Feature Reports
Summary Energy and Digital Technology
In all sectors of human activity, the volume of digital data is skyrocketing, creating big data, which has huge potential for analysis. The energy industry has a long history of working with digital technology, but the trend is gaining momentum.
In the energy industry, digital technologies have a dual impact: they penetrate all industrial processes and fundamentally change how we work, and they also shake up the relationship between suppliers and consumers – especially in electricityForm of energy resulting from the movement of charged particles (electrons) through a conductor... markets – through the use of powerful aggregation platforms.
The rapid development of renewable energies, particularly locally distributed photovoltaic solar energyEnergy produced by the photovoltaic effect. , and the introduction of competition in newly opened energy markets, have created a wide range of possibilities for the deployment of digital solutions. This has resulted in a shift – for the moment confined to industrialized markets – in the relationship between electricityForm of energy resulting from the movement of charged particles (electrons) through a conductor... producers and consumers.
Digital technologies have been used in oil and gas exploration and production, as well as in refining, for many years. The amount of data harvested is growing exponentially and is now fundamentally transforming industrial processes and the way we work.
Digital technologies have applications in many areas of city management including housing, transportation and urban governance. With 1.3 million residents – a number that is set to rise by 150,000 by 2030 – the greater Lyon conurbation in France is increasingly embracing innovation. This is best seen in a pilot district set up to test new ways of collecting and analyzing data to improve the quality of daily life.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) refer to all computer, audiovisual, Internet and telecommunications devices and applications that enable users to produce, manage and transmit information in all forms, whether as text, sounds or images. ICTs have revolutionized the economy and our everyday lives, and have also opened the door to energy savings across a range of sectors. Yet at the same time, they are increasingly electricityForm of energy resulting from the movement of charged particles (electrons) through a conductor... hungry. The question is whether the benefits will outweigh the disadvantages.
