Table of Content:
Introduction
Over the past few years, there has been a global awakening on the need to better address sustainability-related issues. Enterprises now know that Environmental, Social, Economical and Governance matters are more important than ever for business.
Enterprises, as such, are looking at digital investments that help them measure and track sustainability goals. The business case for sustainability is also strong. Reports show that enterprises that focus on sustainability not only increase operational efficiencies but also attract and retain better talent, enter new markets, and add to the top-line growth.
Why must enterprises focus on ESG more than ever?
ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) is no longer a niche concern but is a critical factor for businesses of all sizes. This focus allows them to improve their financial performance, manage risk, enhance their brand reputation, and attract investors and customers.
Even investors are prioritizing companies with strong ESG practices. 85% of chief investment officers reported that ESG is an important factor in their investment decisions. Embracing ESG principles and prioritizing ESG can bring in an impressive 63% positive equity return.
Governments too, are pushing for stricter environmental regulations and social responsibility. Embracing ESG prepares companies for this evolving landscape as mandates like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Governments are also implementing different taxes to ensure that enterprises follow sustainability practices.
The COP28 (Conference of the Parties) event held in Dubai in November 2023, saw an increased focus on global climate action and underscored the urgency of ESG initiatives. The Dubai government, for example, has implemented a carbon tax. Several European countries like France and Germany have mandated reports on ESG performance.
Buildings represent 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions, including 28% in operational emissions and 11% in building materials and construction. Reducing carbon emissions in buildings will be critical to achieving the Paris climate goals and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Efficient, zero carbon buildings take advantage of available, cost-effective technology to reduce emissions while increasing health, equity and economic prosperity in local communities. A whole lifecycle approach implies a balancing of short and long term emissions. A few institutes are already leading the net-zero game setting trends for others to follow suit like the SEE Institute.
Clearly, sustainability is no longer a choice for enterprises, but a necessity that positions businesses for long-term success. While all industries are prioritizing ESG, some sectors such as smart buildings, facility management, manufacturing, energy, and utilities have a greater natural fit in their potential to drive measurable outcomes.
The core pillars of sustainability are energy efficiency, responsible waste management, and optimized and cleaner processes. Adopting renewable energy sources, promoting energy efficiency, and reducing carbon emissions also become essential to meet sustainability and ESG goals.
As the focus on ESG increases, achieving ambitious sustainability goals requires a paradigm shift. The power of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) comes into play here, and ThingWorx, a leading IIoT platform by PTC, is poised to be a game-changer in driving sustainability agendas.
How to achieve green goals with ThingWorx
PTC’s ThingWorx – an IIoT platform, acts as a central nervous system connecting a vast network of environmental sensors, equipment, and building management systems. It connects the physical world and the digital world and helps businesses collect data from industrial equipment, sensors, and other connected devices. This data can then be used to improve environmental performance in several ways.
A global leader in IIoT, ThingWorx allows enterprises to maximize their IIoT potential while delivering practical solutions that quickly return value. This real-time data collection and analysis empowers businesses to:
Drive towards zero emissions by optimizing energy use.
ThingWorx helps companies monitor energy consumption across their operations, identify areas of waste, and optimize processes to reduce energy usage. ThingWorx connects to sensors and meters across a facility, providing real-time data on energy use. This granular visibility allows companies to identify areas of energy waste, like inefficient equipment or unnecessary lighting.
The platform also helps organizations reduce their carbon footprint and move towards zero emissions by reducing energy consumption and interruption, maximizing asset efficiency, and avoiding unnecessary service engagements.
Monitor and optimize industrial processes
Enterprises can make data-driven decisions to optimize processes and reduce energy consumption using ThingWorx. They can improve operation and production schedules based on peak energy costs or automatically shut down idle equipment. Sensor data enables preventive maintenance to avoid equipment issues and breakdowns that could lead to energy spikes and unnecessary repairs.
Manufacturing companies, for example, can use ThingWorx to improve operational efficiency and achieve overall equipment effectiveness. They can use the platform to reduce energy use and associated emissions.
Oil and gas companies can monitor pipelines with ThingWorx and prevent environmental damage from leaks. The platform can also be used to monitor operational processes and machine health and ensure regulatory compliance. Smart buildings can use ThingWorx to optimize HVAC systems based on real-time occupancy data.
