Earth Today | 'Let’s #MoveTheDate of Earth Overshoot Day'

EARTH OVERSHOOT Day marks the date when humanity's demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. This year, it was August 1.

Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management and automation, believes that adopting energy-efficient and renewable technologies such as its IoT1 enabled EcoStruxure platform, could move the date back by 21 days through retrofitting of existing building, industry and data centre infrastructure, and upgrading electricity production.

To demonstrate how this can be done and to promote new approaches to sustainable business thinking, the company has partnered with Global Footprint Network, the international research organisation that is influencing how the world manages its natural resources and responds to climate change. Global Footprint Network's Ecological Footprint accounts enable the calculation of Earth Overshoot Day.

 

CO2 SAVINGS

 

Schneider Electric believes this situation is reversible. The company has calculated that if 100 per cent of existing building, industry and data centre infrastructure were equipped with active energy-efficiency technologies that are readily available and the electric grid was upgraded with renewable capacities, the world could move the date back by at least 21 days.

"Operating on a planet with finite resources requires creativity and innovation," said Xavier Houot, Schneider Electric's senior vice-president of global environment, in a release to the media.

"We team up with our customers and partners to unlock the potential to retrofit existing infrastructure, adopting circular business models, and we measure how much this helps save resources and CO2. We work to see our growth path through the lens of the growing need of living within the means of our one planet," he added.

 

ECOSTRUXURE

 

This challenge is central to Schneider Electric's strategy, which is focused on EcoStruxure, the company's eco-designed, IoT-enabled, plug and play, open, and interoperable architecture and platform, aimed at all power-consuming sectors, including homes, buildings, data centres, infrastructure, and industries.

Schneider has said that the technology can deliver up to 50 per cent energy efficiency while reducing energy costs by 30 per cent. EcoStruxure works on three key levels:

Connected products: In buildings, connected sensors and meters improve the efficiency of networked lighting, heating and air conditioning, enable increased security and optimises the use of space in the building;

Edge control: The layer gives users the capability to manage the data from IoT connected products on-site, with day-to-day optimisation of energy consumption through remote access and advanced automation; and

Apps, analytics & services: Visualised reporting on energy consumption through interactive dashboards, detection and diagnosis of faults, performance analysis, and asset monitoring enables the user to detect additional energy-efficiency opportunities and to transition from curative to predictive maintenance.

Schneider Electric's business case is aligned with moving humanity out of ecological overshoot, according to Global Footprint Network CEO Mathis Wackernagel.

"Leading companies like Schneider Electric are rising to the challenge of managing natural resources differently, measuring them more accurately, and developing products and processes that use them not only more efficiently, but also reduce their overall use," he said in the release.

To drive awareness of Earth Overshoot Day, Schneider Electric has partnered with Global Footprint Network to support its ambition to #MoveTheDate for Earth Overshoot Day from August 1 to December 31 and beyond.