Reduce, reuse, recycle: How to make decarbonization profitable for businesses

By 2030, 53% of the world’s energy consumption will be lost as excess heat. How can we make good use of it?

Sustainability, energy efficiency and zero emissions are words on everyone’s lips.

As companies neglect their efforts to protect the environment are singled out, and those who pretend to be accused of greenwashing, is there a business case to encourage companies to take this route?

In this episode of The Big Question, Hannah Brown speaks with Kim Fausing, CEO of Danfoss, to find out how the company has turned green into a business advantage.

What is “competitive decarbonization”?

For Danfoss, the first step towards decarbonization was to optimize its infrastructure. Even though it’s an engineering giant, he says its approach is feasible for all companies, regardless of size.

“We do not carry out projects with a return on investment of more than three years,” explains Kim Fausing.

Using variable speed drives is a very simple change that they have implemented across all of their sites.

“Most electric motors used in various industrial applications are running or stopping. Which means they are either running 100% or they are 100% off. It’s not effective at all.

“If you combine it with a variable speed drive, Europe could save 10 billion euros for this basic application alone. »

This would also reduce CO2 emissions by 12.5 to 14.1 tonnes, the footprint of around two million European citizens.

This initiative is just one of 200 projects implemented by Danfoss to reduce its energy consumption and which have borne fruit.

“We do not want to decarbonize and no longer be competitive,” added Kim Fausing.

How can businesses save energy?

Reusing excess heat is another big opportunity for Europe.

As society becomes more digital and demand for data centers grows, so does the heat generated by them. By 2030, 53% of the world’s energy consumption will be lost as excess heat.

For example, it is predicted that the heat produced by data centers in the Frankfurt region, Germany, could be enough to heat the entire city.

It would be a shame to waste it. Imagine the money citizens could save.

According to some data, several regions will see energy prices increase by 50% in 2050. So, by reducing and reusing energy wherever possible, it would help keep these economies more competitive in the face of soaring prices. price.

In doing so, manufacturing industries could also almost double the gross value added of each unit of energy consumption by 2040, according to the Danfoss report on competitive decarbonization.

Additionally, the analysis shows that growing demand for zero-emission offerings could generate more than €11.3 billion in annual sales by 2030.

The Big Questionis a Euronews Business series in which we speak with industry leaders and experts to discuss the most important topics of the day.

Watch the full meeting with Danfoss CEO Kim Fausing in the video above.