Data the 4th Utility – for Climate action
Okay so it’s back in the news again, carbon emissions and climate change. Here is our view concerning how data is becoming the fourth utility needed to support consumers to make smart low carbon choices.
I would talk about the urban ecosystem of tomorrow, but actually all of these technologies are available today. Let’s start with the house: our biggest energy consumption comes from heating and cooling our houses. Modern house design is able to significantly reduce household environmental management. Insulated Passive Houses, with triple glazed glass, uses the energy of the sun to heat. Airflow systems linked to roof mounted PV panels provide the additional energy needed and when coupled with low energy lighting and lower energy devices you have a house which can be totally carbon neutral.
The next big area requiring focus is transport. We need to move away from fossil fuels, towards zero carbon energy sources. This will require us to phase out our current vehicles and replace them with electric vehicles. Why EVs? Well currently we have a pathway to develop zero carbon electricity, a power network that delivers electricity to source and huge investment in the energy storage needed. Hydrogen cells and Synthetic fuels may provide more heavy-duty services (for example road haulage). We are unlikely to deliver the quantity required without using existing carbon sources and without generating CO2 emissions. It may be that we no longer require our own vehicle, as autonomous systems will allow us to share transport at a greatly reduced cost. Why are transport companies investing so heavily in driverless vehicles? Because they will provide an extremely cheap transport service? An autonomous vehicle does not need a driver, so there is no salary to pay and with fewer moving parts an EV cost less over its life than a conventional vehicle.
Finally, we consume energy within the supply chain. All of our goods and services are manufactured and delivered using energy. Every trip to the shop, the movement of goods, manufacturing, supply chain process all use energy.
So why is data so important? Well in order to minimise our energy consumption and transition to a zero-carbon world, we have to see all of these elements as a single interacting ecosystem. For the utilities to provide us with the energy we need they have to understand our energy consumption habits. What journeys do we make and what do we require. This will allow utilities to provide only enough energy to meet our needs and to avoid creating excess power. Similarly we need to understand when energy is readily available and when it is not. The utilities must provide our devices with smart data which allows them to consume only when resources are available. The best way to minimise household energy consumption, is to not turn anything on. Although this statement is playing devil’s advocate, we consume a large amount of energy unnecessarily and if data can help us make smart decisions then we as individuals can strive to reduce our overall energy consumption. Finally, by providing and sharing data we can reduce the energy bound on the goods and services we consume.
All of this requires the free-flow of data between ourselves and are interested parties. Simple in theory but in practice we have to acknowledge the importance of protecting our information. We have the right to our data and the right to control who else is able to view.
I hope this has created some interest, there is wealth of information relating to technology and climate change mitigation. The people at Global e-sustainability initiative (GeSi) have created their smarter2030 plan which explores the subject in more detail. http://smarter2030.gesi.org/
