Page 38 - Energize January 2022

VIEWS AND OPINION

“Energy, infrastructure, and Another example is the Melbourne Museum smart infrastructure upgrade which
industry are all converging, and shows an annual 42% reduction in energy consumption from a 2011 baseline. By
this means more opportunities upgrading to variable frequency drives to operate the pumps at Queensland Alumina
but also a need to approach Limited, they expect to save as much as 45% energy consumption. “The examples are
things differently” – Jeff Connolly all around us. Every day we sell technology which has a purpose which usually results
in the business impact of making something faster, cheaper and with less impact on the
Take for example Industry 4.0; the environment,” say Connolly.
Germans coined this term to prospectively
explain how manufacturing was entering Melbourne Cricket Ground
the fourth industrial revolution, so they Energy efficiency upgrades have confirmed the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s (MCG)
could prepare society for the change in an standing as one of the most environmentally sustainable stadia in the world.
ordered and planned way. “We mirrored Although these changes are happening with existing and readily available technology,
the German approach in Australia by every year Siemens alone spends almost AU$8 billion on research and development
focusing on getting the standards right, which one can imagine, future challenges can be expected to be solved even faster.
developing appropriate legal frameworks, Connolly believes that “many of the technologies that will be employed post 2030
encouraging new business models, and haven’t even been invented yet.”
developing the skills and education An example at hand comes from COP26 where Sophia Hamblin Wang from Australian
systems to produce people needed in this company MCi (Mineral Carbonisation International) beat out more than 2500 clean tech
environment.” companies from around the world to win the COP26 Clean Energy Start Up pitch battle.
According to Connolly, the energy MCi’s innovative solution locks away carbon in building materials such as bricks – using
transition needs to be viewed in a Siemens’ automation to support the process.
similar way, “holistically, but also
interconnected to Industry 4.0 and the Tapping the renewable potential
transition to much more intelligent On the flip side, Connolly recognises that for the energy we do use, we need to look at
infrastructure. “One thing impacts the decarbonisation of our industry and infrastructure, by increasing renewable sources.
other and the other, so you need to “Australia has incredible renewable assets in terms of abundant sunshine and wind and
view them as a whole.” lots of unoccupied space. With this we can play a bigger role in the region and in the
This all rings true when you see new world,” said Connolly.
energy models being established, such Australia is experiencing remarkable renewables growth – in the order of a record 7
as virtual power plants where buildings gigawatts of new renewable capacity installed last year. The nation has the largest uptake
are connected within a microgrid of household solar in the world. “When you look at a heat map, our worst place for solar
managing flexible energy demands and is better than Germany’s best place for solar,” said Connolly. “Wind and solar capacity
integrating multiple forms of energy make Australia the envy of the APAC region and the world.”
and storage.

Energy saved is the most
renewable of them all
About 40% of the world’s energy is
consumed by buildings in our growing
cities. Industry including manufacturing
consumes about 20% of the world’s
energy. Through upgrades we can often
halve consumption in both sectors using
existing technologies.
“The key words here are ‘’existing
technologies’’,” says Connolly. He
points to real examples including
Australia’s iconic 100 000 capacity
sporting stadium the MCG (Melbourne
Cricket Ground), with its smart
building management system
connected to its events booking
system so that heating ventilation and
cooling only runs where it’s needed
and when it’s needed. Melbourne Cricket Ground

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