Factories

Across the globe, manufacturers are increasingly developing new ways of using renewable energy to strengthen sustainability and competitiveness. Pivoting away from fossil fuels towards manufacturing products using renewable sources of energy is critical for all of our futures. Sadly, renewables still only accounts for just over 10% of final energy consumption for global manufacturing.

Large roof spaces and energy intensive processes are often a perfect combination for an investment in Solar PV or renewable heat technologies. Generally speaking the larger the onsite demand for electricity the better the returns from an investment.  This means many forward thinking manufacturers are now running the Return on Investment (ROI) numbers for renewable energy investments.

The opportunity is not only in financial returns, however, but also in growing market share as customers increasingly seek sustainable supply chain partners. There are now some excellent UK examples of innovative manufacturers going for net zero. These include:

• Innocent Drinks making a commitment to be net-zero by 2030 and to have taken out 10,000 tonnes of carbon from its operations by 2023
• Ibstock brick manufacturer who are launching their first net-zero factory as part of their ‘Sustainability 2025 Roadmap’
• Rolls Royce confirmed plans to be a net-zero company by 2030. The business is making huge investments in low emission aircraft engines.