ICT for energy efficiency - EU strategy and research support

Energy Security and Climate Change is becoming more and more prominent on political agendas worldwide and across all sectors of the economy, so that it ranks highest among the EU's priorities. There is also consensus on that reorienting research and technological innovation towards the challenges of energy-efficient and low-carbon growth will help Europe emerge from the economic crisis on a more sustainable footing.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have an important role to play in reducing the energy intensity and increasing the energy efficiency of the economy. The European Commission has acknowledged that ICT based innovations can provide one of the most cost-effective means to help Member States achieving the agreed energy targets for 2020. ICTs will also stimulate the development of a large leading-edge market for ICTenabled energy-services that will foster the competitiveness of European industry and create new business opportunities.

The use of ICT equipment in the delivery of services represents about 1.75% of carbon emissions in Europe; a further 0.25% of carbon emissions come from the production of ICT and consumer electronic equipment. As the range and penetration of ICTs increase, their overall energy use is growing. The other sectors of the economy and of society are responsible for the remaining 98% of carbon emissions. This is where the enabling capacity of ICTs is expected to make the greatest contribution to reducing emissions - up to 15% by 2020 according to some reports - as well as cost savings.

The European Commission is:

- Firstly, accompanying the ICT sector to reduce its carbon footprint. The ICT sector has created the ICT4EE Forum to set itself targets and reach a collective agreement on measurement methodologies that focus on accuracy, transparency and verifiability of the energy consumption and carbon emissions of its processes, at company and sector level;

- Secondly, encouraging the establishment of partnerships between the ICT sector and other major energy-using sectors (notably, building and construction, energy and transport and logistics) to identify where and how ICTs can play a role in improving efficiency and reducing emissions in these sectors and thus accelerate the delivery of tools to assess and to optimise energy performance on a comparable basis;

- Thirdly, calling Member States national and local authorities to enable the EU-wide roll-out of ICT tools likely to trigger a shift towards a low carbon economy. In particular, the European Commission is supporting the Green Digital Charter initiated by Manchester City Council and Eurocities and signed by more than 20 Mayors of major European cities.

In this context it has emerged that it is essential for governments to embed long term visionary measures in their short term responses to the economic crisis. This makes it necessary to invest in research and innovation into novel ICT-based solutions for energy intensive sectors. To reinforce this vision, the Commission is planning, in the two coming years, Calls for Proposals on the following topics:

- ICT for energy efficient buildings and spaces of public use.

The focus is on building energy management systems integrating diverse energy-efficient components and validating the resulting system in real user conditions to measure energy savings and recovery of investment. Examples of spaces of public use are sports centres, university campus and shopping malls. The expected funding is 20 M€ and the closing date is 2nd December 2010;

- ICT systems for energy efficiency.

The focus is on the research and development of energy efficient components and its incorporation into decision support and/or operational systems. Examples are simulation and design tools, decision support systems for urban planning or data centre management systems. The expected funding is 35 M€ and the closing date is January 2011;

- ICT for energy-positive neighbourhoods.

The focus is on both Management and Control and Decision Support systems addressing the dynamics of energy supply and demand in neighbourhoods and extended rural/urban areas. The expected funding is 30 M€ and the plan is to open the Call on July 2011 with a closing date on December 2011;

- Smart Energy Grids.

The focus is on ICT systems for the management of the electricity distribution networks covering: control systems, decision support tools, power electronics building blocs, and integration with home networks. The expected funding is 30M€ and the plan is to open the call on September 2011;

- ICT for water resources management control.

The focus is on Control and Decision Support systems for data management and real-time demand forecasting. The expected funding is 15M€ and the plan is to open the call on September 2011.

Optical fibre sensors are an essential component in the system we are planning to support. I invite the optical fibre sensors research community to address the challenge of energyefficiency, a promising and exciting application research domain.