Improving energy efficiency and optimising energy use is one of the quickest and lowest cost pathways to impact corporate sustainability targets and reduce operational emissions.
Reducing energy consumption makes a lot of sense in the current environment because it not only reduces the carbon footprint of an asset but also reduces costs through fuel savings and carbon (ETS) payments.
With the right focus on this area most assets have the potential to reduce emissions by up-to 10% through daily operational changes, without compromising on production outputs or requiring investment in facility modifications.
To identify energy efficiency opportunities and the lowest achievable emissions, you need to know what good looks like for any scenario, for all of the energy consumers at any given time. With complex assets or facilities there are often changes to operational parameters, constraints and efficiency so the baseline is effectively a moving target.
That’s where AI can help. At OPEX Group we have overcome this problem by developing an AI-driven optimisation engine within our emissions.AI software which continuously searches for operational configurations and states which can deliver the same production outputs with less power consumption and lower emissions.
The software automatically calculates the emissions for every source based on live data from an asset, and by comparing live emissions with the theoretical lowest achievable emissions, the AI can determine “excess” emissions by volume, category and cost, holistically and by individual emitters and sources.
Opportunities for emissions reduction are automatically and continuously highlighted as they arise to users in the control room or asset support teams, providing the necessary information to decide if and when to take action. The AI also provides valuable data driven insights on how the facility is (and can be) operated and maintained from an emissions perspective.
The use of software and AI for optimising energy efficiency can not only generate considerable internal efficiencies by saving companies time and effort but it enables real time emissions management to become an integral part of normal day-to-day business. These improvements can be realised almost immediately, helping to move the dial quickly towards our net zero targets.
Euan Bathgate is chief product officer at OPEX Group, a provider of AI solutions for the oil, gas and energy industries. OPEX’s emissions. AI software is being used by companies to optimise energy use and minimise flaring and venting. Find out more at www.emissions.ai