Imagine a world where buildings generate their own energy, transportation is emission-free, and industries operate in a closed-loop system. This is the promise of a net-zero future, and technology is making it a reality.
This powerful convergence of tech and sustainability is already creating tangible results, with companies across sectors leveraging cutting-edge solutions to reduce their carbon footprint and drive positive change.
In this exploration, we'll uncover how technology is being deployed to achieve net-zero goals, especially by today’s businesses.
Today we’re surfing with Dave Worthington, Managing Director at Verco, a BIP Company.
While we already have the majority of the solutions required to achieve key sustainability goals such as net zero, technology plays a critical role in providing the data that gives decision makers the confidence to implement these projects.
There are lots of tools available to track company level progress towards net zero but few that allow the centralised tracking of individual initiatives and their impact on group targets. This is where MyVerco, a new platform we’re currently developing, comes in as it is designed to provide a dynamic view of net zero progress and the ability to explore different scenarios and the impact of suggested projects to close any gap to target.
A number of our clients are achieving significant reductions in carbon emissions by rolling out a combination of energy efficiency measures, heat pumps, roof-mounted solar and energy storage on their buildings. They are also transitioning their car and van fleets to EVs and HGVs to alternative fuels. Data platforms are also providing more detailed information on the relative sustainability of their supply chains, informing supplier selection processes.
The most common barrier is fear of the unknown when adopting new technologies so successful case studies from peers go a long way to addressing this issue. This means that someone has to be prepared to pilot any new solution and take the associated risk of failure and balance this against the competitive advantage that comes with enhanced sustainability performance.
These are generally sectors which benefit from standardised processes where technology can help roll-out common solutions at scale. Retail is a good example of this which has been an early adopter of sustainability-related technologies to reduce emissions and improve resource efficiency across their value-chains.
Sectors with more bespoke processes such as manufacturing are also starting to benefit from technology innovation, such as using digital twin models to target the maximum theoretical efficiency possible for a given facility or process.
The role of government should be to set a clear long-term policy roadmap aligned with national and global sustainability goals that gives businesses the confidence to invest in technology innovation.
There are lots of exciting use cases for AI-based technologies in sustainability but also a need to minimise data-related energy consumption to ensure a net reduction in carbon emissions.
I am most excited about the potential for further innovation in solar technologies as we move towards the ultimate goal of a world entirely powered by renewable energy. There has been an incredible reduction in the cost of photovoltaic panels over the last couple of decades but with innovations such as solar paint, almost any surface could become an energy generator in the future.
Dave Worthington is a leading technical and commercial advisor on energy efficiency, distributed energy systems, building integrated renewables, energy services and sustainable building design. He provides input to zero carbon building and infrastructure policy development and advises major organizations on the optimum route to net zero.
Dave has spoken at events across Europe on energy efficiency project development and financing. He has been involved in many industry working groups on the topics of low and zero carbon buildings with the Better Buildings Partnership, UK Green Buildings Council, UK Net Zero Building Standard and Zero Carbon Hub. He is currently a member of BSI’s Energy Management Committee and Retrofit Standard Task Group, and IMechE’s Renewable Power Committee.