[As I have mentioned previously reducing CO2 emissions is a huge business opportunity for the IT sector. In the UK alone it is estimated that CO2 abatement will be over 900m Euro (over $1 Trillion US) !! Given the importance of IT in the US economy and globally, the economic opportunities are enormous. Thanks to Jerry Sheehan for this pointer—BSA]
Technology and Environmental Leaders Unite to Call for National Strategy on Economy, Energy and Environment
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Technology and environmental leaders today announced a new initiative to develop a national strategy for information and communications technologies (ICT) to improve the energy efficiency of the economy.
The Digital Energy Solutions Campaign is made up of leading technology companies and organizations as well as environmental and energy conservation groups working on energy efficiency initiatives. The Campaign will work with the incoming Obama Administration and Congressional leaders to educate and promote how ICT strategies can make our economy robust while at the same time becoming increasingly energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
³As Congress considers a new economic stimulus package, adopting policies that drive ICT implementation can not only provide a near-term boost to our economy but also help us achieve the long-term goal of making our economy more energy efficient,² said DESC Co-Chair Stephen Harper, Global Director of Environment and Energy Policy at Intel.
DESC members include the technology sector leaders Dell, EMC, HP, Intel, the Technology CEO Council, and Verizon. Non-governmental organization members include the Alliance to Save Energy, The Climate Group, and the World Wildlife Fund.
The fact that DESC was launched at the Smart2020 Conference reflects the group¹s goal of working with established and leading authorities such as The Climate Group and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) to drive the adoption of a national strategy to utilize information and communications technologies to boost energy efficiency.
The event is a product of the recent study of the same name by The Climate Group and GeSI, which found that ICT-enabled solutions could reduce global carbon emissions by 15 percent by 2020.
³There has never been a time in which the future of our economy, our energy needs and environment have been so inextricably linked,² said DESC Co-Chair Paul Brownell, Senior Manager, Federal Government Affairs at Dell. ³We must take an approach that leverages technology to make our economy more energy efficient and promotes new green industries that will spur a wave of growth and job creation.²
DESC outlined a policy framework to make private industries and government more energy efficient, create behavior changes to make us more energy efficient and reduce ICT¹s energy needs. Among its proposals, DESC calls on Congress and the new Obama Administration to establish a national strategy to build political support for, and prioritize the critical elements of, a program to promote the role of ICT in driving economic, energy and climate solutions. Such elements might include:
* Implementing utility decoupling so that a utility¹s profit is no longer merely tied to the volume of sales but to how efficiently the utility delivers energy.
* Creating incentives for green tech infrastructure such as parking-garage facilities for plug-in hybrid cars. National programs are needed to ensure standards are set to accelerate the market.
* Implementing policies to promote smart buildings, including federal government model building codes for the construction of building that use less energy. The federal government can also lead by example with the construction of its own ³smart buildings.²
* Creating incentives to encourage telecommuting such as allowing businesses to accelerate the depreciation on the home work equipment.
* Creating education and promotion programs for Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). HEMS can reduce energy consumption by 30 percent in homes are currently offered but because of the lack of incentives for utilities are not widely encouraged or adopted.
To learn more about DESC, go to behindthegreen.org.
Contacts
For DESC
Amber Allmans, 202-297-4407
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/topix/20081118005670/en
This blog is about using ICTs to develop climate change preparedness solutions built around Energy Internet and autonomous eVehicles
Energy Internet and eVehicles Overview
Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to prepare society for inevitable climate change. To date most people have been focused on how to reduce Green House Gas emissions, but now there is growing recognition that regardless of what we do to mitigate against climate change the planet is going to be significantly warmer in the coming years with all the attendant problems of more frequent droughts, flooding, sever storms, etc. As such we need to invest in solutions that provide a more robust and resilient infrastructure to withstand this environmental onslaught especially for our electrical and telecommunications systems and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint.
Using autonomous eVehicles for Renewable Energy Transportation and Distribution: http://goo.gl/bXO6x and http://goo.gl/UDz37
Free High Speed Internet to the Home or School Integrated with solar roof top: http://goo.gl/wGjVG
High level architecture of Internet Networks to survive Climate Change: https://goo.gl/24SiUP
Architecture and routing protocols for Energy Internet: http://goo.gl/niWy1g
How to use Green Bond Funds to underwrite costs of new network and energy infrastructure: https://goo.gl/74Bptd