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Like the aviation industry it accounts for 2% of man-made CO2 emissions, but its greenest leaders hope that the IT industry will fight, rather than just fuel, climate change. Yet in the world’s first comprehensive study into how IT can impact the world’s climate, the eco-friendly tech firms said energy efficiency won’t be enough. Even when all IT products use energy more sparingly, the industry’s global footprint will soon grow at around 6% a year, before doubling to 1.4bn tonnes a year by 2020. This emissions explosion is due to the forecast IT uptake in India and China, but it is not definite because the industry is yet to fully unleash its “enabling effect.” Contrary to popular belief, the industry’s biggest help won’t be from ‘dematerialisation or substitution’ – replacing physical products and services with virtual replacements. In fact, the likes of video-conferencing systems, e-paper and e-commerce are predicted to make up just 6% of the estimated low carbon benefits the IT industry can deliver. “Far greater opportunities for emissions savings exist in applying ICT to global infrastructure and industry,” the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) said in its report. “These exist globally within smart building design and use, smart logistics, smart electricity grids, and smart industrial motor systems.” In other words, IT’s biggest asset in reducing its carbon footprint, and the footprint of other industries, is its “unique” ability to measure, optimise and therefore manage energy use. In practice, this “enabling effect” would include ‘smart buildings’ turning off systems, lighting and ventilation when not in use, potentially saving 1.7bn tonnes a year, serving to lock in $340bn. IT-led logistics, such as making storage and transport more efficient, should save a further 1.5bn tonnes, and ‘smart electrical grids,’ which respond to energy use, could save 2bn tonnes. If businesses outside of the industry systematically used IT to realise all four of the solutions, their emissions could be cut by 2020 by 7.8billion tonnes; about five times IT’s current footprint. Besides the financial and environmental benefits to the IT industry, the GeSI said their estimate means that green IT could help non-technology firms make emission cuts greater than the current annual emissions of China or the US. If the cuts are achieved, man-made global emissions will have fallen by 15 per cent by the end of the next decade, to deliver energy efficiency savings to global businesses of about $800billion. Jun 24, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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