One of the pressing issues in the field of green manufacturing is infrastructure. Building new factories is time-consuming and expensive, but a new retrofit of an Italian ABB factory suggests existing factories could meet green goals through refurbishments.
ABB's Frosinone plant in Italy reportedly sends none of its waste to landfills, just one of the ways in which factories and other buildings can become more climate-friendly. Credit: ABB
The 45,000 sq metre factory, located in Dalmine, has been in operation for 40 years and has reportedly seen a 25% reduction in emissions in initial trials as part of the firm's "Mission to Zero" scheme, which will see it attempt to reach net-zero emissions by 2030.
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More importantly, refurbishments such as these suggest that existing infrastructure can be changed to run greener, which could save smaller firms significant amounts of money.
As many as 97% of EU buildings will require some form of upgrade to bring them in line with the 2050 climate goals laid out by the European Green Deal, which aims for complete carbon neutrality across all sectors. With different standards, building methods, access to materials and differing goals among member states, this will likely require some form of standardisation.
Green retrofitting serves a number of purposes: to reduce emissions and environmental impacts of a building; increase energy efficiency; increase the quality of insulation; and to implement sustainable energy generation to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
In some ways, all retrofits can be considered "green" to some extent, as they typically involve altering a building to run more efficiently.
Around two-thirds of all European building stock was built before 1980, meaning they were constructed before the hole in the ozone layer was discovered and legislation was implemented to make buildings more energy-efficient. Because of this, there appears to be a global struggle to renovate buildings to meet climate goals.
There have been some famous examples of retrofits. The same report suggests that 80% of the buildings that will be present in 2050 have already been built, so measures need to be taken to ensure these buildings have their environmental impact lessened.
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This is the mentality of ABB, which has argued that most buildings will require these refurbishments if the bloc has any chance of reaching its climate goals.
Alessandro Palin, the president of ABB Distribution Solutions believes the Dalmine factory "creates a blueprint" for companies to replicate.
"It is a positive example of how innovative tech and digitalization can cut carbon emissions," he said.
The company is encouraging customers along its supply chains to make similar changes along their lines in a bid to slash emissions rapidly.
"By reducing carbon emissions and eliminating waste throughout our supply chain, we will support customers to realize their own sustainability ambitions.”
A bird's eye view of the Dalmine site. Credit: ABB
The Dalmine plant joins other locations in China, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands that have undergone similar retrofits. In the past year alone, the plant has reduced emissions by approximately 2,220 tonnes.
In total, ABB has 40 plants working towards its Mission to Zero goals, all based on the blueprint of a Busch-Jaeger plant in Luedenscheid, Germany.
In addition, the Dalmine plant is run on 100% renewable energy, with 20% of its overall energy needs supplied by 4,000 square metres of solar PV panels equating to 900kWh of generation. This reduces its energy consumption by 76,000kW per year - enough to power the growing fleet of electric vehicles.
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ABB said the plan was for the energy to be "decentralised" to avoid unnecessarily expanding energy grids, meaning all the energy infrastructure is installed and used on-site.
"The Dalmine facility proves that green factories don’t necessarily have to be new factories," Paolo Perani, ABB's Sustainability Manager told Industry Europe.
"In fact, it is a great example of how existing manufacturing facilities can be transformed into flagship facilities, using a variety of measures to create an example for customers to follow."
"The energy transition is only feasible if we act together. The transformation of our Dalmine site shows that a safe, smart and sustainable future of electrification is achievable. The technologies are there; we just have to apply them," he added.
The ultimate goal would be to convert these factories, and later homes, into smart buildings, with integrated tech and high levels of energy efficiency.
Another major issue is waste entering landfills. The best way to tackle waste is by ensuring it never enters landfills to begin with and is either recycling or disposed of in a less damaging way.
Landfills are often just buried or their contents incinerated, which creates air pollution.
Buildings operating at zero emissions is one thing, but if much of its waste ends up indirectly causing environmental harm through rubbish carelessly disposed of, then it is still contributing - often in a far larger way - to the climate crisis.
Plastic waste in particular also has a habit of ending up in oceans, which poses a threat to marine ecosystems.
ABB has attempted to make some of its buildings "zero-waste-to-landfill," meaning none of its waste ends up in landfills, with two of its factories given this rating by the firm.
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At the Dalmine plant, waste sorting and identification are set up at the place where waste originates, which helps with the sorting process. They are reportedly disposed of in a completely safe way. Another Italian plant, in Frosinone, has also been cleared to send zero waste to landfills.
Much of this process, alongside other manufacturing processes, could be automated, which stands to make them more efficient. ABB has been integrating automation into plants for its customers for several years.
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