Which tangible solutions exist to combat global warming?
From 18 September to 8 October, Equans is participating in the European Week of Sustainable Development. The Sustainability Week boasts 2,673 initiatives across 25 countries. Through its participation, Equans reinforces its commitment to guiding clients in transitioning towards a carbon-sober world and prioritising global warming solutions.
The urgency is real! Businesses can make a difference and there's significant room for improvement. In 2021, industrial and service-sector businesses accounted for 35% of the total energy consumption in France (1), contributing significantly to the global temperature rise. Industry, services, and residential sectors were also responsible for over a third of CO2 emissions (2), a leading cause behind the greenhouse effect and global warming. Today, renewable sources, such as solar renewable energy and renewable gas, offer numerous practical and accessible solutions to improve this energy balance, championing affordable and clean energy solutions to battle global warming.
Understanding one's needs, leveraging solar electric systems, consuming clean energy at an affordable cost, and building smart energy management: Equans offers businesses a three-pronged strategy, incorporating smart building technology, to enhance their performance and environmental footprint.
Consume less
The primary focus of the energy strategy is to reduce consumption, either by eliminating needs at the source or opting for less energy-intensive solutions.
Embrace Energy Sobriety
Eliminating energy needs at their source is at the heart of energy sobriety. This term refers to the voluntary adoption of new individual and collective behaviours aimed at consuming less. On an individual scale, each action may seem trivial. However, the accumulation of these simple, tangible actions has proven effective in reducing energy consumption.
The advantage of energy sobriety? It's accessible to all businesses, regardless of their budget, and can involve:
- Lowering the heating in offices, possibly using geothermal heat pump systems.
- Turning off or reducing ventilation during evenings and weekends, employing modern electric solutions.
- Switching off IT equipment after use.
- Optimising lighting by installing LEDs, motion detectors, and limiting outdoor lighting outside business hours.
- Regular maintenance of boilers and geothermal heating systems to maintain their efficiency.
In a business setting, energy sobriety also offers a chance to strengthen team spirit by rallying employees around the significant, collective, and meaningful goal of stopping global warming.
Invest in Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency complements energy sobriety. It involves deploying smart building solutions and less energy-intensive solutions to minimise a system's energy consumption while maintaining service quality, echoing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals.
Energy renovation is the most effective action to reduce a business's energy consumption. HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) accounts for 40% of a building's total energy consumption. Thermal insulation helps minimise heat and coolness losses, optimise heating efficiency, and reduce air conditioning needs. Although renovation requires substantial financial investments, the energy performance is quickly felt both on the bill and in employees’ comfort.
On a smaller scale, energy efficiency also means purchasing less energy-intensive equipment and devices when replacing old ones, leaning towards sustainable mobility options and infrastructures.
Consume green
In a business context, some energy consumptions essential to production cannot be eliminated or even reduced. The challenge then is to lessen their carbon impact. How? By replacing fossil fuels with clean sources of electricity like solar renewable energy and renewable gas, which emit minimal CO2 and atmospheric pollutants.
Consume Local and Renewable Electricity
Renewable offers now provide mature solutions to facilitate the transition to environmentally friendlier energy sources.
With the declining costs of equipment, solar renewable energy, specifically photovoltaic, stands out as an accessible, efficient, and cost-effective means of generating clean electricity. Roof-mounted photovoltaic installations, solar canopies, ground-mounted solar farms: ample solutions are available, allowing all businesses to access photovoltaic electricity. The generated electricity can either be sold and fed into the grid or be self-consumed. Photovoltaic self-consumption has multiple benefits: it ensures energy supply, reduces energy bills, enhances the company's image, and complies with the Eco-Energy for Tertiary Sector regulation.
In the realm of renewable sources, businesses can also bank on geothermal energy. This system leverages the Earth's inexhaustible heat to produce electricity. Geothermal heat pumps extract heat from the air, water, or ground to heat buildings.
Opting for Low-Carbon Sustainable Mobility
The transportation sector is brimming with innovations to reduce carbon footprints and curb greenhouse gas emissions, effectively fighting against global warming. Electric mobility is steadily becoming the norm for businesses, contributing to global warming solutions.
The move towards sustainable mobility is being fast-tracked by legislation. The 2019 Mobility Orientation Law (LOM) and the 2021 Climate and Resilience Act enforce low-emission vehicle quotas on companies. These laws also mandate the installation of electric charging stations — 10% for car parks with fewer than 40 spaces and 20% for larger ones. These charging stations can be paired with solar photovoltaic panels to facilitate completely carbon-neutral mobility.
For heavy mobility, the focus is now shifting towards renewable gas like bio-CNG and hydrogen. The potential of these low-carbon renewable sources is proving promising for road transport as well as the rail, aviation, and maritime sectors. Experiments are underway to establish industrial sectors for these by the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.
Flexible consumption
Better consumption also means preventing energy wastage by optimising and monitoring usage, a crucial step in global warming solutions.
Optimise Electrical Consumption Management
Renewable sources have one limitation: they are intermittent and dependent on weather conditions, which can sometimes induce a mismatch between energy production peaks and consumption needs.
Storage batteries offer an effective solution to this problem. They provide the capability to store excess electricity and release it into the company's network during peak demand periods, promoting the efficient use of renewable energy.
Load shedding is another innovative method to decrease electrical demand when it exceeds production. Used nationally by the RTE, the transmission system operator, the load shedding system can be implemented in businesses using smart management systems. These systems prioritise consumption based on urgency, potentially reducing or even halting certain processes.
Monitor, Measure, Control
The Energy Management System (SME) is a combination of processes, methodologies, and tools for monitoring, controlling, automating, and measuring energy-saving actions. With real-time tracking, businesses can continuously improve their energy performance, making it a pivotal component in global warming solutions.
Companies can even take it a step further with Smart Building technology. The idea is to harness digital technologies to enhance building operations. With connected tools and tailor-made services, Smart Building solutions reduce energy consumption in both construction and operational phases of buildings.
With energy sobriety, energy efficiency, harnessing renewable sources, low-carbon mobility, consumption optimisation, and intelligent monitoring — businesses have a plethora of tangible and innovative global warming solutions at their disposal to combat climate change, protect the environment, and decarbonise their operations. However, taking action might seem daunting. Equans amalgamates all these solutions, offering clients a comprehensive and value-driven proposition for a successful energy, digital, and industrial transition.
(1) https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/chiffres-cles-de-lenergie-edition-2022-0
(2) https://fr.statista.com/statistiques/1345880/repartition-sectorielle-emissions-co2-france/