The energy industry is on the frontlines of efforts to tackle climate change with expectations for increased sustainability on the rise from a variety of stakeholders – from shareholders and potential employees to regulators and the press. Transforming ways of working and business models to be greener and finding innovative ways of reducing the carbon footprint can also have substantial benefits in terms of cost efficiency, safety, culture, and reputation. As a result, oil, gas, renewable and utility companies now have an imperative to accelerate the energy transition with the latest technology and best practices.
Digital technology has a key role to play in the energy transition, opening up game-changing improvements in carbon transparency and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Adopting greener ways of working to reduced fuel consumption and waste also make a substantial contribution to reducing emissions and decarbonising your operations. Take inspiration from these four tips to help make the most of the latest digital technology to work greener.
Increase carbon transparency
Bringing together and standardising all your data in the cloud makes it possible to track emissions more accurately. With effective emissions tracking in place, you can set net-zero targets and identify opportunities for sustainability measures. You can also monitor progress towards emissions reduction goals and easily report sustainability metrics to stakeholders, customers, and investors. It’s greener to raise awareness of where emissions are coming from.
For example, putting emissions tracking data in the hands of your workers enables everyone from field technicians to onshore operators to understand their contribution to reducing environmental impact. By understanding where emissions are coming from in the context of operations, they understand the impact that their decision-making at work can have. This carbon transparency into operations makes it easier to deliver on stakeholder and investor expectations, emissions targets and industry regulations.
Continuously optimise energy consumption and CCS
Use digital twin technology and real-time monitoring to reduce emissions by optimising performance, energy consumption and CCS. Simulation technology makes it possible to test and predict the performance of physical systems under different scenarios to improve optimisations. Monitoring the behaviour and performance of these systems further supports optimisations. It’s greener to cut emissions with data-driven optimisations.
For instance, in supply chain optimisation, simulation can be used to model the supply chain and identify opportunities to reduce carbon emissions, optimise production scheduling, and determine the most efficient transportation routes. For a case like energy nomination, machine learning models can help predict the energy consumption of any operating scenario to fine-tune nominations accuracy while removing up to 85% of manual work. All of this will lead to significant resource savings, reducing materials, time spent and, of course, emissions.
Reduce waste
Eliminate waste in your operations that causes unnecessary emissions by using machine learning algorithms to optimise planning and digital tools to support remote working. With predictive analytics, you can improve the accuracy of just-in-time maintenance, repair, and replacement to decrease the amount of work performed. Remote working reduces the need to transport personnel, supplies, and equipment, reducing transport emissions. It’s greener to reduce waste with smarter planning.
For instance, accurately planning in advance for maintenance or other work at a rig allows you to transport the resources needed more efficiently. This optimised advanced planning can reduce CO2 emissions from the consumption of water, fuel and materials while minimising the movement of people in preparation for on-site work – making it not only greener, but safer too . With a data-driven approach, actions can be prioritised to continuously reduce waste and progress towards net-zero at scale.
Build a sustainable culture
Build a forward-thinking culture of sustainability that benefits everyone by providing workers with technology that is digital by design and includes support for greener ways of working. Paired with sustainability training and incentives, this encourages sustainable practices throughout your organisation. It’s greener to encourage sustainable practices.
Encouraging your employees to practice sustainability is also important for attracting top talent. As many as 85% of university students considering a career in oil & gas believe it is important that future employers have policies for addressing climate change. When workers feel that they are contributing to a greener industry, they have a platform for innovation and creativity to express ideas that can further accelerate sustainability initiatives.
All of these greener best practices and ways of working require a high-performance and secure cloud platform to get more out of your data. This is at the heart of allowing you to take a data-driven approach to your sustainability initiatives. Learn what to look for and how to accelerate your energy transition in the cloud in “Reimagining data management in oil & gas“.
