Peter Dinham
Monday, 07 December 2009 13:54
Science -
Energy
Page 1 of 2
Nearly six billion tonnes of CO2 emissions could be eliminated by 2020 through the focussed use of 17 core technologies in four of the world’s major economic sectors, according to a preview of a report released today just ahead of the United Nations’ COP15 climate change conference starting in Denmark this week.
In the report released by IDC, the research
company says it has quantified the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions that result from using key information and communication
technologies (ICT) to their full potential, and that the complete
results of its study, including an ICT Sustainability Index that ranks
the ability of the G20 nations to use ICT to reduce their CO2
emissions, will be released at the conference.
According to IDC's calculations, 5.8 billion tons (GT) of CO2 emissions
could be eliminated by 2020 through the focused use of seventeen core
technologies in the four major economic sectors of energy generation
& distribution, transport, buildings, and industry. IDC says that
the estimate represents the potential reduction in greenhouse gases for
just the G20 nations, and that further reductions in global CO2
emissions could be realised if more countries used ICT-based solutions
to their full potential.
IDC’s energy insights research director, Roberta Bigliani, said today
that ICT will be an important source of practical solutions for
reducing CO2 emissions in the G20 and many other countries and that
"any goals to reduce energy consumption, for example, will be
accelerated by using network-based solutions as a foundation.
“Similarly, ICT can enable more effective monitoring and management of
energy use in many key sectors of a nation's economy. Although ICT is
not a panacea, its full potential has not yet been put to use."
Endorsing Bigliani’s comments, Philip Carter, associate research
director for Green IT & Sustainability Research, said that in
developing the CO2 reduction model, IDC's criterion for selecting ICT
solutions were simple and clear.
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