Africa’s energy journey is defined by uncertainty and opportunity, with entire nations and industries working hard to build resilience, reinforce supply, and explore renewable and alternative sources. That last part is essential, as while Africa may be the smallest contributor to global CO2 emissions1, part of its energy journey is to lower emissions and prioritise sustainability across companies, sectors, and industries. For instance, Africa saw a 4,2 GW increase in renewable energy capacity in 20242.
Energy efficiency is also critical to this process, even in sectors like security, where manufacturers and their customers are looking at ways to optimise solutions and make them an active component of reducing their energy consumption. The trend is being driven by multiple factors, culminating in reshaping the sector’s relationship with sustainability.
Innovation and smart installations
As is the case with any sector, increasing use of renewable energy sources in the security industry is being driven by a goal to reduce emissions. While change at a macro level may come slowly, such as transitioning an entire national power grid to renewable sources, most prominently solar, along with energy-saving measures, is being integrated into specific security solution use cases.
One such use case is ‘smart poles’, which are being installed by cities and municipalities to help proactively reduce crime and contribute to the development of smart cities. Such installations offer a wide range of functions, such as integrated network surveillance cameras, intercoms, and even environmental sensors.
Smart poles are also a response to calls to conserve energy, but by doing so, they do not compromise their core function of illuminating dark areas and enhancing overall safety and security. Smart poles also take energy savings to a new level, not only by powering down during the day, but with the help of sensors that detect people or vehicles, can dim surrounding areas in the event they cannot sense anyone.
Such installations are applicable across all industries. Renewable energy sources are also being deployed as part of temporary or mobile solutions. Event planners or engineers can mount solar panels on trailers or the back of vehicles, taking them where they need to go or places where energy and network infrastructure are limited. Devices equipped with power profiles or low-power modes enable operators to configure their devices to conserve energy without compromising solution performance.
In security use cases, operators can also deploy different technologies based on environmental conditions. Network cameras equipped with adaptive IR-LED illumination can provide high-quality images in areas with minimal lighting, or let operators dim an area’s lighting without impacting surveillance. Ultimately, operators in Africa end up using less power than they would normally.
AI at the edge
Africa’s tech landscape is undergoing serious development thanks to the growth of a continent-wide data centre industry. Hyperscale cloud service providers are spending vast sums of capital to build data centres to address a growing demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI) 3. AI’s computational demands create a huge demand for energy, encompassing everything right down to a centre’s individual servers, and so there is a need to optimise energy consumption in its provision.
One way operators are addressing this is by balancing on-premises AI with AI at the edge. Edge computing, where computations take place at the edge of the network and closer to the point of data origin, helps mitigate the energy consumption of data centres by deploying AI where it is most power-efficient.
AI processing at the edge consumes less power than processing on a server, which is what makes them particularly ideal in security use cases where devices have to analyse data from a visual sensor. In turn, this helps minimise bandwidth and storage requirements by reducing the amount of data that must be sent across the network, logically resulting in energy savings from a network standpoint.
The demand for power drives the need for change
Electricity demand in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase by approximately 5% annually until 2027, despite consumption growth in the region being hindered by a lack of supply4. Even as renewable sources start to take up a greater share of the continent’s energy mix, concerns surrounding supply and resilience will continue, and part of addressing those concerns is by incorporating power-saving technologies and solutions into public and enterprise infrastructure.
Energy efficiency should be a priority for all industries, including those related to security. Businesses and individuals alike have an opportunity to contribute through product development and deployments, and it is by working together that we not only reduce emissions, but also make renewable energy a cornerstone of our technological infrastructure and systems.
For more information contact Axis Communications,
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