Energy transition services

Carbon footprint reduction is of increasing importance for (amongst others) energy intensive (agro) industries, power plants, offices, hospitals, nursing and residential homes.

The growing concerns about climate change more and more lead to national and supra-national energy policies in which the carbon footprint of nations, companies and households has to be reduced drastically before 2050 (EU-target: CO2-neutral in 2050; in 2030 55% less CO2 emission than in 1990). It will be a huge task to achieve those goals.

For energy intensive companies this for instance means, that they have to think about redesigning their (production) processes in such a way that one or more of the following energetic sub goals will be achieved (in order to contribute to the overall national goals):

  • energy saving: reduce energy consumption by a large percentage (e.g. 20%-90%)
  • reduce the consumption of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) and related CO2 emissions (preferably with 55% or more)
  • integration of sustainable energy in production processes (on local level)
  • electrification of production processes (in combination with the usage of electricity from renewable – or at least CO2-free – sources)
  • for remaining fossil fuel consumption: CO2-capture and storage
  • supply of residual heat to a district heating network or local heating network to neighbouring low level heat (residential, industrial)  users.

The extent of the intended savings / reductions requires structural changes in the production processes. To achieve these ambitious goals an in-depth energy analysis and exploration study of alternative energy concepts has to be made, comprising amongst others the following steps:

  • analysis the basic processes in the light of (fossil) energy consumption
  • evaluation of energetic losses in the basic processes
  • can the losses be prevented, or else the energy recovered and reused?
  • can the efficiency of the current heat (and/or mechanical work) production processes be improved?
  • are there possibilities for introduction of sustainable energy in the production processes (e.g solar, wind, biomass, environmental heat etc.)
  • define a set of interesting alternative energy concepts/scenario’s that potentially can reduce overall energy consumption and carbon footprint
  • calculate the energetic effect of alternative energy concepts/scenario’s with respect to primary energy consumption, CO2-emissions, renewable energy consumption etc.
  • calculate the financial effect of alternative energy concepts/scenario’s with respect to the total cost for purchasing electricity and natural gas/oil and taking into account energy taxes, sustainable energy surcharges and/or subsidies
  • estimation of required investments and profitability calculations
  • concept/scenario evaluation for expected yearly changes (in e.g. energy prices and subsidies), risk analysis and effect on overall feasibility.

Often such energy analyses / explorations are not regular work for a lot of companies. CerTa Veritas, which has its roots in energy conversion processes, can provide support in this and prepare a clear analysis and well documented and substantiated report, that our clients can use to take well-considered steps on the path to further sustainability and a drastically reduced carbon footprint. 

In the past we conducted energy studies with respect to alternative energy concepts for amongst others energy intensive greenhouse horticulture companies, food and animal feed companies, glass production companies, electricity and district heating companies, municipalities and hospitals.

Contact for more information: 

Jacques de Ruijter, principal consultant

jacques.deruijter@certaveritas.com

Tel. ++31 6 1506 3675

Heat pumps can use ambient (or residual) heat to create an ‘all electric’ heat source for your process without carbon footprint at your company. However, heat pumps must be carefully integrated into your process for successful application. CerTa Veritas can perform such integration studies.

Example of study into the potential of a heat pump in a geothermal system for heating greenhouses. By using a heatpump the thermal capacity of the geothermal source can be increased significantly and profitability improved.
Example of how the yearly heat demand of a greenhouse could be optimally filled in with a sustainable geothermal heat source which is augmented with a heat pump to increase the capacity of the (expensive) geothermal source. This leads to an optimal solution. (Original natural gas consumption could be reduced with 93.4%).