Tiers of technology for a green planet

As is so often the way with these things, two pieces of work that I’m looking at for two different sources collide on the same day. In the middle of writing up the technology section for the International Gas Union’s yearbook (like you do) I was flipping through an average inbox’s worth of press releases and see that the CBI Climate Change Task Force recognises that technology has a key part to play in tackling climate change. You’d be worried if they didn’t right?

According to the CBI, “Technology has a vital part to play in opening up sustainable solutions. The UK has a unique opportunity to prosper in key markets of the future by taking a lead in the development of low carbon technologies and services in power, buildings, transport and industry.”

According to task force member Sun Microsystems, “Climate change is both a threat and a real opportunity for organisations, no matter what their size, to contribute an active role in the environment and UK plc has a massive role to play in this change. UK businesses need to work together to factor energy consumption into every procurement decision, from a stationary order to a PC overhaul. The technology sector has a major role to play in sustainability. No matter what the solutions are to the issue of climate change, technology will be vital in their development and management. The environmental credentials of technology products are having a major impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions.”

According to Gartner, “IT accounts for two per cent of global carbon emissions and that does not even take into account the increasing cost of air conditioning as more powerful processors are squeezed into ever-smaller spaces. The technology sector has a commitment to the research and implementation of achievable and sustainable goals.”

According to me, having known very little about the energy sector until a couple of weeks ago, I’d like to draw up a three tier structure in terms of where I see technology in this industry.

We can draw a distinction between those implementations of IT in the energy industry that have improved business processes and could equally have been deployed in a non-energy sector environment – this is what we (for the sake of argument) will call a tier one development and it could manifest itself as something as fundamental as a business process management system.

Tier two would be more bespoke developments such as Computer Aided Design (CAD) mapping systems specifically developed to act as deployments within the gas industry.

Finally, tier three technology developments are those that come about as refinements in the physics or chemistry of how we handle gas, but that are driven by our increased prowess in research and development as a result of having more computing power to hand.

Which ever way you slice it then, we know that green tech is here to stay and will become more pervasive as the years go on.