Enabling technologies cv presentation

The Enabling Technologies for a Low Carbon Economy

Project Overview

Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK

Dr Peter Thomond Dr Ian Mackenzie Prof David Gann Alex Velkov

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Why do this project?Our project was born from three observations:

1.The products and services of the ICT industry are among the major enabling technologies for carbon abatement in most other industries.

2.Carbon abatement will be enabled by the successful invention, development and exploitation of products and services that can change the rules of our carbon based economy – there is a need for ‘disruptive’ and ‘breakthrough’ innovation. Yet, industry incumbents do not have a great track record doing things differently. They are specialists in improving what they currently do, not driving the adoption of ‘disruptive’ change.

3.The ICT industry feels that public policy – national and international - is not aligned with driving the adoption of ICT as an enabling technology of carbon abatement.

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Project Objectives

We’re exploring how technology can act as an enabler of a low carbon economy across Europe.

Our two-fold objective is to deliver:

1. A toolkit for businesses, policy-makers and academics. The toolkit will create a standardised way to explore:

(a) the potential impact of specific technologies and systems on the carbon emissions of specific European countries, and

(b) the barriers to achieving this impact and how these can be overcome by industry or by governments.

2. A collection of case studies.The case studies will demonstrate the application of the tool above with respect to specific products, services and infrastructures in specific countries. These can be used to support business cases, policy decisions and lobbying action.

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Project Objectives

Success cannot be achieved unless industry, policy makers and academia join us and our partners on our journey.

We must build a Low Carbon Coalition that will:

• consist of organisations that can the drive the development of a low carbon economy;

• help direct, scrutinise and enhance the research methods and outputs of our work;

• be a powerful reference group and source of influence and inspiration for policy makers and business across Europe;

• seek to use our independent analyses to guide changes to government policy and procurement choices and help establish new technology test beds.

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Our research agenda is made complex by the vast array of ICTs,

difficulties with measurement, data and regional differences:• There is a vast number of ICT enabled products and services with the potential to

offer carbon abatement (our initial research assessed over 250).

• Defining and measuring ‘carbon abatement potential’ is highly complex, with primary, secondary and rebound effects to consider.

• The potential impact of a given ICT enabled product or service - and its barriers to realisation – will differ from country to country.

• Data is often either deficient or unreliable when scrutinising claims made proponents of ICT enabled products or services or policy makers.

• There are 27 diverse member states within Europe, each with its unique contexts.

Enabling Effects of ICT: A Complex Landscape

There are 40+ sources of carbon emissions:

• These can be categorised into 9 ‘carbon arenas’ covering three core perspectives:


Perspective Carbon Arena

Energy Generation and Distribution The full generation and distribution cycle

Energy Consumption Industrial

Residential

Commercial

Transport

Non-Energy Emissions Direct industrial

Waste

Land use

Agriculture

Industrial

Transportation

Residential

Commercial

Industrial Processes

Power generation & distribution

Agriculture

Automated Control Systems

Carbon Calculator

Communication & Collaboration Tools

Continuous Monitoring and

Control Tools

Modelling and Simulation Tools

Smart Grid Infrastructure

Workflow and Planning Tools

Communication Protocols

Databases

Information aggregator(s)

Pervasive broadband

Software modules: optimisation for automated control or modelling

Software modules: data visualisation

Software modules: optimal route mapping

User interfaces: datamonitoring/analysis

Web applications

Wireless comm.s receiver(s) and transmitter(s)

For example:9x Emission Arenas 7+ types of ICT enabled product or service 10+ Key Enabling ICTs


There are many pathways from ICT to Carbon Reduction:

Large, complex deployments of ICT embedded within complex infrastructure.

Examples include • ‘Smart grid’ to facilitate the incorporation of small scale

renewable energy sources and to support products that optimise the use of energy in the home;

• cloud computing, to dematerialise the distribution and access to software and reduce the energy consumption of corporate servers.

Infrastructures

Volume of Implementations(i.e., units of implementations in a market)

Mag

nitu

de o

f Im

pact

(per

impl

emen

tatio

n)

low

high

high

Two fundamentally different categories of ICT require different

management action and different policy frameworks.


Products/services that can be used by businesses or consumers to impact a wide variety of carbon producing activities.

Examples include:• ‘Smart motors’ to decrease industrial energy

consumption and • Sophisticated home heating controls that

allow and encourage consumers to decrease domestic energy use.

‘Consumer’ Products/Services

• impact: is it upon single or multiple industry verticals? For example:

• is there a direct or indirect impact upon carbon emissions?

Multiple Industries

Industry Specific

Product / Service

focus

Infrastructure focus

Cloud Computing

Smart Grid

Smart Buildings

Management

Magnitude vs. volume

Number of industry verticals


Smart Items

ICT enabled products and services can be usefully and further

understood by the number of industry sectors they impact and if

this impact is direct.

• ICT enabled products and services can fail to deliver their potential because of:

• ‘supply-side’ uncertainties

– will enabling technologies be developed enough to provide required

performance?

• ‘demand-side’ uncertainties

– will the products/services/infrastructures be adopted widely enough to

deliver the expected impact?


Technology is not always the problem:

Towards a Standardised Toolkit

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We have developed a 5-step process to systematically analyse specific products, services or infrastructures applied in specific countries.

