Green for growth: how industrial intelligence drives sustainability performance

Sustainability doesn’t have to be at odds with business performance. Going green can save millions of dollars in costs, as one chain of healthcare facilities discovered. But the path proved more complex than simply adding new renewable energy generators. The healthcare provider installed Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) across its 1,200-building network to cut costs: 35 MW of fuel cells, 60 MW of solar, batteries and microgrids. Yet, despite these efforts, gas bills kept rising and electricity costs barely dropped.

Switching to renewable sources of energy is a major step towards more sustainable operations; it helps lower costs and reduce carbon footprints. However, as anyone who owns a fitness tracker but fails to monitor their heart rate knows, no data means no progress towards your goals. In this case, with piecemeal DER installations and a lack of standardised data, existing information remained siloed, which made it hard for the healthcare managers to see the full impact of clean energy on the business.

“Industrial intelligence merges data and expertise to drive informed decisions, operational excellence and environmentally conscious growth,” says Lisa Wee, Chief Sustainability Officer at AVEVA.

This end-to-end view of the value chain provided a comprehensive analysis of the different energy resources, uncovering many inefficiencies. First, onsite fuel cells were generating more electricity than needed; many were oversized. Rightsizing the network lowered electricity costs. Then, an audit of more than 100 solar sites showed many were underperforming—and bills didn’t reflect true production. Third, adjustments to heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) during nighttime hours saved approximately $20,000 per building, or $1.7 million annually. By having access to this holistic view, managers could now make data-driven decisions to optimise both sustainability efforts and financial performance.

Green means growth

Benefits also flowed to the healthcare provider’s business community. By sharing energy intelligence with suppliers and other partners, the provider unlocked immediate financial and operational benefits—while supporting the transition to cleaner, community-focused energy systems. Further analysis revealed that fully, implementing all the measures proposed across its ecosystem could save the business community tens of millions of dollars, significantly boosting both profitability and sustainability across their entire operational ecosystem.

“The energy community ecosystem provides many benefits and is an easily replicable model that can be adopted by other industries,” says Alberto Colombo, Founder and President, DERNetSoft.

Decarbonisation is now a greater priority than ever. But perceived challenges around adopting more sustainable business models mean companies are moving too slowly to meet climate commitments. We know sustainability affects business. Climate metrics are now included in CEO compensation plans at more than half (54%) of S&P 500 companies, double 2021 numbers, according to The Conference Board think tank. So how do corporate leadership teams make the biggest and fastest impact to align results for the planet, people and profit?

Industrial intelligence is the enabler to sustainability for businesses across multiple sectors. By producing detailed comparisons across multiple aspects of operations —product features, quality, cost and long-term economic impact—it helps ensure that decisions don’t sacrifice quality, while balancing sustainability and business success.

“When data drives decisions, going green can lead to significant business growth,” says Wee. In fact, half (46%) of global C-suite leaders believe data-driven approaches such as industrial intelligence could improve sustainability outcomes for their organisations, according to the AVEVA Industrial Intelligence Index 2024. A similar percentage (50%) say meta-technology —overarching systems that integrate multiple technologies and data sources — could boost their agility in responding to business challenges. These could include budget constraints, geopolitical disruptions and pressure to make tangible progress towards net-zero targets.

These assertions are not just theoretical; leading companies are already seeing tangible benefits from implementing industrial intelligence. For example, French multinational TotalEnergies uses industrial intelligence software to support emissions compliance and business resilience. With a digital twin—a virtual model of real-world plants and processes—it tracks 85% of its scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions in real time. Quickly spotting and addressing issues saved €1.5 million and 64 days of downtime in a year. In one case, CO2 emissions dropped 15%. As Juan Guzmán, Digital Lead at TotalEnergies says, monitoring tools can proactively identify opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Circularity and resource savings

Connected industrial intelligence can drive the sustainability transformation in many ways. It improves energy management by streamlining the integration of renewables and optimising consumption. It supports emissions reductions. And, combined with precision manufacturing software and simulation in a digital twin, it improves circularity by forecasting how companies can use fewer resources, reduce waste, and extend product life cycles.

For the International Group, Inc (IGI), a global wax producer, industrial intelligence from across its feedstock-to-factory value chain cut post-processing residues by 49% and indicated where waste could be turned into a sellable product. Higher yields saw profit soar $10 million, with a 67x ROI in the first year alone.

Viewing product or process life cycles within a single window makes transformative shifts easier. Cascading these gains up across sectors can steer a step change.

Tackling sustainability now

Technology is not a silver bullet to the world’s sustainability challenges, yet it can be a significant contributor to achieving our net-zero goals and set us on the road to a climate-positive future. “A precise and predictive approach to sustainable operations becomes more essential as business challenges grow more complex,” Wee says.

Bringing global warming back under the 1.5C limit from recent overshoots will require further policy action, radical collaboration, and committed action from every business. Industrial intelligence can help the global community innovate and deliver comprehensive strategies for profit, people and planet.