Schneider Electric releases digital economy and climate impact report

The report outlines the climate implications expected from the increase in IT-sector electricity demand, and came as Schneider Electric introduced new technologies to address efficiency needs.

June 18, 2021 Ryan Kennedy

Boston-based Schneider Electric released a report outlining its view of how digitized and smart applications will be powered in the coming years.

The Digital Economy and Climate Impact white paper examines the key risks associated with the rise of information technology (IT) in terms of electricity consumption.

The report predicted an IT-sector related electricity demand increase of nearly 50% by 2030. Despite this sharp increase, Schneider Electric said decarbonization efforts will limit emissions to an increase by 26% over the same period.

The rise in edge computing was under focus in this report, which explained that these systems are expected to have lower efficiency than hyperscale data centers.

The report echoed some of the problems proliferated by the high energy use of cryptocurrency mining, and the call for renewables to decarbonize the sector.

Schneider Electric recommended continued efforts in achieving efficiencies on both IT and energy sides, at both component and system levels.

Schneider Electric also introduced what it claimed to be one of the industry’s most compact 3 kW uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), dubbed the APC Smart-UPS Ultra. Schneider said the device increases power density by a factor of 2.4 times when compared to prevailing technology.

The lithium-ion-containing UPS frees up space for edge applications, and reduces time and operational expenditure on maintenance. The use of lithium-ion batteries represents an improvement to the typical lead-acid batteries, extending the life of the storage unit to 8-10 years.

The company said it has a flexible mounting system, allowing rack, tower, wall or ceiling positions, potentially freeing up space in IT applications. A proprietary cloud-based monitoring system, EcoStruxure, is intended to optimize performance and permits remote monitoring.

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