|
|
|
|
|
Schneider Electric’s Power to the Cloud Conference and Exhibition 2013 Concludes on High Note
Published Dec 1, 2013
|
Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, concluded its annual ‘Power to the Cloud’ conference and exhibition on a high note with over 1,200 IT and government influencers from the Middle East, Africa and Turkey attending the event.
The conference and exhibition demonstrated the company’s leadership in Smart Cities under the theme ‘Building Next-Generation Mission Critical IT Infrastructure’. As regional governments focus on shaping smart cities, Dubai leads the charge with its ambitions for a technologically connected city that will be fast tracked with the Expo 2020 win.
In addition, Abu Dhabi Municipality’s Energy Efficiency Programme that was rolled out in 2011 as a sector level pilot project has seen great success with the initiative set to enter its second phase in 2014 under the objective ‘City-wide Level Scale Up Deployment’. The key outcome of the project in phase one was a saving of nearly 46,000kWh of electricity. If executed on a city-wide level, the programme has the potential to save up to 1,900,000 MWh of electricity per annum. Translated into monetary value, these savings could total more than AED2,800 million over the next 10 years. Schneider Electric’s integrated offering of customized solutions of data collection, measurement and inspection and energy conservation has been attributed as a key factor for the programme’s ambitious deliverables
At the heart of all the smart city concepts is the enhanced role of data centres, which plays a crucial role in building a world of efficient cities that are energy sustainable. As a pioneer in providing solutions for effective datacentre management, Schneider Electric is committed to promoting smart integration through data centres for achieving tangible goals in smart energy, smart mobility, smart public services and smart buildings and homes.
Thierry Chamayou, Vice President - Middle East and Africa IT Business, Schneider Electric, said: “The success of the event is yet another proof that IT growth and the urbanisation, industrialisation and digitisation of our economies are driving high energy consumption today and this growth is set to continue as global economies seek to develop further. Smart cities are definitely a solution to create sustainable cities and economies. To give an example, in 2010 nearly 12.5 billion devices were connected through the internet. This is forecasted to grow to 25 billion by 2015 against the global population of 7.2 billion in the same year.
“The solution for sustainable energies is a combination of cleaner generation, greater efficiency and a smarter grid. According to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook report in 2013, Japan and countries in Europe have introduced energy efficiency improvements in buildings. In the US this year, a MoU sets forth an agreement for the states to work together to help automakers sell at least 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) – plug-in electric, battery electric, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles – by 2025. Closer to home, in the Middle East too, the mandate to mitigate energy consumption is being addressed with equal urgency.”
Speakers at the conference included executives from IBM, Intel, HP, Dell, Cisco and a host of regional and international customers. The outcome of the conference was a concurrence of opinion among the participating experts that energy efficient economies can be shaped through the convergence of IT for achieving smart city solutions.
Chamayou added: “The efficiency economy is born from the convergence of the worlds of IT and energy to link and manage all elements of the smart grid, delivering the greenest energy at the cheapest price and the desired time. At Schneider Electric, we believe it is time to save, integrate facilities and use decentralised generators to reduce the energy consumed, as well as the cost per kWh and operating expenditure for driving a self-sufficient, net-positive mindset. It is also time to connect by accessing smart, real time data and information, optimise and deliver across integrated systems through open platforms. Schneider Electric plays an important role in connecting people, points and devices to enable insight and action for a sustainable future.”
The exhibition held alongside the conference, at the Atlantis – The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, spanned 1,400 square metres and showcased simulated environments of a hotel, telco, bank, hospital, university, EV station and datacenter. The 2014 edition of the event is planned to be bigger and better aiming to keep the industry updated on the latest technologies in sustainable energy and power management.
Posted by
VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
|
|
|
