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This planet of ours runs on energy, most of it harmful. Fossil fuels supply about 84% of the world’s power, with it mainly comprising of coal, petroleum and natural gas. This gift from our long dead reptilian friends and its overuse has allowed great damage to the environment. The combustion and transportation of such fuels has led to global warming, a rise in the sea level, acid rains, oil spills, you name it.
Well with all this in mind, a need for a reliable, renewable source of energy was realized and it is all we talk about today. Renewable energy has been around since 200 BC, in the form of water wheels, and much later on, around 1590 in the form of windmills.
An early water wheel
With the advancements in technology these sources are easier to access, and are of high importance to companies wanting to survive and grow in the market. A company could adopt renewable energy for the following reasons-
1. Lower energy bills: As fossil fuels become harder to come across, their prices go up. As a result, more companies are moving towards solar energy, as they prove to be inexpensive when compared to fossil fuels in the long run.
2. Public relations: The goodwill of a company is one its greatest assets, and by going green, your company can run great and look great too.
3. Stimulating the economy: Companies have the power to create employment and further stimulate a country’s economy. When a company adopts a renewable source of energy, they indirectly provide employment to those working in those respective industries as, operations for solar and wind energy require more man power than traditional sources of energy.
4. Little to no service disruption: Renewable sources of energy are more stable and are less likely to affect the daily functioning of any organization. This allows for consistent performance with an upper hand over competitors who failed to do the same.
5. Fewer global warming emissions: Coal and Natural Gas are the main contributors to global warming, and while the installation and manufacturing processes of renewable sources aren’t entirely environment friendly, the damage caused is much lower.
6. High Return on Investment: While adopting renewable sources of energy may prove to be a big investment, it pays off in the long run. Organizations can see a drop in energy costs and maintenance costs, and are able to improve their image in the society.
Let’s have a look at a few companies who took the green mile-
1. Intel: A company famous for its processors, it now leads the way in terms of going green.
Intel uses around 3,100,000,000 kWh, drawing its energy from wind, solar, hydro and biomass. They have also installed a total of 3 million square feet of solar panels at sites in 9 countries. The company has invested $185m across 2000 energy conservation projects. The electricity used by the company in the US and EU come from 100% green and renewable sources. That’s about 73% of their global power use with further improvements planned, with an aim of achieving 100% power use from green sources globally.
2. Apple: This company has most of its operations based in Asia, a continent very familiar with problems relating to Co2 emissions.
So, to combat this issue Apple has taken a carbon neutral approach, where they aim to and have acquired a number of solar farms, providing sustainable energy to all their data centers.
Solar energy panels atop Apple's Campus
They have also taken up a new energy storage project, in order to extend their carbon neutral concepts to their supply chain and products.
As of 2018, Apple’s retail stores and office centers are running on 100% renewable energy, globally.
3. Berkshire Hathaway: Hathaway’s geothermal operations comprise of 10 geo thermal power plants in the imperial valley of south California, which is again taken care of by its subsidiary Cal Energy operations.
This geothermal project has a capacity of 349MW, and five of its geothermal plants- Vulcan, Salton Sea 1, Elmore, Hoch and Salton Sea 3 provide energy to the city of Riverside, Salt River Project, the Imperial Irrigation District and the Sacramento Municipal utility District, under Long term portfolio arrangements.
Geo-thermal projects
4. Adobe: Being one of the largest software service provision companies in the world, Adobe has taken upon itself the need for going green. They now deliver their services through the use of wind and solar energy.
Wind turbines at Adobe campus
They have also made a commitment to deliver their products through renewable electricity by 2035. In 2018, Adobe signed the first ever “renewable energy collaboration deal”, procuring 10 MW of wind energy which is also, equivalent to their power usage in California.
5. Google: Google being one of the most innovative companies out there, were quick to go green, with the company being carbon neutral since 2007. In their commitments, they have procured cooling systems that reduce energy use by 30% and have built new servers from old ones.
Google uses 735,000,000 KWH of green energy every year, most of it powering their data centers.
Google data centers
Businesses have the power to change and inspire everyone following suit. Almost every Business that runs today has contributed to Global Warming, and their conscious effort to switch to cleaner less harmful sources is a way to make amends. Going green can reduce pollution, reduce greenhouse gases and can help preserve wildlife.
These clean sources of energy are available in almost all the regions, with Solar, Wind, Hydro and geothermal power capabilities seen around every corner. Solar energy is quite popular and for a very good reason, studies show that the sun produces as much energy every hour, as the humans use within a year and as a result the solar markets in some countries, including Japan and Germany, have been growing by 31% each year over the past decade.
So, as we can see, Businesses today are emphasizing on cleaner means of operations, and this will benefit communities, who will not have to live near polluting factories, this can help preserve wildlife as the rate of deforestation reduces and also improve environmental health. Businesses of course, as discussed earlier will notice lesser and lesser operation costs and can elevate their companies in the eyes of the public. With all this said it is comforting to say, there is still hope for a greener, healthier future. -- By Zulfiqar Tabassi
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