New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Key steps for global industry to cut energy and costs
31/1/2024
10 min read
Feature
There is plenty of scope to improve the energy efficiency of industrial processes, even without fuel substitution. Here, Mike Umiker of the Energy Efficiency Movement (a forum of over 440 companies, or ‘Movers’, aimed at driving a more energy-efficient world) discusses the most relevant takeaways for industry.
The world is waking up to the fact that energy efficiency will play a critical role in minimising global warming. Some 132 governments at COP28 pledged to double energy efficiency improvements every year until 2030, in an effort to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
In a new report, The Case for Industrial Energy Efficiency, the Energy Efficiency Movement (EEM) has identified essential steps that businesses can take to increase their energy efficiency. If industry were to implement these, the research predicts annual carbon emission savings of nearly 2 Gt by 2025 and over 4 Gt by 2030 (see Fig 1). This is equivalent to removing approximately three-fifths of the world’s internal combustion vehicles from the roads. For the actions where financial savings could be meaningfully calculated, industry could be saving $437bn/y by the end of the decade.
The models developed for this report were a collaborative effort between the EEM, economic impact assessment provider Development Economics, and subject matter experts at ABB, Alfa Laval and Microsoft.