Smart devices and the fight against climate change

TORONTO, ON - AUGUST, 30 Diana Carradine with Ecobee smart thermostat in her home in the Eglinton and Avenue road area. The province is launching the Green Ontario Fund, bankrolled with $377 milion in cap-and-trade revenues, to help homeowners and businesses with programs to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The first move is offering free smart thermostats to eligible homeowners, so they can more easily turn down the heat or air conditioning when they’re not home — saving on natural gas and electricity. | Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images

Smart devices have a role to play in the move from dirty to clean energy, according to a major new climate report released this week. People need tools that help them better understand where their energy comes from, see how much they’re using, and pitch in to make a more resilient power grid.

“Digital technologies can contribute” to the fight to stop climate change, the report released yesterday by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says. That contribution can include smart appliances that make homes more energy-efficient or rooftop solar panels that work in tandem as “virtual power plants.” Those technologies have the power to cut down greenhouse gas emissions and transform the electric grid.

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