Information and Communications Technology has the potential to reduce global carbon emissions by 20 per cent over the next decade, Huawei’s Director of the Board and President of the Institute of Strategic Research, William Xu, has stated.
Xu said, “Global energy consumption is growing at a yearly rate of 1.7 per cent. Currently, 85 per cent of energy comes from fossil fuels. Energy sustainability is a daunting challenge that faces all of us.
“By empowering a wide range of industries, ICT has the potential to reduce global carbon emissions by 20 per cent over the next decade.”
As many countries commit to carbon neutrality and lower emissions, the push for renewable energy has increased, Xu said, adding that this was where ICT added new opportunities in electricity generation, storage and consumption.
“For energy consumption, we must promote integrated smart energy to build energy management systems for households, buildings, and factories, and to create zero-carbon communities, campuses and cities,” said Xu.
The global tech company recently announced it would focus on technologies to help industries reduce their energy consumption for a low-carbon world.
In Africa too, many countries are increasingly embracing renewable energy to leapfrog to a sustainable energy future.
With its grid connectivity algorithm powered by Artificial Intelligence, Huawei has provided over 200 power grid models for more than 30 countries and regions.
This has helped power plants stably connect to grids in all scenarios and has gradually made PV a high quality, mainstream energy source.
In solar power alone, Africa has made great progress over the recent years, with more than 6,200 large scale, commercial, industrial and mini-grid projects identified across the continent.
In addition, nine more African nations, apart from South Africa and Egypt, are on their way to joining the ‘Gigawatt Club’, an unofficial tag for the group of countries with installed capacity to produce one GW of solar power.
On his part, the Director of Huawei Southern Africa Digital Power Business, Xu pointed out that nearly half the world’s population without access to electricity live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“So there is a strong and urgent need to accelerate the growth of renewable energy across the region to ensure sufficient, affordable, reliable energy for all Africans and for countries to reap the benefits of a green economy,” Xu said.
