In the past, companies adopted renewables to improve their brand image and satisfy the demands from partner companies to tick another sustainability box. Today, most companies have a specific sustainability goal that is often aggressive, and renewable energy sources are essential to achieving that target.

The challenge companies face is studying the big picture and evaluating what role renewables will play for them. Within the industrial sector, many processes are powered by fossil fuels that each have specific properties regarding the temperature and intensity they can reach and the energy’s responsiveness. For example, if you need to heat a product within 10 minutes to a high-intensity level, you may not be able to achieve that with some types of renewable energy. These constraints are all factors that need to be considered for companies to reach their overall targets.

Options for renewable energy
Companies have different options to maximise the use of renewable energy. They can run their own renewable energy generation (onsite or offsite), or they can contract with other power generation companies to do so, for instance by utilising power purchase agreements (PPAs). In addition, companies can purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), or Guarantees of Origin (GO) as they are called in Europe, which verify the attributes of the renewable energy generation they are paying for.

An example of using direct renewable energy comes from Chevron, which has set up solar farms in California, US, so that its production and drilling operations can utilise solar energy. These kinds of initiatives are gaining a lot of attention in the media. But in terms of its total impact on the company’s carbon footprint, it is still negligible because such installations have not been wholly operationalised at a strategic level and Chevron’s overall emissions remain colossal.

RECs allow companies to bypass the operational complexities and still claim renewable energy use. But companies buying RECs as the only route to net zero can be accused of greenwashing; they must be combined with a sincere effort to improve the business’ operational energy mix to become effective.

Another constraint is consistency; most renewable energies are not dispatchable like electricity from fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. Renewable energy generation depends on climate conditions. To increase their responsiveness, renewables must be combined with energy storage technology.

Some companies are investigating alternative process solutions. For instance, it may be possible for a company to switch to a low-emissions fuel source. However, this may entail changing equipment, involving capital costs. Electrification offers another option. With that approach, it is a simple matter to have more renewables feeding into a level electrical source. But when there is no option to electrify, a process change may be the only option.

Steel remains one of the world’s most useful and in-demand commodities, yet its production processes are energy-intensive and produce vast amounts of CO₂. On a global scale, the steel and iron industries account for some 7% of CO₂ emissions. Particularly emission-intensive are heating processes, which traditionally are fuelled by gas or oil. But electric heating, from renewable resources, is a viable green alternative.

The same is true of aluminium production, which currently contributes around 2% of global emissions. The aluminium alloy needs to be treated at a temperature close to 1,000°C and many countries still rely predominantly on coal to achieve this. Sustainable aluminium is possible to produce by employing renewable energy instead.

On a global scale, the steel and iron industries account for some 7% of CO₂ emissions. Particularly emission-intensive are heating processes, which traditionally are fuelled by gas or oil. But electric heating, from renewable resources, is a viable green alternative.

Corporate examples
Organisations are already making the shift from fossil fuels to electrifying industrial heating processes. Companies exist that enable steel producers to achieve precise temperature control while significantly reducing CO₂ emissions and energy consumption. Boston Metal has also created a high-strength alloy using a process that replaces the blast furnace used for centuries to forge steel with an electrolytic cell that uses electricity to process iron ore.

In many cases, the technology sector is making excellent use of renewable energy. Each year, Intel uses around 3 TWh, drawing its energy from wind, solar photovoltaic, hydro and biomass. Its commitment to going green comes with the installation of 3mn ft² of solar panels at sites in nine countries. Over the past decade Intel has invested $185mn across 2,000 energy conservation projects. As a result, all the electricity Intel uses in the US and Europe comes from green energy sources.

Apple uses green energy to provide 635 GWh annually to its electric operations for manufacturing and processing its electronic devices. But that pales in comparison to the efforts of Microsoft. Each year the software giant uses more than 1.3 TWh of green energy. Microsoft is an industry leader when it comes to thinking innovatively. Utilising solar and wind power, the company is now carbon-neutral with green energy being used to provide sufficient power to software development facilities, data centres and manufacturing.

A technology solution
Technology solutions can facilitate a company’s journey towards increasing the contribution of renewable energy. Atomiton’s product can help in several ways, one of which is carbon impact modelling. This considers different factors and future scenarios. For example:

• If you switch from natural gas to renewable power, do you need to understand the implications of your emission intensity?
• How big an impact does it make?
• What constraints and limitations are there regarding the temperature, demand curve and energy load you require?
• What are the potential cost implications in terms of capital and time?
• How do these factors contribute to your overall carbon emission goals as an enterprise?

Then you must consider how geographic locations affect your emissions because different regions have different factors. So, at the strategic level, we model to help a company create a realistic view of the effects of adopting renewables.

The company also draws data from a business’ operational profile to study its demand curve and patterns. Namely, this means the fuel intensity and energy used at any time. This is particularly important when solar power is used. The firing speed and responsiveness must match the load they need. This needs to be fully understood before additional renewables can be added to the system. Demand and supply analysis is important for facilities to help customers understand the feasibility of adopting renewables.

The challenges of measuring carbon impact
We often think of what technology is available to reduce carbon, but for companies it is about first understanding the complete picture of where they are. Where are they generating carbon? How are they tied to their operational centres? Understanding their carbon footprint can be a big challenge for many companies.

Data fragmentation hampers this, thwarting attempts to accurately account for carbon emitted and communicate that to external regulators, investors and customers. But it can be helped by carbon impact modelling as this allows companies to organise data and information to look back and forward. It includes collecting data not just about things such as employee commuting, but also about the value chains of waste.

Atomiton also discovered that one of the challenges for collecting emission carbon-related data is that it is traditionally a manual process. A manual approach can get the job done and provide an understanding of where a company is, but it becomes more challenging and more complex when there is also a requirement for audit and traceability, especially from a regulatory agency.

We do not expect people to enter all these metrics manually; they are now coming from sensors or meters, third-party utility companies, or even digitised documents. Processing this is one of the most effective uses of artificial intelligence in energy management.

The requirement to audit is continuing to grow. As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposes its climate-related reporting rules in the US, it is expecting limited or reasonable assurance to be provided on the carbon emissions data reported by public companies. The European Parliament and Council are proposing similar regulations. This requirement is not there yet, but at some point it is going to be essential that you can provide the data and trackability. Traceability and accountability are needed in raw data when it is subjected to audit.

As we progress along the net zero journey, we need to increase renewable energy and account for carbon emissions. Achieving this relies on data and the ability to analyse and validate that data. The data and tools are there to analyse and extract information. Organisations must understand their potential and incorporate them into their net zero strategies.