HP Innovation Journal Issue 12: Summer 2019 | Page 13

3. THE ECONOMICS OF ENERGY
People, machines, data, and energy
are now so deeply connected to each
other that creating a better future will
require finding the balance between
them all. That’s why this year’s report
also looks at the linkage between
energy, data, and economic expansion.
Rising incomes drive increasing demand for products and
services that require energy. India is a great example,
where a 300-million-strong middle class is expected to rise
to 700 million by 2035. The air conditioning needs alone
for this population are expected to require 300 new power
plants — double India’s current energy supply . 8
It’s not just incomes that drive energy consumption; it’s also
the automation required to fuel continued economic growth.
Smart machines, IT infrastructure, and manufacturing are
embedding an ever-increasing number of sensors. These
sensors generate vast amounts of data that need to be
processed and acted upon to provide the promised value
of automation.
Today, there is not enough network bandwidth to move zetta-
bytes of data to the cloud for processing—and to build and
utilize that amount of capacity would require vast amounts
of energy usage and trillions of dollars in investment.
If you’re going to automate to keep up with the economic
cycle, you have to figure out a way to efficiently process
the data closer to where it’s being generated, at the edge.
F See “Rising Income and Energy Demands”
article in this issue to learn more. P. 54
8. Oxford Economics and HP Analysis
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