Renewable Energy in Manufacturing

Recent geopolitical uncertainty has intensified the climate crisis. The availability and price of oil are in flux, underscoring a global necessity to look for alternative energy sources. Fossil fuels are in any event a finite resource, so it makes no sense to continue to rely on them for manufacturing or any other purpose. We desperately need a sustainable energy future, and this means an immediate scaling up of investment into renewable energy sources. Added to this, we must take on the increasingly advanced technologies required to connect renewables to our existing infrastructure.

Switching To Renewables

In 2022, this programme seems to be on track. The decreasing costs of renewables paired with rapid technological improvements have helped make them more competitive in many regions. But there is also concern that renewables cannot be integrated quickly enough to provide the enormous amounts of energy required for manufacturing. This energy goes into running heating and cooling systems, operating heavy and automated equipment, and providing light and climate control through manufacturing facilities, among other things. Some energy sources like fuel oils, coal, natural gas and petrochemicals are also used as feedstock when producing, for example, plastics and chemicals.