AN APPROACH TO IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF ICTS FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as an enabler for energy efficiency is well understood, however there is no one agreed common methodology for assessing the impact of ICTs on energy efficiency. In order to promote legitimacy, transparency and real progress in the application of ICTs to improving energy efficiency there is a clear need for common ways of assessing energy performance based on a common understanding of commitments, targets and methodology. In this paper, common means for assessing the impact of ICTs on energy efficiency are reviewed and the approaches of organisations focused on the development of ICT impact assessment methodologies are discussed. Subsequently, a potentially useful means of qualitative impact assessment is suggested. The proposed methodology aims to leverage the heuristics of domain experts and is based on life cycle thinking coupled with elements of an adapted capability maturity model/framework. The SMARTT taxonomy developed as part of the overall approach for common assessment is also described. SMARTT stands for Specification and design, Materialisation, Automation and operational decision support, Resource and process management, Technical integration and Trading/transactional management. Aligned to these six high level categories ar