Predictive Maintenance, Track and Trace and more
Through ThingWorx, enterprises can implement predictive maintenance strategies. By analyzing data from IoT-connected devices, they can detect potential equipment failures before they occur. This minimizes downtime, reduces the need for emergency repairs (which can be resource-intensive), and extends the lifespan of equipment, thereby lowering waste and improving sustainability.
ThingWorx enables enterprises to track and optimize their supply chains. By monitoring transportation routes, inventory levels, and production processes, they can identify opportunities to reduce waste, minimize transportation emissions, and ensure efficient resource allocation.
ThingWorx allows enterprises to build the safeguards that improve performance and energy use, ensure compliance with stringent environmental regulations, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Achieve carbon neutrality by enabling Carbon Offset Strategies
Carbon neutrality goals are rising in importance, especially as achieving ‘net-zero’ emissions by 2050, becomes essential to avert climate change. Enterprises need to monitor and optimize energy consumption, reduce waste through productivity and quality improvements, and track the environmental impact of their supply chain.
ThingWorx enables enterprises to decrease their carbon footprint and enable carbon offset strategies. It connects to sensors and meters across a facility, provides granular visibility allows companies to identify and address areas of energy waste, and facilitates the tracking and verification of emission reduction efforts. ThingWorx can integrate with carbon offset platform companies to seamlessly purchase and manage carbon offsets to compensate for their remaining emissions.
From tracking the environmental performance of suppliers, encouraging them to adopt sustainable practices, and analyzing data on resource consumption during production ThingWorx helps enterprises lower their environmental impact and move along the path to carbon neutrality.
Streamline sustainable practices
ThingWorx connects to various industrial machines, sensors, and devices and collects real-time data on energy consumption, resource use, and environmental performance. Enterprises can then optimize energy distribution based on real-time demand and generation data and integrate renewable energy sources more effectively. This becomes especially useful for sectors such as manufacturing, automotive, oil and gas, Smart Cities, and more.
Enterprises can also streamline sustainable practices using ThingWorx to collect, analyze, and act on real-time data and benchmark the company’s performance against industry standards or historical data to meet their green goals. They can also generate comprehensive sustainability reports, track progress toward their environmental goals, and demonstrate a genuine commitment to sustainability using this platform.
Optimize building efficiency and air quality
ThingWorx assists in optimizing building efficiency and air quality as it easily brings together various building systems like HVAC units, lighting grids, and power meters and other building utilities. It simplifies real-time monitoring of energy consumption across different areas of a building.
The platform analyzes energy data and identifies areas of energy waste from inefficient equipment operation, unnecessary lighting usage during unoccupied hours, etc. ThingWorx suggests actions to adjust temperature settings, schedule lighting based on occupancy, or implement preventive maintenance for equipment and optimize energy usage.
ThingWorx easily integrates with air quality sensors and monitors factors like temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, and dust particles. It provides real-time air quality data to proactively detect and deter potential problems like poor ventilation or malfunctioning air filtration systems. This sensor data can also be used to make adjustments that optimize airflow and maintain comfortable and healthy air quality for building occupants.
Conclusion
ThingWorx can potentially integrate with other systems like Building Automation Systems (BAS), sensors, etc for a more comprehensive view of operations. It facilitates benchmarking company performance against industry standards, increases operational efficiency, enables preventive maintenance, and reduces costly equipment breakdowns that impact green goals.
ThingWorx enables enterprises to integrate IoT technology into their operations, gaining actionable insights that support their sustainability initiatives. By leveraging real-time data and analytics, enterprises can make informed decisions that drive efficiencies, reduce waste, conserve resources, and ultimately achieve their green goals.
Climate change makes it clear that we are not the masters of the planet, but the stewards of nature. ThingWorx streamlines sustainable practices by providing a platform to collect, analyze, and act on real-time data and helps enterprises reduce their carbon footprint and minimize the environmental impact due to unplanned outages. By adopting data-driven decision-making, ensuring operational optimization, and driving resource conservation, ThingWorx builds sustainability into the enterprise ecosystem and ensures steadfast commitment towards their green goals.
Connect with our team of ThingWorx experts to see how this platform can help your enterprise benchmark and achieve your green goals today!
After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
