Going digital and electric seen as solutions to climate change

Stephane Nuss, president for Thailand, Myanmar and Laos of digital automation and energy management firm Schneider Electric, was speaking at the summit being held at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (Bitec).

“Our aim in holding the innovation summit is to enable people to cooperate and overcome climate change,” he said, adding that digital technology is already playing an important role in everyone’s daily life through e-commerce, internet banking, global positioning system (GPS) and chatbots,

The world is shifting from fossil fuels to more environmentally generated electricity to be used in residences, buildings, hotels, factories, and transportation, he said, noting that the consumption of electricity has risen over the past 20 years, and will rise further.

"Combining digital big data and artificial intelligence (AI) with electricity will result in carbon extraction,” he said, even though electricity also emits carbon. “This is the best way to formulate sustainability,” he added.

Schneider Electric’s executive vice president of China and East Asia Operations, Zheng Yin, said electricity-related innovations could accelerate sustainable development and achieve net-zero carbon emissions, and urged all parties to accelerate activities to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5C under the Paris Agreement.

“To date, we would be able to reduce 4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030, but we should reduce this further to 10-15 gigatonnes," he said, adding that 45% of savings should come from the adoption of alternative energy and the remaining 55% from efficient electricity management. 

He also advised using sensors to boost efficiency in electricity control and management, citing as an example, a building in Singapore that has used Schneider Electric's technology to control the use of electricity, such as roof, windows, and power supply system.

Technology should be used properly

Technology should be used properly to enable Bangkok to achieve its sustainable goals and meet people's demands, city governor Chadchart Sittipunt said.

Chadchart said Bangkok is being developed based on innovation and sustainability. He added that technology should be “smart enough” but not too smart.

He explained that data is necessary to develop Bangkok as a smart city to meet people's needs, adding that it would be hard to achieve sustainable goals without data analysis and improvement.

"We have adopted Traffy Fondue application to allow people to report issues in Bangkok," he explained, adding that the city has set up a system to check if any LED lights in Bangkok suffered a blackout.

"Even though the technology is not modern, it is necessary for a sustainable future," he said.

Chadchart said Bangkok aims to reduce the equivalent of 13.15 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030 and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

He also asked several sectors to work on sustainable development in order to cope with climate change as soon as possible.

"If people see the problems that are due to climate change, we can work together to achieve our long-term goals," he said, adding that this would not succeed unless all sectors were to cooperate.