“Amidst new communications technologies that are making our world smaller and enriching our personal lives, it is easy to forget that the energy spurring on this progress is not available to billions of our planet’s inhabitants,” says Gys Snyman, vice president energy efficiency at Schneider Electric South Africa. “This population does not fixate on status updates, RSS feeds, or texting. There is only a daily struggle to eat, develop their families and improve their lives – without any meaningful access to energy and all of its benefits.”
Meanwhile, dependence on carbon-based economic growth is driving the most climate pressure on those benefiting the least from new technology. “If the electric utility system is one of mankind’s most significant engineering achievements to date, creating a new and sustainable energy model needs to be our next triumph – and it cannot come soon enough,” adds Snyman.
“At Schneider Electric South Africa, we believe these two issues are linked. Access to energy for all frees the intelligence and creativity necessary to develop a new energy paradigm. Through technological innovation, social policy, medical research, and more, each generation has left a legacy of improvement for its children – until now. Now we have about one lifetime in which to change the way we create, distribute and consume energy.
“So while we text, tweet and find friends as never before, let us not forget that the planet’s energy system is a closed loop. Coal mined in South Africa drives energy consumption in China to make goods for Europe, we are clearly all connected in one energy system. Therefore, a new approach to energy is a new approach to our progress as a race. Spend less today, share more tomorrow.”
Solving energy challenges requires behavioural changes and new technological approaches. And since a true solution requires more than the latest component, it is no wonder new intelligent energy companies are uniting systems, data management, and energy visibility in ways that were unimaginable a decade ago.
According to Carl Kleynhans, country president at Schneider Electric South Africa, the company’s response to today’s energy challenges is EcoStruxure. “It is an architecture that delivers active energy management from power plant to plug, across all the domains of an enterprise: data centre management, power management, security management, building management, as well as process and machine management – all integrated and optimised for maximum efficiency. EcoStruxure is not a product but rather an approach to creating intelligent energy management systems. The solution allows users to see, measure and manage energy use across an entire enterprise, with guaranteed compatibility between the management of power, IT, process and machines, building control and security.
“The fact is, with the EcoStruxure architecture you can achieve up to 30% savings on capital and operational expenses across your entire enterprise. When you use less energy for the same or better economic results, you win, your customers win, and the planet wins. Individuals, corporations and countries need to work together and learn from each other to make the differences we need today. When you deploy EcoStruxure your efforts make a difference to those who suffer from energy poverty.”
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