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Five ways to reduce your manufacturing facility's carbon footprint
Articles- Nov 15,24
In this article, Emily Newton delves into carbon-neutral techniques that can minimise environmental impact while still obtaining the benefits of more conventional operations.
Industrial automation has long focused on productivity and revenue increases, but these potentially exploitative motivations have led to adverse environmental impacts. Technicians and stakeholders need a greener perspective to reduce the carbon footprint of manufacturing. Delve into carbon-neutral techniques to minimise impact while still obtaining the benefits of more conventional operations.
1. Optimise energy consumption through automation
The manufacturing sector accounted for around 74 per cent of total industrial energy use in 2018, although this has decreased since 2022. Some of the world’s largest greenhouse gas-emitting industries are under this umbrella, including mining, construction and general manufacturing. Many use legacy technologies and must undergo equipment overhauls and digital transformation to embrace automation.
Automation will optimize energy efficiency with real-time analytics and monitoring. The foundational technologies are the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI). Sensors gather the data AI synthesizes with machine learning algorithms and predictive controls. The functions adjust the facility’s energy consumption with minimal human intervention. This could control energy systems and peripherals and cut costs and use, including:
- Temperatures and humidity
- Water flow rates and pressures
- Lighting controls
- Hardware and software optimisations
2. Implement smart manufacturing for waste reduction
These resources automate optimizations, but they can also lead to energy waste reduction. Consider how technology can have big-picture impacts to reduce carbon footprints in manufacturing.
For example, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are smart transportation systems. They are programmed to document, transport and track products, sending information to inventory management software. The constant oversight prevents unnecessary movement, wasted fuel and damaged materials from manual handling. This is one of many reasons why the AGV market is set to have a 6.9 per cent compound annual growth rate from 2023 to 2028.
The information AGVs and other smart technologies provide inventory management systems make them predictive. Some of the most prominent causes of downtime are material failure and supply loss, which can be addressed with AI. AI implementation lowers waste production by maintaining quality control, preventing outdated stock and determining demand forecasts to move as many products as possible. This prevents dust from collecting on shelves, inventory from using space, and warehouses from misplacing energy and materials in the process.
One case study explored smart technologies like additive manufacturing and generative AI to reduce waste when producing aircraft engines. The combination of these tools drafted a design that lowered its mass by 30 per cent and eliminated the need for over 100 parts. The long-term impact of these shifts is what will decrease carbon footprints.
3. Transition to renewable energy sources
Reducing reliance on natural gas, coal and oil is crucial for minimising manufacturing footprints. Additionally, many generators, like solar, geothermal and wind, can be automated to save even more resources. They also sync to smart technologies for data clarity, connecting to sitewide information systems.
For example, a compressor’s energy use consumes 80 per cent of its life cycle, and this waste is hard to justify when some plants rely on compressed air so much that it uses 40 per cent of total electricity. Renewable power could reduce electricity costs while making this energy-intensive equipment less harmful despite its necessity.
Renewables also encourage manufacturers to connect to smart grids and become distributed energy resources (DERs). DERs facilitate widespread green power access, especially when linked to battery energy storage solutions to capture excess. This reduces the site’s footprint and helps nearby power users lower theirs.
4. Use CCS technologies
Even if a manufacturer is carbon neutral, they could strive for more. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) could make a facility carbon-negative with smart implementation. If companies reduce energy and resource sources first by implementing closed-loop systems and monitoring, they must harness less carbon to mitigate its impact.
Therefore, expanding CCS technologies can accommodate other facilities by capturing even more. Facilities can also reuse the carbon they get to make economies more circular.
Constant monitoring and auditing are required for this to be effective. It will verify the technology’s effectiveness and track how much carbon it captures. These numbers are critical for compliance reporting, especially when making promises to stakeholders and environmental, social and governance objectives. For example, the Sleipner project in Norway is an offshore natural gas initiative that needed to reduce its carbon dioxide from a max of 9.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent, which it achieved through CCS.
5. Improve supply chain efficiency
Supply chains are a deceptive source of carbon for manufacturers. Indirect emissions, described as Scope 3, account for around 84 per cent of an entity’s carbon footprint. However, many do not report their emissions to clients because of compliance failures or nonexistent requirements.
Entities can start reporting by contacting compliance consultants for advice on which agencies they should receive an audit from. In the meantime, referring to laws from government agencies, like the Environmental Protection Agency, is the best intermediary solution.
Most of this massive contribution is caused by inefficiencies throughout supply chains that lead to shipping delays, waste through defective products and more. Here are a few innovations simplifying supply chain accountability, making communications between manufacturer and partner more transparent and sustainable:
- Blockchain: Traces inventory with immutable, authenticated transaction logs.
- Transportation management systems: Optimises routes for reducing fuel emissions.
- Digital twins: Visualizes operational changes in programs before implementation to prevent waste from errors.
Carbon-neutral manufacturing strategies
Eliminating carbon emissions in manufacturing is a challenge and an opportunity. Many of the techniques associated with decarbonization correlate with innovation. Facilities adopting these strategies are more likely to succeed because of new technological implementations, operational refinement and strategic optimisations. Enterprises will save the planet while promoting their thought leadership within their niches for competitive advantages.
About the author:
Emily Newton is a tech and industrial journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of Revolutionized magazine. Subscribe to the Revolutionized newsletter for more content from Emily.
Reduce Carbon Footprint
Carbon Footprint
Emily Newton
carbon-neutral techniques
Smart Manufacturing
Automation
energy efficiency
Internet of Things
IoT
artificial intelligence
AI
Sensors
machine learning
ML
Renewable Energy
Blockchain
Digital twins
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