Enhancing Energy Efficiency of ICT

By Pernille Weiss

As we transition to the green economy, we notice that there is still much low-hanging fruit available to make use of. Currently, the European Union is debating a raft of measures to tackle climate change, including the revision of rules to increase energy efficiency.

These methods are the most cost-effective and generic tools we have for saving the climate. The energy we do not use is better than the energy we recycle. This is because the energy we don’t use doesn’t cost anything. It doesn’t damage the environment or the climate.

Until we have a true abundance of clean and green energy, we must save energy in all areas and aspects of life. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is responsible for up to ten per cent of the world’s total energy consumption and more than two per cent of total CO2 emissions.

This includes the domain of data centres, which are, by all accounts, voracious consumers of energy and therefore need to become greener. Data centres consume a great deal of energy, but they also emit a lot, and this energy must not be wasted.

In the EU, data centres accounted for 2.7 per cent of the total demand for electricity in 2018, and this number is expected to increase to approximately 3.2 per cent by 2030.

It is therefore important that we do not shy away from the ICT sector in general and data centres, in particular when we look at t energy consumption in the EU.

The solution is not to use the ICT sector less, but to use it more and to do so smartly. The digitisation of our society and innovation holds great promise when it comes to climate solutions.

The key is to digitise in energy-efficient ways and to be energy-efficient in digital ways. The green and digital transitions, together with data centres, will strengthen the EU’s competitiveness and economic resilience. This is of paramount importance because we will need to invest a lot of money in implementing the green and digital transitions in parallel.