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ELECTRIFICATION
Leveraging the 'Electrification of
Everything' to Reduce Carbon
Emissions
This commentary from Siemens USA notes how the push for electrification promotes
cleaner energy, sustainability, and efficiency.
Matt Helgeson
he " electrification of everything " is
underway to not only decarbonize,
but also support optimized, safer and
more resilient processes and systems.
This concept means that we are replacing
our fossil fuel economy with wind,
solar, hydro, electric vehicles (EVs), heat
pumps, and more. This transformation
will be made possible-at scale-with
the application of digital technologies.
However, the challenge arises to electrify
everything before the grid is fully " green "
if we are going to appropriately and effectively
address climate change.
From electrifying buildings and vehicles,
and navigating the impact to the
grid, the technology to accomplish a fully
electric transformation is available today.
And now's the time to utilize these technologies
to ensure that everything that
can be connected to the grid is electrified.
We're running parallel races to transition
power generation to renewable sources,
improve the grid to manage those sources,
and replace infrastructure that's ready
to use the power delivered to it.
T
Electrification of Transportation
An exciting and rapidly advancing industry
transformation is the electrification of transport.
According to Car and Driver, 2024 is
expected to set a new record for EVs sold
and their share of the total market. Further,
the EV market is projected to have a compound
annual growth rate of about 10%
projected through 2028, leading to more
than $900 billion in sales that year.
As the need to reduce carbon emissions
has become clear, we're seeing
unprecedented support and funding from
the federal government to deploy EV infrastructure.
State and local governments
are increasingly developing standards to
require the manufacturing and sale of EVs.
Ford debuted an electric version of
its popular F-150 truck with the F-150
Lightning. The Ford Charge Station Pro is
38
needed to enable Ford Intelligent Backup
Power, a system that allows the Lightning
to become an interactive part of
the home and be used as a power generation
source. Ford Intelligent Backup
Power utilizes bidirectional power technology
to provide energy and security to
customers' homes in the event of a power
outage. While bidirectional charging
technology has been a concept for some
time, this is the first time we're seeing it
implemented at this scale.
Siemens eMobility worked with Ford
on its Charge Station Pro. The new
charge station features a peak power of
19.2 kW, achieving the maximum power
rating currently available for a Level 2
charge station. Additional features will be
available with firmware updates to the
charger that will help customers interact
even further with the grid.
Electrification of Buildings
Smart buildings also are on the rise. Buildings
account for nearly 40% of energyrelated
CO2 emissions annually. Utilizing
advanced technologies, buildings can be
smart, safe, and carbon neutral-capable
of capitalizing on data to meet sustainability
and efficiency targets. With grid edge
technology, smart buildings can support
reliable
green
energy
electromobility
growth by leveraging the capabilities of
automation and monitoring systems.
Up to 50% of any given building's energy
is wasted. But utilizing smart building
technology can ensure that the infrastructure
consumes only the energy that it
absolutely needs. Implementing smart
technology reduces the emissions footprint
of our existing built environment,
and by reducing energy consumption
supports the increasing power demand
necessary to support the transition to
electrification, particularly in data centers.
Novva Data Centers owns and operates
state-of-the-art wholesale and multi-tenant
co-location data centers (Figure 1) in Utah,
www.powermag.com
1. Novva Data Centers has upgraded the
technology at its data centers to improve sustainability
and reduce downtime. Courtesy:
Novva Data Centers
Colorado, and Nevada. When it acquired
an existing facility, Novva needed to upgrade
its technology to meet the company's
sustainability goals. A key step was
migrating from water cooling to air cooling;
however, this upgrade would require a
more sophisticated control system, which
Siemens supported through its technology
that allows control of both water and aircooling
operations. The controllers are set
up in a flat architecture, which improves
redundancy. That means that if one chiller
faults, the other three can adjust to keep
the facility at the right temperature and
avoid overheating. In the first 18 months
since the controls were installed, the facility
has had zero downtime-and Novva is
saving 2 million kWh of energy.
Many companies have recognized the
business case for sustainability and energy
efficiency. The commitment to net-zero operational
emissions stems from the recognition
that corporations have a responsibility
to accelerate decarbonization and address
the causes of climate change now.
Electrifying existing and new infrastructure
is an investment in the future
of our businesses and our world. This
is the moment for sustainability in the
U.S.-and, optimistically, our decarbonization
goals can be achieved with
technologies available today. By transitioning
to an electrified future and
digitizing our infrastructure, we will
increase competitiveness and improve
our impact on future generations. ■
-Matt Helgeson is head of Sustainability
for Siemens USA.
POWER | April 2024
http://www.powermag.com
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