Benchmarking Utility Usage: Comparing Carbon Footprint Across Industries
With the climate shifting due to all the carbon emissions released by people, many corporate entities are beginning to notice the environmental damage they cause. It’s important to have a full scope and understanding of your carbon emissions to get a good start at tackling them head-on. Benchmarking utility usage, which compares resource consumption to industry standards and best practices, is an effective method for reaching this goal.
The Carbon Conundrum: Industries and Their Footprints
Certain industries are more likely to be more energy-intensive than others. Below we will look into what can be considered some dominant sectors and their bearing on the carbon footprint:
Manufacturing
This industry is accountable for a significant share of the global energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions, as many processes, like metal production, oil processing, and chemical conversion, are energy-intensive. The profiles represent the various processes of energy consumption in this sector and how certain processes cause high CO2 emissions:
Energy-Intensive Processes
Plant and equipment manufacturing (vehicles, machinery) consumes a lot of energy, generally generated through burning fossil fuels, resulting in considerable emissions. With energy taking a big portion of a business’s monthly expense, consider using Utility Bidder to help you compare rates when choosing a potential energy supplier you want to work with to ensure lower rates down the line.
Chemical Reactions
Many chemical manufacturing processes rely heavily on chemical reactions. These reactions frequently include inherent risks in the form of undesirable by-products or heat energy. These by-products can emerge as both exothermic and endothermic energy, as well as unwanted materials, posing problems to maintaining a safe and effective production process.
Supply Chain Complexity
The industry is often global, and thus it causes intricate supply systems that involve transportation across great distances, which further contributes to its emissions. For instance, cargo ships and planes consume a lot of fuel for energy in transporting goods over long distances and impact greenhouse emissions significantly.
Transportation
Demand for green and less polluting cars rises as cars powered by fossil fuels are pointed out to be among the major sources of greenhouse gases, particularly within the transport industry. This covers both commercial and personal transportation. For example, the big Foley vehicles like the Jeeps, buses, and trucks powered by diesel and petrol fuel are major emitters of the greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere.There is also substantial emission of greenhouse gases in the aviation industry due to the aeroplane engines, particularly when the aeroplanes are within the backdrop of the take-off and landing. As much as growth in the aviation sector has occurred, it will augment the sector’s emission of carbon.
Electricity Generation
Availability, usage and distribution of electricity serve as one of the biggest indicators of our carbon footprint. Hence, as the demand for power increases, we need to shift towards using green energy, to cut down on our impact on the environment and climate change. Let us look at the various forms of energy sources :
- Fossil Fuel Power Plants: Coal and gas-fired power are big emitters. Coal releases a huge amount of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, while gas is also a greenhouse gas but cleaner in the sense that the fumes do not accumulate promptly in our atmosphere but over a long period.
- Renewable Energy Sources: Solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower are greener and low carbon but intermittent and limited. This has caused a global shift to expand our knowledge and adoption of these methods.
- Transmission and Distribution Losses: Energy losses occur during electricity transmission and distribution via power systems, increasing the overall carbon footprint as more fuel must be generated to make up for the never-ending losses.
Agriculture
Cattle and sheep farming produces a lot of methane, a harmful gas with a short life in our atmosphere but highly efficient at trapping heat. Deforestation of agricultural land and fertilisers also add to the carbon footprint in the sector. Often overlooked, agriculture is a big contributor to global emissions. Let’s look at the carbon emitters in agriculture:
Livestock Methane
Enteric fermentation in ruminant animals (cattle and sheep) produces huge volumes of methane, a greenhouse gas linked to rising temperatures due to its insulating effect on our atmosphere.
Agricultural Land Use
Deforestation for agricultural land increases carbon dioxide emissions due to the heavy machinery involved and lowers forests’ natural carbon storage capacities.
Fertiliser Use
Nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas known for being 300x more potent than its associate carbon dioxide, is generated during the manufacture and application of nitrogen-based fertilisers.
Construction
Manufacturing building materials such as cement and steel requires a lot of energy in their production, resulting in huge carbon emissions. Buildings’ operational energy usage also contributes to the sector’s overall footprint. The construction sector’s carbon footprint arises from various sources:
- Building Materials: The manufacturing of cement and steel, two crucial building materials, is very energy-intensive and emits considerable volumes of CO2.
- Construction Activities: Fuel usage during construction activities such as demolition and excavation increases the sector’s carbon footprint.
- Operational Energy: Buildings’ energy use for heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting has a substantial impact on their entire carbon footprint.
Understanding these industry-specific contributors allows for targeted benchmarking efforts. Here are some additional considerations:
Industry Variations
When comparing several production plants within an industry, it becomes evident that the global environmental imprint, evident by our growing carbon footprint, varies considerably depending on the selected manufacturing processes, incorporated technologies, and energy supplies.
Geographical Differences
Some of the specific factors they have discovered include the climate, which dictates the extent to which renewable resources can be harnessed, and the laws and regulations governing various countries concerning industries worldwide.
Life Cycle Assessment
It’s important to take a life cycle approach to emissions by conducting a life cycle assessment to get a complete picture of emissions in the production of the product, from the extraction of raw materials for its manufacture, through transport and usage, to its disposal.
Conclusion
From the gathered data, businesses can observe their strengths and weaknesses and create roadmaps to better the sustainability of their industries. This is achieved by targeting high-emission zones in the sector, identified by in-depth benchmarking and comparisons.