1. Define Scope 2. Scenario Analysis: “Best Case”

5. Recommend Actions

4. Scenario Analysis: “BaU”

3. Understand Barriers

Describe product, service or infrastructure

• State boundaries of product (performance/ function – what it does)

• State the applications of the product that are in scope

• State scope of the downstream impacts that will be delivered

Build and apply model to assess carbon abatement impact

• Assess potential impact assuming ‘full adoption’

Adapt the best case scenario to factor in barriers

• Technological gaps• Adoption issues

Assess feasibility of enabling technologies

• Gaps• Weaknesses

Assess barriers to market adoption

• Social• Economic, and• Political

Actions to overcome technological barriers

• Policy• Industry

Actions to overcome barriers to adoption

• Policy• Industry

Towards a Standardised Toolkit: 1. Define Scope

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Key questions:• What is the particular product, service or infrastructure

to be explored? • What underlying technologies are needed to enable

this to function? • What functionality do we assume these technologies

will provide? • What are the rough costs and benefits likely to be for

users? (Note that we include technologies which are expected to be realised at some point in the future).

Describe product, service or infrastructure

• State boundaries of product (performance/ function – what it does)

• State the applications of the product that are in scope

• State scope of the downstream impacts that will be delivered

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Key questions:• How is the product, service or infrastructure likely

to impact carbon emissions?• Assuming high market adoption and full technical

feasibility, what is the potential carbon abatement impact?

• How reliable are the assumptions and data upon which the estimates are based?(Note: All methods assumptions and data sources will be clearly shown, to allow rapid improvement of estimates as new data becomes available.)

Towards a Standardised Toolkit2. Scenario Analysis – “Best Case”

Build and apply model to assess carbon abatement impact• Assess potential impact

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Key questions:• What is likelihood that the product, service or

infrastructure will be technically realised in the given country?

• What are the current gaps and weaknesses in the underlying technology?

• What is the likelihood that high market adoption will be achieved?

• What are the key social, economic and political barriers to market adoption?

Towards a Standardised Toolkit3. Understand Barriers

Assess feasibility of enabling technologies• Gaps• Weaknesses

Assess barriers to market adoption• Social• Economic, and• Political

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Key questions:• Given the current technical gaps and market

barriers, what is the likely impact on carbon emissions that this product, service or infrastructure will have in the given country?

• How does this estimate differ from the best case scenario described above?

Towards a Standardised Toolkit4. Scenario Analyses – “Business as Usual”

Adapt the best case scenario to factor in barriers

• Technological gaps

• Adoption issues

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Key questions:• What actions can industry or government take to help

overcome the technological gaps identified above?• What actions can industry or government take to help

overcome the market adoption barriers identified above?

• Are industrial actions likely to be taken by individual firms or industry-wide consortia?

• Are government actions likely to be taken at a national or EU-wide level?

Towards a Standardised Toolkit5. Make Recommendations

Actions to overcome technological barriers• Policy• Industry

Actions to overcome barriers to adoption• Policy• Industry

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As we refine our 5-step process into a toolkit, by systematically analysing a number of specific products, services and infrastructures within selected European countries, we will develop and publish a series of independent case studies.

The toolkit will also be made available to members of the research coalition to help scrutinise and refine it.

For example, we have been commissioned build case studies on the carbon abatement potential of cloud computing within four countries and how can we overcome the barriers to its full adoption.

Developing Independent Case Studies

The five step process will be applied to any given product, service or infrastructure in an iterative feedback process with members of the project coalition.

• There are three coalition membership levels:• Bronze• Silver• Gold

Use finding to sharpen

strategy and shape policy

to enable carbon

abetment

Research 1 x technology in four EU countries

Present initial findings

(inc. gaps in data and

assumptions)

Assimilate feedback / conduct further

research

Refine & DisseminateEnact process

for further refinement

Research Process



to enable carbon

abetment




assumptions)


research



Feedback, support, critical analysis from Industry, NGOs,

and Academia

Industry / NGOs / Academia support

dissemination

As a Bronze Member of the coalition, you will benefit from:• Early access to our research, including a toolkit and case studies;• The opportunity to contribute to and influence a critical European project;• A formal affiliation with an increasingly powerful coalition in the European

Low Carbon sector.

Bronze members are asked for a small in kind commitment to offer feedback on our findings and support with their dissemination

The Coalition – Bronze Membership

In addition to Bronze benefits, Silver Membership will offer:• The ability to commission research into specific technologies in specific

contexts, relevant to you and your organisation:• For leaders of NPD/Innovation, this offers another approach to prioritising product, feature

and service development efforts to exploit specific opportunities presented by market and technology gaps;

• For CSR leaders, this offers ways to measure and demonstrate your own contribution to the development of a low-carbon economy in Europe;

• For Executives, this creates a language to engage with like-minded organisations from a variety of sectors, to create more market visibility for specific technologies with clearer recommendations when lobbying.

Silver members’ commissioning fees vary by the scope of the research tasks.



to enable carbon

abetment




assumptions)


research



Industry / NGOs

commission study of specific enabling

technologies


and Academia


dissemination

The Coalition – Silver Membership

Industry / NGOs / Academia / Policy Makers guide scope, provide direction and scrutinise the outcomes of study

Gold Membership offers all Silver and Bronze benefits, as well as:• A leadership role in the coalition, allowing you to help steer and influence the

overall direction of the entire project and its outcomes.• The opportunity to participate in the core group that presents findings and

recommendations to government and industry bodies.

Gold members commit additional in-kind support, on top of commissioning fees.

The Coalition – Gold Membership



to enable carbon

abetment




assumptions)


research



Industry / NGOs

commission study of specific enabling

technologies


and Academia


dissemination

For More Information

If you would like more information on the project and coalition membership, or if you want to get involved, please contact:

Dr Peter ThomondThe Think Play Do Group at Imperial College, London

[email protected]

+44 7747 394 671

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mailto:[email protected]

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