Innovative Pathways to Clean Energy Through Advancing Emission Reduction Technology

Simple ways for businesses to achieve energy efficiency and emissions reduction.

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Rose Morrison
03/28/2024

Contributed by: Rose Morrison

Would it be possible to go a day without using a cell phone? Or a week without household appliances? Technology has made leaps and bounds in shaping today’s society, often improving people’s everyday lives.

Technology can also help on an industrial scale, equipping companies with the means to achieve their goals, which for most are energy efficiency and emissions reduction. Luckily, many innovations can help with that mission.

Why Emission Reduction Technology Is Needed
Emissions are a concern all over the world as about 99% of the global population breathes air that the World Health Organization deems unhealthy. This effect of climate change is primarily caused by using fossil fuels and man-made pollution.

However, certain steps can help mitigate these emissions: For instance, carbon offsetting can implore individuals and companies to donate to emission reduction efforts when they generate or participate in creating these greenhouse gasses. Some also adopt emission monitoring, which measures the emissions of different resources.

While those lifestyle practices can be helpful, more actions is needed. About 76% of global greenhouse gas emissions stems from operations by fossil fuel companies and governments. Emission reduction technology is a simple way of encouraging businesses to make the switch and help fight climate change.

Examples of Emission Reduction Tech
Emission reduction technologies vary quite a bit. Some work on directly cleaning the air by collecting the pollutants while others focus on replacing the core machinery producing those emissions. A combination of both is necessary to tackle the crisis in the air.

1. Renewable Energy Generation
Most emissions come from burning fossil fuels to produce energy, which goes into industrial operations. Renewable energy can serve as a replacement for those traditional resources since their generation will involve zero emissions.

Clean energy comes in different variations. For instance, solar panels harness sunlight to help sites run on renewable energy during operations. There’s also green hydrogen, a clean energy fuel created from splitting water via electrolysis. Swapping these out for resources like methane and propane can help prevent emissions.

READ: Choosing the Right Technology: A Guide to Quantifying Methane Emissions on Offshore Platforms

2. Electrification
Electrification or replacing fossil fuel-reliant technologies with electricity-dependent ones is crucial in reducing emissions. Utilizing this technology in combination with renewable electricity can create an impact in fighting back climate change.

One good example of electrification is using electric vehicles in lieu of gasoline automobiles. There’s also electric equipment in buildings, which is vital for taking part in utility demand response programs. This scheme offers incentives to customers who reduce electrical grid usage in peak times throughout the day, which can regulate energy consumption in the long run.

3. Photocatalytic Coatings
Photocatalytic coatings are known for being a key material in solar panel surfaces, but they can also be painted on different buildings, roads and vehicles. When exposed to sunlight, it can activate self-cleaning properties that can break down methane emissions in the air and works on removing nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.

Newer companies or establishments in developing companies can benefit from investing in photocatalytic coatings, as it’s a simple and passive way of cleaning the energy in the air. It also offers other benefits like cooling and disinfection.

4. Electrostatic Precipitators
An electrostatic precipitator is a filter that helps control air pollution. By utilizing plates with static electricity, fumes from power stations can be cleared of polluting nanoparticles before they even reach the air above them.

Electrostatic precipitators can either come in dry or wet form. While both efficiently trap pollutants, wet ESPs are rinsed with water for cleaning and dry ESPs will have to undergo vibrations to knock out the dust and dirt.

5. Biofiltration
Another filtration technique that helps with emissions is biofilters. Urban biofilters catch nitrogen oxides and particulate matter to remove them from the air. While it has the same principle as electrostatic precipitators, biofiltration utilizes living things to capture the contaminants.

Biofiltration can be used on polluted air and water. Certain organisms like fungi and plants have helped to treat those resources and clear them of volatile organic compounds. Plus, there’s no need to clean the resource that powers a biofilter since it breaks down the emissions it removes.

6. Direct Air Capture Technology
Carbon dioxide is one of the biggest drivers behind high emissions. Luckily, direct air capture technology removes large volumes of CO2 from the air. DAC does this by sucking in air and isolating the pollutants, which are then stored away for conversion purposes.

DAC is quite similar to carbon capture and storage technology, which also takes care of CO2 from the environment. However, CCS operates in more concentrated and stationary pollution areas like a power plant while DAC can function in those areas and more.

Also able to clear up CO2 that has been released many years ago DAC ismore effective than filtration processes that usually tackle newly generated emissions. That said, it can be more demanding in terms of investment and resources.

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Industries Benefiting from Reducing Emissions
Many industries can benefit from reducing emissions. Many of the filters help with decontamination, which can benefit medical facilities as patients require clean and healthy air quality, so having these fixtures to remove pollutants is key.

New construction companies can also benefit from emission reduction technologies. People usually look at this industry as the main perpetrator behind climate change. Some consumers are seeking more from their contractors and service providers.

At the same time, there’s also space for business owners seeking to grab specialization opportunities in a subsection of the industry. When considering those two factors, adopting these kinds of equipment can position companies as a pioneer of sustainability.

Is Emission Reduction Truly Working?
Emission reduction technology is making an impact, but it’s relatively slow. CO2 emissions are currently at 36.8 billion tons globally, with 2022 totaling 321 million tons. Experts deem that the growth would have been higher if clean energy did not offset the possible emissions.

As those numbers are starting to slow down, it does suggest that further utilization of emission-reduction technology could bring other pollution to a halt. However, this depends on whether or not people will use these equipments in their operations. Ending the use of fossil fuels and other resources that create these greenhouse gasses is also paramount.

Cleaner Energy for the Planet
Innovation in emission reduction technologies can truly propel the clean energy movement. While the future is bright, integrating these tools and techniques can only happen with cooperation and collaboration.