Energy storage systems have multiple benefits for your Commercial or Industrial enterprise. One of the most significant advantages is their ability to help you mitigate the inevitable reality of climate change. Ultimately, climate change, which is making the Earth warmer, is causing more severe and unpredictable weather. This has immediate repercussions for your business.
In Demand Power’s recent experience, we realize that mitigating climate change is a key part of our customers’ strategy. This is a subject being discussed more and more frequently with each passing month. Our customers are telling us that the increasing uncertain climate is impacting their production and their distribution. For this reason, Commercial and Industrial customers want to find strategies that can help them address an increasingly uncertain climate.
HOW DOES CLIMATE CHANGE NEGATIVELY IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS?
Severe and unpredictable weather is affecting your business right now, sometimes unknowingly. Essentially, unpredictable weather means greater unpredictability when it comes to achieving your business goals.
More hurricanes mean that a supplier cannot get its product to market. Droughts mean that vital transportation routes such as rivers might be non-navigable due to lowering water levels. According to a research paper from 2017, 70% of businesses worldwide were negatively impacted by severe weather with losses tallying 3.5% of the total U.S. GDP at the time. These are losses attributed to so-called out-of-the-ordinary weather.
Elsewhere, warmer winters are already impacting businesses in the apparel industry since they’re selling less outerwear. Moreover, businesses along the Mississippi River that once used the waterway to deliver products must now use more expensive overland routes instead. This is the result of sustained hot and dry summers in recent years.
HOW DO ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE AND REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?
Energy storage in Ontario can help the environment by turning on these systems at peak times. This way, they avoid less used, dirtier power. Peak times are typically hot and humid summer days. Days when manufacturing remains at full capacity with an increasing use of air-cooling and conditioning for greater comfort. Situations like these can drastically increase power demand and ultimately overwhelm the overall grid.
During these peak demand times, a utility must turn on ‘peaker’ plants that are rarely used and commonly represent fossil fuel generation. Being able to use energy storage system power instead of utility power during peaks helps a power grid to avoid the use of the dirtier part of its power supply. Ultimately, this helps the environment by emitting less CO2. In the long run, this will help to cool the planet and lessen the occurrence and impact of severe and unpredictable weather.
Always remember, the last kW of power a facility uses is the most expensive and the least efficient. Why? Because it is rarely used and is damaging to the environment. Energy storage systems installed throughout a certain jurisdiction create a ‘distributed energy grid’ where these systems can be called upon when the system is stressed. In short, these energy storage systems are building the 21st century grid. This is a grid that is cleaner, more secure, more economical, and much better for the planet.
DON’T FORGET, SEVERE WEATHER CAUSES INCREASED POWER INTERRUPTIONS TOO
Of course, another way in which severe weather impacts Commercial and Industrial facilities is increased power interruptions. According to the Department of Energy, 26% of manufacturers experience power outages at least once a month. 58% of these outages last more than one hour. According to The S&C 2020 State of Commercial & Industrial Power Reliability Report, a typical power outage costs 20% of Commercial and Industrial companies at least $100,000.
Remember, power outages cause material spoilage, machine breakdown and labour downtime among other consequences. Demand Power’s Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is the answer you’ve been looking for. By pairing an energy storage system with our facility-wide UPS, it can deliver more reliable power to your plant. Not only that but it can provide a continuous battery backup power supply negating the threat of power outages.
WALMART: A PERFECT SHINING EXAMPLE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
In the corporate world, Walmart has actively embraced energy storage systems. They are a key part of their overall strategy in which progressive environmental targets forge their vision for the future. Did you know Walmart was the only global grocery, multi-retail category retailer to make CDP’s 2019 ‘A-list’ and Supplier Engagement Leaderboard for Climate?
Additionally, 29% of Walmart’s operations are powered by renewable energy and 80% of their waste material is diverted from landfills. Moreover, Walmart has reduced their scope 1 and 2 annual emissions in their transportation fleet by 7.7%.
There is no doubt that Walmart has adopted this overarching strategy for economic reasons. Nevertheless, Walmart is also motivated to meet their ongoing and increasingly aggressive Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (‘ESG’) Goals. Energy storage systems and the avoidance of expensive, environmentally damaging peak power plays a significant role in these ESG goals.
Another benefit of installing energy storage systems at Walmart stores is the fact the chain becomes a Safe Harbour when the full grid experiences a disturbance. When there is severe weather, for instance a hurricane in Florida or forest fires in California, a Safe Harbour is a location with power when system-wide power failures occur. When all the lights go out in a certain location, Walmart wants to be a place of safe refuge.
Most Fortune 500 companies are setting aggressive Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (‘ESG’) Goals. This is a part of their ongoing strategy and their commitment to shareholders who are demanding it.
CONTACT DEMAND POWER (“DPGI”) TODAY
To help enterprises become good corporate citizens, Demand Power’s energy storage in Ontario has a key role to play in contributing to a cleaner, cooler planet. If you have any questions, please call 855-336-2638 and the Demand Power (“DPGI”) team will be happy to field them.
