The Paris agreement saw 195 nations taking a collective pledge to proactively combat climate change. The Australian Government set a goal to reach a 26-28% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, relative to 2005 levels, by 2030. This commitment to reduce emissions has resulted in significant reforms and compliance requirements across many vital industries.
Globally, the recent reforms have impacted multiple facets of business operations, including the ability of companies to secure high-profile contracts, gain government approval for new projects or expansions, and receive rebates or tax incentives. While this state of flux may seem daunting, it also represents an excellent opportunity for businesses to innovate and realize significant competitive advantages.
Let’s take a moment to explore 3 strategies that can be implemented with minimal disruption to your business and promise sizable reductions in greenhouse emissions, along with superior business outcomes.
1) Fleet Optimization
According to McKinsey and Company, changing processes to enhance efficiency is the most straightforward decarbonization strategy to implement. It requires minimal capital investment, and the technology needed is readily available. One way to simplify fleet optimization is to use a mobile, automated data gathering device on your fuel-consuming assets. These devices provide mileage and engine hours data automatically for each machine, allowing you to adjust fleet size, deployment, and operator behaviors accordingly.
Climate Benefits
- Machines and vehicles running idle are unnecessarily burning fuel and producing greenhouse emissions. When your fleet and processes are optimized, vehicles and stationary machines spend less time idling, deliver more work, consume less fuel, and of course, minimize unnecessary carbon emissions.
Business Benefits
- Reduce waste by lowering fleet idle time, leading to gains in productivity and significant fuel and maintenance cost reductions.
- Enhance your ability to benchmark and compare performance across fleets, sites and vehicle types, giving you full visibility and enabling you to set data-driven KPIs.
- Identify machines that are being under or over-utilized, enabling you to re-deploy resources. This process allows you to improve productivity and choose the optimum fleet size, generating savings in capital or rental fleet costs, as well as overall maintenance and running costs.
- Analyze the life cycle cost of machines, including hydrocarbons, maintenance, and capital expenditure. The information gained can be applied to ‘correctly size’ your fleet and aid future purchasing decisions.
2) Investing in Modern Engine Technologies
Direct fuel combustion was identified as one of the highest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, with approximately 18% of emissions resulting from direct fuel combustion in mining, construction, manufacturing and primary industries (Australian Government). Deploying the latest generation of diesel engines will dramatically reduce your company’s carbon footprint. It can also positively impact your bottom line.
Climate Benefits
- Tier 4 engines result in a total reduction of 90% NOx and 90% PM (particulate matter) compared to Tier 3 standards.
Business Benefits
- Vice President of Engineering, at Cummins Engines, states that the benefits of Tier 4 engines extend beyond environmental outcomes to also include significant cost savings: “Customers are also going to realize the benefit of lower fuel usage with these engines. They’ll see a significant reduction in their operating costs, which, with the cost of diesel fuel today, can be very substantial.”
- Fuel savings in the range of 5–20% are reported for Tier 4 engines, compared to Tier 2 engines (State of NSW, Environment Protection Authority).
- Engine manufacturers that combine Tier 4 capabilities with additional features such as load-sensing hydraulics, alternate engine idle speeds, optimized RPM management, recirculating exhaust systems, and on-demand cooling have reported fuel savings of up to 30% (Hinz, 2012)
TOP TIP: Extending the life of your Tier 4 engines
- Ensure fuel and service fluids are well filtered
Banlaw can help you maximize the life of your Tire 4 engines, ensuring you get the best outcomes from your investment. Our fine filtered vent and remote breather were specifically created to extend the life of internal engine components by removing all particulate contaminants of 3 microns in size and above. - Ensure your fluid transfer components are designed to reduce contamination
Banlaw fluid transfer couplers and quick fill diesel nozzles are designed to resolve fluid contamination and cross-contamination issues.
3) Enhanced, automated reporting
One of the fundamental strategic goals identified by the Mineral Council of Australia, in their Climate Action Plan released last year, was enhanced transparency in reporting. Governments around the world need to track and report their progress towards goals set during the Paris Agreement. For this reason, many governments have introduced mandatory reporting requirements. To enhance reporting capabilities, companies can leverage Fuel Management Systems that automatically gather data on fuel consumption and aggregate it into a Liquid Resource Management software solution. Having all the data to hand facilitates hassle-free greenhouse emissions reporting.
Climate Benefits
- Accurate reporting provides governments with a clear indication of progress towards meeting national and international greenhouse emissions goals and standards.
Business Benefits
- Using a Fuel Inventory Management Software provides companies with the power to track and report carbon / emissions data. At the press of a button, the software delivers the information to reconcile fluid utilization from buy to burn, so you can lodge reports seamlessly and efficiently. This also allows a business to claim the full fuel tax credit rebate.
- Eliminate manual data collection processes that are time-consuming and prone to errors.
- Enhance the likelihood of securing high-profile contracts or government approvals by showcasing a modern process based on reliable data and an organizational commitment to transparent carbon emissions reporting.
- Secure or maximize government rebates or tax incentives with ease.
These strategies alone can reduce carbon emissions and allow businesses to streamline processes, reduce running costs and enhance productivity. This presents a win-win scenario for both climate reform and profitable business outcomes.
If you are looking to implement any one of these strategies, you can trust that Banlaw will help boost your business outcomes in reducing your carbon emissions through fluid asset intelligence. Be that through fluid transfer, dry break fittings for diesel, fluid cleanliness, all climate DEF transfer equipment, machine safety products or built infrastructure solutions and software technologies.
Get in touch
Contact a Banlaw rep to discuss how our patented technologies can be integrated to reduce your carbon footprint and achieve superior business outcomes.
