Energy efficiency: lower costs, less emissions
Energy efficiency has become critically important to companies, governments and consumers due to soaring energy prices, rising demand in power-hungry developing nations, and concern about the effect of man-made emissions on climate change.
It’s one of ABB’s key areas of focus – in its own manufacturing processes and the products provided to customers. The company also promotes energy efficiency as a member of international organizations committed to fostering economic growth while limiting emissions of greenhouse gases.
How do we define energy efficiency? For ABB it means cutting energy use without reducing the output of energy-consuming plants and equipment. It means promoting behavior, working methods and manufacturing techniques which are less energy-intensive.
Energy efficiency is embedded in the products, systems and services that ABB provides throughout the supply chain, from the extraction of energy to its use by consumers. Life Cycle Assessment studies of installations using ABB products show their main environmental benefit consists in reducing customers’ energy use.
Two examples of how energy-efficient products can lower environmental impact:
The global installed base of ABB variable-speed drives saves enough energy to power the homes of five million people and cuts nearly 100 million tons of CO2 emissions.
Utilities and industries using an all-in-one ABB disconnecting circuit breaker instead of separate conventional technologies in substations can cut CO2 emissions by more than 200 tons over the product's lifetime.
There are, however, still obstacles to more widespread use of energy-efficient products. These include institutional and legal barriers, along with a tendency among project owners to focus on the initial purchase price of a product rather than its value, in terms of total savings over a product’s working life.
ABB’s own activities are not energy-intensive, with annual greenhouse gas emissions from its operations totaling 1.7 million tons. Nevertheless, the company is in the midst of a two-year program to cut energy use by five percent per manufactured unit.
Simple measures can have a large impact.
ABB in Germany is seeking a 15 percent energy saving at its Mannheim headquarters through five steps to improve insulation.
In Sweden, deep energy savings have been made at a machinery unit in Västerås, by using energy-efficient equipment for precision work and operating the ventilation and ovens for shorter periods.
The savings are measured and monitored by ABB’s global network of some 400 employees responsible for sustainability issues.