The Digital Energy Solutions Campaign
It’s no secret that information and communications technology (ICT) is driving new efficiencies and cost savings for consumers, businesses and governments worldwide. However, despite efforts to help customers simplify and navigate green, the unfortunate level of eco-confusion has never been higher, especially among policymakers in the U.S. and abroad.
That’s why Dell is leading an industry-wide effort to help policymakers understand the environmental and economic benefits of ICT. Earlier this week, we joined Intel and other industry colleagues in launching the Digital Energy Solutions Campaign (DESC). DESC is a consortium of IT & telecom companies, trade associations and environmental NGOs who will be working alongside members of Congress, the incoming Obama Administration and others who help shape climate and energy policy in Washington and beyond.
We’ll cite concrete examples of ICT’s impressive impact to make the case. A recent study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found ICT is already providing the U.S. economy energy savings. According to the study, for every one kilowatt-hour of electricity used by ICT, ten kilowatt-hours of electricity are saved. This is not all that surprising when you consider how telecommuting, for example, has eliminated vast amounts of travel and the need to heat and cool additional office space. Or when you consider how music downloads are “dematerializing” the music industry. Even in the energy producing industry, the application of ICT has helped improve the efficiency of their operations.
While educating policymakers will be the primary focus of the campaign, DESC will also promote specific policies to drive new efficiencies and cost savings through the use of ICT. In addition to obvious goals like promoting further and more robust broadband deployment, we will pursue:
-Implementing utility decoupling so that a utility’s profit is no longer merely tied to the volume of sales but to how efficiently the utility delivers energy.
-Creating incentives for green tech infrastructure such as parking-garage facilities for plug-in hybrid cars. National programs are needed to ensure standards are set to accelerate the market.
-Implementing policies to promote smart buildings, including federal government model building codes for the construction of building that use less energy. The federal government can also lead by example with the construction of its own “smart buildings.”
-Creating incentives to encourage telecommuting such as allowing businesses to accelerate the depreciation on the home work equipment.
Let us know what you think. Our work is only getting started and we’d love to hear any thoughts or ideas for moving this agenda forward. You can post them here or at Direct2Dell. To learn more about DESC, visit behindthegreen.org.
Paul Brownell is Senior Manager of Government Affairs at Dell
[…] (ICT) can play an integral role in reducing emissions. To further that point, they started the Digital Energy Solutions campaign last year to promote public policies that employ ICT as a […]
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