ICT Applications to Achieve Green Growth in an Indian City

Project Summary:

ICT office equipment is the fastest growing source of energy usage in the world. The ICT sector consumes 15% of global electricity today, with electricity usage from ICT projected
to increase to 30% of total global electricity usage by 2020. However, the ICT sector also offers huge potential for providing environmental benefits, including reducing carbon emissions by reducing electricity usage. KGGTF’s multi-year USD $2.02 million ICT applications to achieve green growth program aims to share knowledge for greening cities to improve quality of life and reach the poorest people, while optimizing energy use, reducing GHG emissions, and helping cities apply cost-saving innovations. The program is diagnosing and assessing selected cities to enable “smart” communities, including using smart-grid technologies, smart water management systems, and intelligent city planning. Korean technical experts will engage local city governments and stakeholders to develop green city initiatives that can grow into large-scale projects. Programed green ICT activities include implementing cloud computing, delivering services online, and enabling “e-waste management”. Other activities will introduce innovative wireless street lighting, programs to safely retire and recycle ICT equipment, and solutions to address water scarcity. Lessons learned from the work will inform future projects in India and other countries.  

List of Activities:

• Greening the ICT for government infrastructure (e.g. transitioning from data centers to cloud computing, dematerializing and online service delivery, E-Waste Management)
• Developing innovative solutions to enable smart water management
• Adopting smart grid infrastructure through better monitoring and management of electricity grids
• Improving management performance by adopting ICT applications for urban administration (e.g. utility provision and government services)

Outcomes:

Output 1:

• Increase awareness and capacity building - Seminars, workshops, conferences

Output 2:

• Perform data collection - Quantitative and qualitative data

Output 3:

• Conduct feasibility studies - Indicators based on studies results

Output 4:

• Develop a policy roadmap - Identified objectives, timelines and responsible entities for pilots demonstration

Outcomes:

The expected outcome of this project is the provision of a preliminary diagnosis and assessments with the intention of engaging the Indian local city governments and other stakeholders in the process of developing a green city initiative and providing a foundation for further large-scale projects. These diagnostic assessments and resultant road-maps are done in close collaboration and partnerships with Korean technical experts and promise much greater applicability and potential for replicability across different cities both in India and other countries. 

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

The project was implemented in partnership with relevant Korean institutions who have significant experience in conducting Smart ICT projects around the world. Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning of Korea had been a key partner, with the involvement of Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation Planning, National Information Society Agency of Korea, Korea Energy Management Corporation, Korea Water Resources Corporation, Korea Smart Card Corporation. Public/private partnerships and partnerships with Korean private companies were also analyzed to incentivize Indian private sector stakeholders' engagement.