A study by Accenture and Vodafone built on the work of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) report Smart 2020, examining specific ways in which telecommunications and machine-to-machine services could contribute to lower carbon emissions.
The analysis covered 25 EU countries as well as Australia and India. It argued that a large share of the identified carbon savings could be enabled by machine-to-machine services, with particularly significant opportunities in energy generation, transmission and consumption.
The study estimated that machine-to-machine communications could remove around 113 million tonnes of CO2e and reduce energy spending by approximately €43 billion. Vodafone's interest in the area reflected the potential scale of connected services across mobile markets.
Key areas identified
The report focused on five principal categories:
- Smart logistics — improved fleet, vehicle and supply-chain management.
- Smart grids — better management of electricity generation and transmission, including local microgeneration and end-user response to changing load conditions.
- Smart manufacturing — real-time monitoring of high-value equipment and production processes.
- Smart cities — more efficient traffic management and connected urban infrastructure.
- Dematerialisation — remote working, video conferencing, e-commerce and other digital alternatives to resource-intensive activity.
Other possible applications
The study also considered a wider set of technologies and services, including:
- mobile media data management
- electronic invoicing
- RFID-enabled e-ticketing
- mobile power management
- centralised back-up servers
- mobile delivery notification for logistics and infrastructure
- globalised building management systems
- building monitoring systems
- water-supply micro monitoring
- smart metering for water consumption
- smart metering for customised energy sourcing
- onboard modal-switch terminals
- RFID-enabled goods-quality tracking
- RFID-enabled warehouse management
- on-demand manufacturing
- manufacturing synchronisation
From technology to practical carbon reduction
The strongest part of the report was not simply the list of technologies, but the emphasis on practical deployment. Connected systems only create environmental value when they change how fleets, factories, buildings, cities and supply chains are actually operated.
Reliable environmental and weather information can also strengthen these systems. Local weather conditions influence transport, agriculture, energy demand, infrastructure planning and many other activities where connected ICT services are used to improve efficiency and reduce waste.
The wider lesson is that Green IT should not be limited to reducing the electricity used by computers and networks. The larger opportunity lies in using ICT to improve decisions, reduce unnecessary activity and enable lower-carbon processes across the economy.