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Leading associations in the field of information and communication
technologies (ICT) have teamed up to measure the sector's
energy consumption and coordinate action on deploying technologies
that contribute to the EU's climate and energy goals.
A new industry initiative, the ICT for Energy Efficiency
(ICT4EE)
Forum, was launched last month. The initiative is supported
by DigitalEurope, the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI),
TechAmerica Europe and the Japan Business Council in Europe.
It responded to the EU executive's recommendations in October
2009, which urged the sector to commit to ambitious targets
to bring its rising carbon emissions under control.
The companies said they would work over the next three years
to develop ways of measuring the energy consumption of ICT
processes and agree on a voluntary framework for reporting
on energy footprints. They will also identify targets to improve
the energy efficiency of their processes with a view to exceeding
the EU's 2020 climate targets by 2015.
The forum will also seek cross-sectoral cooperation with
the construction, transport and energy supply industries -
as well as consumers - to provide intelligent solutions to
saving energy.
"Smart implementation of ICTs will require industry and policy
support," said Luis Neves, chairman of GeSI. This would include
the implementation of standards, secure communication of information
and financing for research and pilot projects, he said.
The EU views information and communication technologies as
key enablers of greater energy efficiency in the future. This
is markedly the case in the energy supply system, where a
transformation away from centralised fossil fuel production
to renewable, small-scale generation will require smart grids
that are able to balance supply with demand.
Javier Villalba Sánchez, CEO of the Spanish energy company
Iberdrola's Networks Business, said that smart grid technology
is moving forward very quickly. "We are not starting from
scratch - we've been working on this for years," he said.
The network chief expects much investment to flow into smart
grids in the coming years, making the sector a lucrative business
for ICT companies. He estimated that such investment will
amount to around €100bn - 60% of which will be devoted to
ICT.
Spain has put promoting technological development on the
agenda of its six-month EU presidency, said Juan Tomás Hernani,
state secretary of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
He stressed that the EU would have to concentrate on greening
the economy, where it can create a stronghold.
The minister argued that the EU needs to realise the value
of linking the innovation and research efforts of separate
countries to find solutions to common challenges. He said
cooperation between national programmes could raise the share
of European-level investment in research and development from
the current 5% to 20%.
"We are proposing for 2020 another indicator to measure the
progress of Europeanisation of technology and research," he
said - explaining that this would measure how big a proportion
of investment activities are made at EU level rather than
in individual states.
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