Data, data everywhere: The digital age and its effect on energy

IEA report explores digitalization and how it will shape energy supply and demand

Smart appliances. 3D printers. Self-driving cars.

They’re all prime examples of the breathtaking pace of technology, and how it’s transforming our lives. This new digital age will also have a profound effect on energy—the energy we produce, and the energy we consume.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently published a report on the subject called Digitalization and Energy 2017. The IEA notes that giant leaps forward in Big Data, analytics, machine learning and connectivity are set to radically change our world’s energy system over the next few decades, making it more connected, intelligent, efficient, reliable and sustainable.

Data is everywhere, and there’s more of it all the time, notes the IEA:

• There are now more mobile phone subscriptions (7.7 billion) than people in the world;
• Global investment in digital electricity infrastructure and software has grown by more than 20% a year since 2014, and reached US$47 billion in 2016;
• The number of connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices is expected to grow from 8.4 billion in 2017 to more than 20 billion by 2020; and
• More than a billion households and 11 billion smart appliances could be part of interconnected electricity systems by 2040.

“Digitalization is blurring the lines between supply and demand,” says IEA executive director Fatih Birol. “The electricity sector and smart grids are at the center of this transformation, but ultimately all sectors across both energy supply and demand—households, transport and industry—will be affected.”

Keep an eye on Energy Matters as we explore the IEA’s Digitalization and Energy 2017 report for its take on energy supply, energy demand and the move toward a “smart grid.”

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