Overall consumption of telecoms devices is set to decrease over the 2020 timeframe because “smart chargers” (those that turn off when a device is not connected)
Telecoms devices’ emissions can be reduced further using greener ICT technologies
12FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
Reducing ICT Sector’s Footprints
The direct carbon footprint of the ICT sector is dominated by electricity consumption
Mitigate by purchasing renewable electricity installing renewable generation on site, and making renewable electricity integral to ICT products
The ICT sector is uniquely placed to partner with power companies to optimize the existing electricity grid to allow more efficient power distribution and enable the use of more renewable or green power Smart grids
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Reducing ICT Sector’s Footprints: Barriers
Lack of information about the emissions impacts of products and services, especially in the context of complex configurations and integration. Telecoms providers often don’t know the energy consumption of
specific services
There are agency issues to overcome person buying the company’s servers may not be responsible for their
operating costs may not include maximum efficiency as part of their buying
specification.
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… Reducing ICT Sector’s Footprints: Barriers
Technological or market concerns E.g., constant radical innovation is required to keep making
processors more efficient May hinder improvement of exiting processors
Inaccessibility of efficiency information of devices to consumers Ongoing work: PC labeling schemes as Energy Star, etc
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ICT Abatement Techniques
The ICT sector can enable emission reductions in a number of ways: Standardize:
ICT can provide information in standard forms on energy consumption and emissions, across sectors
Monitor:
ICT can incorporate monitoring information into the design and control for energy use
ICT can make energy consumption and GHG emissions visible through its products and services
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… ICT Abatement Techniques Account:
ICT can provide the capabilities and platforms to improve accountability of energy and carbon
Rethink:
ICT can provide the data, which can be used to change behaviors, processes, capabilities and systems
Provide alternatives to current ways of operating, learning, living, working and travelling
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… ICT Abatement Techniques
Transform:
ICT can apply smart and integrated approaches to energy management of systems and processes
Transformation to low carbon, energy-efficiency solutions across all sectors of the economy.
Radical transformation of infrastructure possible if bottleneck areas are known
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ICT Enabling Effect
ICT can also enable other sectors mitigate climate change: Transport – smart logistics Building – smart buildings Power – smart grids Industry - smart motor systems Dematerialization – in all the above
This opportunity estimated to be 5 times larger than ICT sector’s own carbon footprints Translates into approx. $946.5 billion of cost savings Assumption: cost of carbon is about $32 per ton
Realization requires a radical transformation of current infrastructure
19FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Enabling Effect: Dematerialization Replacing high carbon physical products and activities with virtual low
carbon equivalents
ICT opportunities E-commerce Teleworking Teleconferencing/videoconferencing
A study indicates using technology to dematerialize could deliver reduction equivalent to the total ICT footprint in 2002
20FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Enabling Effect: Industry Industrial activity is one of the largest contributors to global emissions
Can be reduced with optimized motors and industrial automation
Smart motor systems Devices that can be controlled to adjust power usage to a required
output
ICT opportunities Monitor energy use and provide data to businesses so they can make
energy and cost savings by changing manufacturing systems Provide simulation software to help improve plant and
manufacturing process design
21FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Enabling Effect: Transport Global goods transport is growing rapidly, as a result of globalization
ICT can assist with efficient packaging, transport, storage, consumer purchasing and waste
Smart logistics A range of software and hardware tools that monitor, optimize and manage
operations
ICT opportunities Provision of software to improve the design of transport networks, allow
the running of centralized distribution networks and run management systems that can facilitate flexible home delivery services
Optimizing logistics using ICT could result in a 16% reduction in transport emissions and a 27% reduction in storage emissions globally.
22FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Enabling Effect: Buildings Energy consumption in buildings is driven by two factors – energy intensity and
surface area
ICT-based monitoring, feedback and optimization tools can be used to reduce both at every stage of a building’s life cycle, from design and construction to use and demolition.
