Energy transition: don’t sell energy reduction – sell green solutions for a better and sustainable living!

The energy transition is one of the most pressing social issues of our time – Europe’s “man on the moon” moment, as Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said. But this transition will fail without a “digital first” strategy. We have been discussing this at the E-world fair in Germany some days ago, but this holds true all around the world. In order to cope with limited resources, we need to rethink our approach towards the whole infrastructure of power generation, distribution and consumption. And we must also rethink the way we are discussing this major change in the public – in other words, the way we are “selling” it.

No “do less” discussion

Up to now we have been leading this discussion as a debate about reduction and “doing less”. This is not the right way to motivate and mobilize people around the world to change their behavior towards a more sustainable business and consumption. We need to talk about the added value of new green solutions and services for their lives.

Take the example of the smart city: analyzing city data improves the forecast and the use of resources like police, electricity and so on. Atos is working on this with the City of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. But does the city resident care about the increased efficiency? Citizens will appreciate tax reduction (because of better use of resources) or a more secure life (because of better police services).

You can use the same argumentation for the personal home: a smart home is not in the first place about a more efficient use of electricity, water and heating – it is a more comfortable way of living.

Rethinking energy through innovation

We all know that we are facing a tough dilemma: the demand for energy will keep on growing while we need to reduce our carbon footprint at the same time. The only answer to overcome this challenge will be innovation. We must create these green solutions for a better living in a sustainable world. Digital is key for this transition, and the energy and utilities industries need two things: first, an IoT architecture with connected, smart devices and second, platforms with analytics and AI capabilities to work with the collected data.

This creates the groundwork for a true digital energy business and it will enable our clients as well as the clients of our clients to work on three objectives: reduce energy consumption wherever possible, increase the efficiency of the energy production and distribute green energy securely and intelligently via AI-supported smart grids.

To think energy from its digital capabilities is the same positive vision as selling green solutions for a better living. We will only be able to manage the energy transition successfully if we innovate and create solutions from the end users’ view – with a clear “digital first” approach.