‘Ericsson’s solutions for energy, social challenges’

The latest annual Ericsson’s report on Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility has revealed that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has the potentials for solving the energy, environmental and social challenges of any society.

Omasan Ogisi, Media and Public Relations Manager, LM Ericsson Nigeria, said that the report showed that ICT as a catalyst for more sustainable development could be used to focus on delivering transformative solutions for the networked society

According to her, Ericsson believes that the transformational power of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) could spur socio-economic development and put end-users on the path of a low-carbon economy which has never been greater.

She quoted the Ericsson President and CEO, Mr. Hans Vestberg as noting that ICT is a catalyst for more sustainable development.

“We have only begun to tap the possibilities of the Networked Society,” he said, stressing that the annual Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility report titled “Technology for Good” released last weekend.

He highlighted that the company’s ongoing efforts to apply innovation to market based solutions that empower people and society as well as helping to create a more sustainable world.

Ericsson, Vestberg added, has continued to be a global advocate for the transformational power of ICT solutions to solve global energy, environmental and social challenges.

Equally speaking, the Vice President for Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Elaine Weidman-Grunewald, said that the Networked Society brings many opportunities and challenges.

“Wherever and however we work, we want to ensure that we are a force for good, and that our technology contributes to making the world a better place,” Elaine said.

Some of Ericsson’s focus areas and initiatives highlighted in the report comprised of Low-carbon economy in order to achieve a low-carbon economy.

Jang said that Ericsson’s aim is to continue delivering solutions that will result not in incremental but rather transformative change: where video conferencing substitutes business air travel, intelligent utility grids reinvent how we access and use energy, and cities are designed to be low-carbon.

He disclosed that the ambition of the Stockholm Royal Seaport project is to reach CO2 emissions per inhabitant of 1.5 tonnes per year by 2020, comparing that to current average emissions of 5.6 tonnes in Sweden and 19.7 tonnes in the United States.

“Broadband will be a key enabler to reaching this goal,” he declared.

As data traffic grows, he emphasised that the ICT industry needs to increase network energy efficiency to reduce its contribution to global CO2 emissions.

“Absolute energy consumption is expected to increase over the next ten years, primarily due to adding approximately three times the number of subscribers and about a thousand fold increases in data growth,” he said.

Emphasising, however, that Ericsson research indicated that network energy consumption is not on the same growth path as the increase in volume of traffic.

“Instead, there has been an impressive decrease of energy needed to produce the data traffic (kWh/GB), due to technology and product improvements, in combination with increasing data rates of 3G/WCDMA technologies,” he said.

Noting for instance, that in Sweden, Ericsson have seen a 90-fold decrease in energy consumption per amount of data (in kWh/GB) over just four years (2006-2010).

“Reducing our own environmental impact and that of our products is an important part of Ericsson’s sustainability focus. Ericsson is on track with the Group target to reduce its carbon footprint by 40 per cent over five years (2009-2013),” he submitted.

Remmy Nweke:
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D