ICT in general is both a heavy user of energy, and can be a tool to make more efficient use of energy possible. ICT and Energy in this respect are somewhat like symbiotic twins, both need the other to thrive, especially in a perspective of increased demand for energy, depletion of fossil fuel reserves and especially climate change.
In order to meet our goals of increasing the amount of sustainable energy and increasing energy efficiency, a transformation towards smart grids, including smart meters, is essential. It makes information on energy consumption available to the user in real time, which allows him to adapt his consumption patterns. Besides this, smart grids make large scale infusion of sustainable energy from various local renewable sources into the grids possible.
This transformation will necessitate smart investments in new technologies and changes in the value chain. Investments that will likely only render a sufficient return if they are monopolized and the costs for users are increased, or when there are sufficient possibilities of value added services. Value added services in particular could open up possibilities for new services and better deals for consumers and businesses. Consider for instance how domotica-services or the uptake of electric cars can be expanded in combination with smart metering systems.
In order for a broad array of services to be offered standardization is critical. It is up to the Energy and ICT industries to come up with these standards. And soon. In March of this year the European Commission mandated CEN/CENELEC and ETSI to come up with a standard for smart meters. It goes without saying that this standard should be open, needs to be as secure as possible, and sufficiently protect the privacy of consumers. We need to hurry because quite a large number of countries are already, or will soon be, investing in smart metering systems. Open standards for other parts of the smart grids infrastructure need to follow as soon as possible, but given the early stages of development, may need some more research.
Apart from the smart grids systems, it goes (almost) without saying that the ICT industry should lead by example and continue to develop ever more energy efficient applications, hardware and software. If needed regulation could help these developments along. Regulation in fact also needs open standards, although of a different kind. Standard methods for measuring and monitoring energy efficiency are needed in order to make claims of efficiency transparent.
