In the race for increased energy efficiency, businesses and governments across Europe are investing in strategies to meet the target of reducing EU energy consumption by 20% in 2020. But are they putting their money on the winning horse?
Recent debates about climate change tended to focus on energy-intensive industries and remedial action is of course urgent there. The ICT industry is no exception. A recent report by Gartner, a leading IT research company, estimated that the ICT sector was responsible for around 2% of global CO2 emissions, approximately the same as the airline industry.
Everything we produce has an energy impact: from software to networks, hardware and communications. The latest estimates indicate that by 2020, we will spend 45% of domestic energy on ICT and consumer electronics products. We are fully conscious that ICT is currently part of the problem, but we believe that our industry is also a substantial part of the solution.
A relatively new industry, the high-tech sector has developed at extraordinary speed over the last two decades, beating early predictions. In fact, during these past 20 years social, economic, environmental, and ethical concerns have played a significant role in our industry’s manufacturing and product innovation. Our recent report High Tech: Low Carbon was not commissioned because the boards of our companies suddenly went to see Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, but because sustainable development and environmental responsibility has long become an integral part of corporate strategy. In fact, our approach to energy efficiency and climate change is neither opportunistic nor altruistic: it is simply good business sense.
As Tony Blair said in his landmark speech on climate change as long ago as September 2004, “Just as science and technology has given us the evidence to measure the danger of climate change so it can help us find safety from it. The potential for innovation, for scientific discovery and here, of course for business investment and growth, is enormous. With the right framework for action, the very act of solving it can unleash a new and benign commercial force to take the actions forward, providing jobs, technology spin-offs and new business opportunities as well as protecting the world we live in.”
But the environmental footprint of digital technology is also driven by the choices we all make every day: whether we decide to leave our computers and office servers on day and night or mobile phone chargers constantly plugged in. Every single one of these actions has a considerable impact on energy consumption. And it is no secret that habits are hardest to break.
We need concerted action from governments, industry and consumers if we are to make meaningful progress towards a more energy efficient lifestyle. We need consistent policies and visible leadership from national governments. We also need to be telling people, in clear terms, what they can do to truly make a difference in lowering their energy use.
Industry has made dramatic improvements: our products, businesses and manufacturing processes have become more energy efficient. For example, printers now have the ability to print duplex, multiple pages per sheet and at different toner densities, all of which allow substantial energy savings. In addition, power management functions – i.e. “hibernation” –are now standard in PCs. Xerox has calculated that a single multifunctional printer, copier and fax replaces one copier, four smaller printers and a fax, reducing the annual energy requirement by half from 1400kWh to 700kWh. Mobile phones are now around 100 times more efficient than in 1990.
In recent years EICTA members have also made voluntary commitments to reduce energy consumption. For example, the ENERGY STAR programme sets minimum standards for energy efficiency and only those products which comply can display the certified label. Many believe that voluntary agreements drive positive change faster than legislation.
Can EU hear me? Getting the message across
So what does the digital technology industry have to offer to EU policy- and decision-makers? We as Europe’s technology innovators need to convey the message that our sector has huge potential to help meeting the energy efficiency challenge. Otherwise we risk that policy could focus solely on our industry’s direct climate change impact. This would not only reduce the broader positive impact of digital technology for other sectors, but also reduce the total ‘green’ market opportunities for our sector.
We do not believe that legislation or overbearing regulation will be necessary. Product design is already properly governed by various pieces of legislation, such as the EU Energy Use in Products Directive. Combined with multiple industry-wide voluntary commitments, it is proving effective in creating a supply of energy-efficient and environmentally sound ICT technologies for the home and the office.
We believe that Europe can meet, and even exceed, the EU’s 20:20:20 targets if digital technology is used to its full potential. Our employees, our colleagues, our investors, our customers all are starting to place a much higher value - as soon will capital markets - on an assessment of how much we are part of the solution in achieving the efficiency targets.
ICT has been the principal driver of the European economy for the past twenty years. Our industry has the unique and proven potential to enable real change, across all sectors of industry.
So our challenge is to prove that ICT is not a “runner-up in the race” to tackle climate change, but that we can be the “winning horse.” We will demonstrate that the equation “High Tech = Low Carbon” is a conceivable truth.
