Key Highlights

• Energy efficiency serves as the cornerstone for achieving industry decarbonisation, as it leads to minimising waste, promoting cleaner technologies, and optimising resource consumption.
• Achieving industrial energy efficiency involves trade-offs, such as managing costs vs. environmental impact, reliability vs. renewability, and pacing technological advances with infrastructure readiness.
• Challenges in the journey towards energy efficiency and decarbonisation include interconnected industries, energy transition complexities, policy and regulation issues, and the need for continuous technological innovation.
• Emerging technologies, including smart grids, energy-efficient machinery, and electric vehicles, are reshaping global energy use.
• Industry decarbonisation demands a collaborative effort among governments, industries, and individuals to strike a balance between energy efficiency, alternative sources, and policy frameworks.

With mounting concerns about climate change on the rise, industry decarbonisation has become an imperative for governments and businesses, given how industrial energy consumption is still predominantly based on fossil fuels. In relation to this, energy combustion and industrial processes account for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions year after year (a staggering 89% in 2022).  

At the heart of industry decarbonisation efforts lies the quest for energy efficiency, as industry consumes more energy than any other sector. This article explores key factors surrounding industry decarbonisation, including the trade-offs involved in balancing these factors and the challenges associated with current strategies being applied in various industries. 

Energy Efficiency: The Driving Force Towards Decarbonisation

Energy efficiency refers to the ability to achieve a certain task with the least amount of energy input. And when it comes to industry decarbonisation, energy efficiency is largely considered a key enabler, as it helps minimise energy waste, promote cleaner technologies, and optimise resource utilisation. Hence, it is essential for industries to evaluate energy efficiency measures alongside alternative energy sources, especially for sectors that are currently leading the charge to net zero, and even more so for those that are considered hard to decarbonise.  

However, the journey towards energy efficiency and industry decarbonisation is not without its challenges. It involves key factors that need to be balanced, such as: 

•     Cost vs. Impact – Sustainable and low-carbon technologies often come with higher initial costs. On the other hand, sustainable options offer more operational savings over time, leading to reduced energy costs and lower environmental impacts in the long run. To bridge the gap between these two factors, governments and subsidies can incentivise energy efficiency initiatives — an example of which, albeit non-industrial, is the United Kingdom’s ECO+ scheme, which was set to help up to 300,000 of the country’s least energy-efficient homes upgrade their wall insulation and, in the process, tackle fuel poverty. 

•     Renewability vs. Reliability – Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are weather-dependent, which can pose challenges to their long-term and consistent reliability. To maintain a reliable energy supply from renewable sources, effective energy storage solutions, such as advanced batteries and flexible, smart energy grids, are essential, especially during periods of low renewable energy production. 

•     Technological Advances vs. Infrastructure – As reported by the International Energy Agency (IEA), a global-scale transition to a more sustainable energy system requires “more sophisticated approaches” to meet the expanded electrification demands, especially during peak periods. This same IEA report states that insufficient investment in electrical infrastructure has rendered electricity grids ill-equipped to handle the challenge of long-term reliability.