Brussels, 25/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - During the conference on information and communication technology (ICT) for energy efficiency, held on 23 and 24 February in Brussels, discussions between specialists mainly covered the Green Digital Charter signed on 27 November, in Stockholm, by the mayors of 14 major towns, including Helsinki, Malaga, Budapest and Birmingham. The signatories undertake to reduce their carbon footprint, to use digital technology to promote energy efficiency and to develop common standards for the collection, identification and analysis of data on energy and emissions within their administrations. The document stipulates that towns will deploy five large scale pilot projects in the ICT field between now and 2015. Another section of the conference was on smart metering, which allows consumers to effectively and precisely keep check of their energy consumption. Discussions showed the growing importance of such devices to reduce energy consumption. The aim of the European Union is to have 80% of all households using smart meters by 2020. Some member states are already experimenting with these devices on a large scale and their experience will provide invaluable assistance to the other countries. (I.L./transl.jl)