December 15, 2009
Green ICT equals to energy efficiency
There is a widely shared vision that ICT has a major role in mitigating climate change and related environmental challenges. Smart and energy efficient applications in transport, buildings and urban environments, energy generation, distribution and production are enabled by ICT. However, ICT itself consumes huge outputs of power globally. Solutions, products and services that improve energy efficiency and save energy provide huge potential for mitigating climate change.
“We can not find just one solution, but some are more competent than the others. According to IEA energy efficiency would make the largest dent in greenhouse gas emissions with a 57 percent reduction by 2030. In many cases energy efficiency is the most cost-effective approach to cut emissions. Many Finnish companies are at the leading edge of developing energy efficient products, solutions and services,” emphasized Minister of the Environment Paula Lehtomäki.
“It has been estimated that more intelligent use of ICT could help cut down the emissions from other sectors by as much as 15 percent. Therefore at Nokia we believe that mobile technology solutions and other ICT solutions can have a significant role in helping to meet the climate targets and there must not be any unnecessary barriers for developing cross-sectoral cooperation or other innovative solutions,” told Salla Ahonen, Senior Manager, Nokia.
Energy efficiency in many fronts
In Finland,Tekes being the main public funding organisation for R&D, is the most important facilitator of development and networking of the energy efficiency activities. The work is mainly carried out in the following programmes: BioRefine, Fuel Cells, Sustainable Community and Water.
“Efore´s intelligent power supply systems boost the energy efficiency of communications networks and data server centres. Using proprietary technology, we have raised the efficiency of power supply as high as 95 percent. This means less heat that is wasted in electronics sites. Moreover, our intelligent power supplies can optimize the ICT power consumption on network level,” explained Reijo Mäihäniemi, President and CEO of Efore Plc.
Another Finnish company with products and services with huge energy saving and
CO2 reduction potential is Vacon Group, a leading supplier of variable speed AC drives.
“According to international studies, with full utilization of energy efficient motors and AC drives 10 percent of global electricity could saved,” noted Sebastian Linko, Corporation Communications Director, Vacon.
Additional information
Tuomo Suortti, Technology Adviser, Tekes
Tel. 358 10 60 55 855; tuomo.suortti(at)tekes.fi; www.tekes.fi
