June 20 (Bloomberg) -- Telecommunications and computers can be used to help cut carbon-dioxide emissions and save more than $1 trillion worldwide by reducing electricity and fuel use, the Climate Group said.

Technology can direct the load on power grids, guide freight trucks to shorter routes and improve the way buildings are lit, cooled and warmed, said the London-based nonprofit group, which advises governments and businesses on ways to reduce their effect on the climate, in an e-mailed report today.

Computers, telephones and other communications devices have the potential to trim emissions of CO2, the main gas blamed for man-made global warming, by an annual 7.8 billion metric tons by 2020, the report said. That's 15 percent of projected emissions under business-as-usual development, it said.

``A lot of these technologies exist already; it's a question of scale and training and capability,'' Molly Webb, leader of the Climate Group's technology program, said June 13 in a telephone interview. ``It needs joined-up policy thinking. This opportunity is about communications as well as buildings, environmental rules and climate-change targets.''

The Climate Group carried out the research along with the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, an association of technology companies, with analysis provided by the management consultant McKinsey and Co.

The report was funded by companies including Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker; Cisco Systems Inc., the largest maker of computer-networking equipment, of San Jose, California; and Espoo, Finland-based Nokia Oyj, the largest maker of mobile phones, Webb said.

$1 Trillion Saved

The cuts would help achieve the 50 percent reduction in global emissions by 2050 that United Nations scientists said last year are necessary to avert some of the worst effects of global warming. At climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, last year, the European Union and developing nations said industrialized countries should seek emissions cuts of 25 to 40 percent by 2020.

``This rigorous assessment underlines that the world can realize a green economy and make the transition to a low-carbon economy,'' Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program Achim Steiner said in a statement sent with the report. ``It also underlines the crucial importance of the international community reaching a deal on a new climate agreement.''

Electricity Grids

The total annual savings by 2020 of 644 billion euros ($1.015 trillion, based on the June 9 exchange rate used by the report's authors) include spending 553 billion euros less on fuel and energy, and 91 billion euros generated assuming a cost of carbon of 20 euros a ton. At present companies that are set emissions limits can buy additional permits to pollute on markets including the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism.

The researchers found that the biggest savings -- 2.03 billion tons -- could be made in improving management of electricity grids worldwide. In India alone, power lost in transmission could be reduced by 30 percent, the report said.

Improved monitoring allows electricity companies ``to plan better because they know where the load is going to be,'' Webb said. ``They can do more sophisticated modeling on where demand will be and when.''

Traffic monitoring, computer-aided design of transportation networks and global positioning system devices could slash another 1.51 billion tons of CO2, the report said.

No Easy Wins

``The real benefit in logistics is when you start to plan better so that trucks that are returning empty no longer have to return empty; they can be filled with another type of freight,'' Webb said.

Improving building design to use software that regulates temperature, ventilation and lighting could cut another 1.68 billion tons of CO2 pollution, while using computers to aid machines used in manufacturing could eliminate 970 million tons, according to the report.

``Most often, those engines run at the same rate regardless of how much load is on them,'' Webb said. ``The idea is to have a control system that makes the motors respond to load, and makes them more efficient.''

Other areas where technology can cut emissions, such as replacing business travel with videoconferencing and sending bills by e-mail, could cut 500 million tons of the gas, Webb said. The remaining 900 million tons of CO2 savings were spread across transportation, power, construction and industry.

``These are not easy wins: there are policy, market and behavioral hurdles that need to be overcome to deliver the savings possible,'' the report's authors wrote. ``Putting a man on the moon was one of the greatest technological challenges of the 20th century. In the 21st century we face an even greater test -- tackling climate change.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 20, 2008 03:33 EDT