Priya Vijayakumar, CEO of WattIQ and an expert on unmanaged energy, explains that at the industrial level, 21% of the total electricity consumed by buildings is wasted. “There is all this unmanaged electricity. On top of that, there are 40% more electrical appliances than needed. Just think about all the energy it takes to make and ship these products,” she says.
Today, life science companies — on the verge of overtaking Total value of $2 trillion by 2023—One of the world’s largest consumers and polluters. Unsustainability begins in the drug development stage and continues into the manufacturing process, where laboratories consume 5 to 10 times more energy per square foot of office buildings.
This is largely due to refrigerators and freezers in the lab, which are massive and draw significant amounts of vampire energy as they run non-stop to maintain +4℃/39.2℉ for employment. pharmaceutical refrigeration and supplies and ultra-low temperature around -80 ℃ / -112 for long-term and stable storage. Over the course of a day, an average ultra-low temperature freezer consume as much energy as the whole house. Of course, freezers are needed for research, but Vijayakumar says they’re not always properly maintained, causing them to use 30 to 40 percent more energy than they need.
And life sciences are just one of countless industries where vampire energy has spiraled out of control due to over-consumption and kilowatt-hour mismanagement. So what can be done?
Many experts agree that regulation is necessary.
Now, Energy saving law passed by the National Assembly mainly focus on residential energy use. Under these laws, the Department of Energy (DOE) is allowed to set standards for 19 consumer products but only 11 types of industrial equipment. There are many industrial equipment and devices missing from the list. “In part because of this fact, it is not always easy to identify products with low standby power consumption. [on the industrial level]Joe Vukovich, an energy efficiency advocate at NRDC. “If the backup energy is not up to the DOE standard, then there simply may not be any information for the buyer to make a decision. Congress could strengthen the DOE’s ability to address this issue when it comes to commercial or industrial products. “
Vijayakumar agrees that regulation is necessary but further emphasizes the role of manufacturers, using infusion pumps as an example. Hospitals regularly replace these pumps — used to deliver controlled amounts of fluid to a patient’s body — because their software has become obsolete. Vijayakumar wants to see a “product-as-a-service” model where the manufacturer is responsible for the lifecycle of the product and the end user essentially buys the service of that product — similar to the traditional rental model. system for the basis of usage. With the infusion pump, software updates are provided, extending the life of the device and ensuring it runs optimally (under a service contract) to reduce energy consumption. Under this model, manufacturers can adopt a different mentality when designing products – focusing on delivering value, including energy efficiency, rather than the number of units sold – and Products will not become obsolete quickly.
While it would be ideal for DOE standards to reign in vampire energy, we now have the technology to collect data on how much energy we are wasting. Historically, this data was not available due to the wide range of types and models of devices and utensils. But new technology, like smart plugs, wireless energy monitors and sensors, and smart meters, can mean what all these disparate devices mean — and the bigger picture.