Smart buildings A suite of technologies used to make the design, construction and operation of
buildings more efficient
ICT opportunities Building management systems (BMS) that run heating and cooling systems
according to occupants’ needs Software that switches off all PCs and monitors after everyone has gone home
ICT offers a major opportunity to reduce emissions from buildings by 15% in 2020
23FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Enabling Effect: Buildings Energy consumption in buildings is driven by two factors – energy intensity and
surface area.
ICT-based monitoring, feedback and optimization tools can be used to reduce both at every stage of a building’s life cycle, from design and construction to use and demolition.
Smart buildings A suite of technologies used to make the design, construction and operation of
buildings more efficient
ICT opportunities Building management systems (BMS) that run heating and cooling systems
according to occupants’ needs Software that switches off all PCs and monitors after everyone has gone home
ICT offers a major opportunity to reduce emissions from buildings by 15% in 2020
24FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Enabling Effect: Power Current centralized 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
Smart grids A set of software and hardware tools that enable generators to route power more
efficiently, reducing the need for excess capacity Improve efficiency, energy monitoring and data capture across the power
generation and T&D network
ICT opportunities Smart meters Dynamic demand systems – allow appliances like refrigerators to dynamically
reduce their load at peak times
Electricity generation currently accounts for 57% of India’s total emissions Reduction by 30% is possible with smart grids
25FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
ICT Enabling Effect: Hurdles
The potential savings may not be easy to come by! Policy, market and behavioral hurdles must be overcome
Chinese factory managers find it difficult to stop producing long enough to implement more efficient industrial processes Risk revenue loss and competitiveness
Low adoption rates Only 1-2% of US workforce teleworked in 2005
Technological barriers Lack of capacity and skills to operate advanced automation technologies
Infrastructure Lack of high quality, affordable Internet access services to all consumers and businesses
26FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
Energy Efficiency Paradox Technology improvements allow for better energy efficiency, but those
savings can be lost to greater consumption:
Smart meters in our homes may reduce energy costs, and allow us to afford larger homes which consume more energy
Congestion control systems may reduce traffic congestion but thereby encourage automobile usage
The largest consumption of energy for personal computers is in their manufacture as opposed to their operation The manufacture of a typical desktop PC accounts for almost 80%
of the total energy used in a 3 year life-cycle
Anything less than a target of zero carbon emissions throughout the entire ICT system will be less effective
27FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
Zero Carbon ICT Innovations Zero-carbon strategies
Zero carbon inevitably means producing energy through renewable sources
Next generation networks (NGN) and Next generation Internet (NGI) Network technologies to deploy zero carbon networks
wired and wireless networks, new router and optical architectures, and new distributed computing architectures
distributed grids and clouds using zero carbon data centers use of Web services and SOA with virtualization, consumer applications on zero carbon data networks
Incentives To consumers Companies
28FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
Summary
Global Warming is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the planet
ICT technologies are both a cause of global warming and also a major
part of the solution
ICT can empower other sectors in mitigating emissions
Realizing ICT’s potentials may be no easy win
Renewable energy sources provide the most promising alternative in the long run
29FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
Recommendations Do more to create a fiscal and regulatory environment that will encourage
faster and more widespread adoption of ICT
Provide incentives to businesses and consumers to adopt efficiency measures strengthening the business case for investing in efficiency technology
and training more people to implement and operate products of new technologies
Provide disincentives to vested interests who want to perpetuate the status quo
Investment into the development of ICT energy efficiency technologies R&D on NGN and NGI
30FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
The End
Thank You!
31FUTO Intl. Conference on Renewable Energy March 29 – April 2, 2009
References
The GeSI study – SMART 2020: enabling the low carbon economy in the information age – the world’s first comprehensive global study of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector’s growing significance for the world’s climate, issued the 20th of June 2008, by the Climate Group and the Global e‑Sustainability Initiative (GeSI). See the report at www.gesi.org
An Inefficient Truth: http://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/event_detail.aspx?eid=2696e0e0-28fe-4121-bd36-
3670c02eda49
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_neutral
http://www.thegreengrid.org/home