Can The Internet of Things help achieve Net Zero for your company?

20 Sep Can The Internet of Things help achieve Net Zero for your company?

Fact: IoT can save in excess of 8 times more energy than it consumes driving a huge reduction in Co2 emissions by 2030 according to a report by Transforma Insights

The keyword here is “sustainability”.

Let’s break this down further, what is Net Zero and how is it defined?

In simplistic terms, Net Zero means achieving a balance between the greenhouse gases like water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone being put into the atmosphere and those taken out. Some associate ‘carbon neutral’ as being the same thing as Net Zero although zero emissions and zero carbon are slightly different, for one carbon-neutral refers to balancing out the total amount of carbon emissions, net-zero carbon means no carbon was emitted from the get-go, so no carbon needs to be captured or offset.

I really did try and make that simple! Hopefully, you’re still with me on this article.

So what are we trying to achieve, and how could IoT & smart devices offer a solution to our needs?

According to the UK Governments’ website over a third of FTSE100 UK largest companies have taken on the challenge to reduce their carbon emissions to zero by 2030 including companies like AstraZeneca, BT Group, Sainsbury’s & Unilever, these companies alone represent a total market capital of £650 billion. Many more have pledged to join this scheme and reduce their carbon emissions by 2050.

IoT is allowing some of the worlds most rigorous users of electricity to monitor the precise usage of energy and are harvesting a whole raft of smart sensors across multiple platforms to help identify where energy savings can be made.

Example – An IoT enabled supermarket:

A large supermarket chain use in excess of 150,000 smart sensors monitoring over 65,000 assets giving out +300 million daily readings enabling electricity savings of 2 million+ per annum.

IoT in these places of business look at a whole multitude of operations, for example:

• Predictive maintenance sensors for equipment
  • Vastly reducing maintenance issues that can affect power consumption inclusive of temperature fluctuation allowing for optimum food safety
• Smart transportation
  • Calculating route optimisation, maintenance of the vehicle and tracking using a variety of IoT enabled devices inclusive of RFID and GPS which give maximum efficiency with the least time/power possible.
• Warehouse fulfilment
  • IoT is not just using robotics to monitor stock levels but also immediately calculating in a real-time environment using ultra-low latency to produce sales opportunities and allows the retailers to know what’s being purchased by online shoppers before their baskets get picked and delivered.

How else can IoT & smart devices help us vastly reduce our carbon footprint and make Net Zero a reality?

I’m pondering as to how long this article might be? IoTech could ramble on and on and on about this subject… however, you’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve narrowed this down, time to use your imagination and apply some of these solutions to your business today:

M2M (Machine to Machine) learning:

With an estimated 70% M2M applications being intrinsically green, simply by allowing one machine to speak with another ultimately improves operational efficiency by allowing for consistent onsite and offsite monitoring, this type of available data transfer can and does reduce potentially harmful environmental impacts and add value to a company’s bottom line. Even older machinery can make use of being in the connected world. Let’s say you found a legacy product using more energy than it should, or a high-energy asset that could be automatically turned off when not in use. Identifying high-value, low-hanging fruit is where you’ll find efficiency gains.

Cloud Connected Devices

We’re going to use BP and Shell as prime examples who have set their ambition to be a net zero companies by 2050. William Lin, BP’s Executive Vice President, Regions, Cities and Solutions at BP stated, “By ‎bringing our complementary skills and experience together, we are not only helping each other ‎achieve our decarbonisation ambitions but also creating opportunities to support others on their ‎journey towards reducing carbon emissions.”‎

BP are working closely with Microsoft using their cloud base Microsoft Azure to streamline operations and allow such technologies such as IIOT to create cleaner energy parks, smart and clean cities with the aim to accelerate progress towards their sustainability goals and reduce carbon deposits.

Shell are also working with Microsoft to achieve a similar goal.

Smart Devices

Can we influence human behaviour, can we change our energy-consuming habits? This is a BIG question but one that can be answered with a simple “Yes”. Let’s consider high energy-consuming heating and cooling systems which are prime candidates for IoT smart devices. Smart sensors can let you know how many people are in a building and their location which automatically triggers the aforementioned systems to be turned off or on which conserves power, especially when the energy costs are highest during peak times.

Weather stations like the IoTech Sense Cap S900 9-1 smart weather station can be put in place to monitor pollution in a variety of spaces, for example, smart cities that wish to home in on problem areas that can be specifically targeted for carbon reduction, smart hubs with data loggers relay this information using 4G or 5G to the Cloud and in-turn inform you of the state of play via mobile applications. The importance of weather monitoring cannot be overstated in any commercial venture. A commercial building, which collects environmental data based on the location in which the building is situated can give real-time data when temperatures are high or low. Armed with this information, the necessary preparations can be made to accommodate the building’s needs. One prime example would be enabling the redirection of energy from the heating system to the cooling system on warmer days and vice-versa on colder days.

IoT enabled Software

Introducing IoT energy management software and other solutions to your operations can decrease carbon footprints whilst optimising the use of resources as well as measuring and analysing environmental impacts in order to take corrective measures. SaaS (Software as a Service) IoT platforms provide cloud-based, targeted analytics tools, that show if customers qualify for industry certifications, incentives and programs. They can offer machine learning functionality and real-time data gathering, monitoring of equipment and assets using AI. Some offer integration to your current CRM & ERP systems allowing for a broad spectrum of potential applications from industrial robotic process automation to wide-scale predictive maintenance. You can cut operational expenses extensively by gathering important data from factory automation, optimised labour and effective asset maintenance leading to a significant decrease in operational expenses.

In conclusion, the world, whether this is you and I as individuals or businesses from SME to large corporates, can start making changes today. We need to start becoming smarter about how we consume energy, by cutting waste and improving efficiency. As we continue to adapt to the technological changes, realigning our objectives to reconcile the gap between sustainable operations and financial goals across the value chain will remain to be vital as we head toward the future.

IoTech would be delighted to hear from you to better understand your technological challenges in the world of IoT and smart devices in order to find solutions for your business. Email us on info@the-iot.co.uk for an impartial chat.