Best of 10 everyday energy-saving hacks

640 kg savings CO₂ per year
Traffic: take the bus, bike, or train to work

Try and leave the car in the garage as often as possible – cycling is also every bit as healthy as walking.
(Savings based on a commuting distance of 20 km)

350 kg savings CO₂ per year
Heating: turn the temperature down

Nobody should sit in the cold! Yet even reducing the room temperature by one degree makes a big dent in energy consumption. (Savings based on a 4-person household)

330 kg savings CO₂ per year
Washing machine: a full load at a low temperature

Eschew the pre-wash and always wash at a maximum of 60 degrees – and only ever in exceptional cases at 95 degrees. Then hang them out on the line instead of tumble drying

170 kg savings CO₂ per year
Electronic devices: switch them off completely

Electronic devices still consume electricity in rest mode or on standby.

125 kg savings CO₂ per year
Heating: shut off the warm-water circulation

The convenience of getting hot water from the tap immediately guzzles electricity and heat energy around the clock. Installing a timer switch is an alternative to a permanent shut-off.

46 kg savings CO₂ per year
Hob: put a lid on the pot

It might sound simple, although many amateur chefs still don’t do it despite the potential electricity savings. It’s also important that the size of the pot matches the hob plate.
(Savings based on cooking 3x a week)

27 kg savings CO₂ per year
Computer: laptop instead of a PC

Laptops have energy efficiency built in to ensure that their batteries last as long as possible.

21 kg savings CO₂ per year
Router: switch off in the evening/at night

On some routers, it is possible to deactivate the WLAN at night with a timer.

18 kg savings CO₂ per year
Hob: steam eggs and vegetables with just two centimetres of water in the pot…

…instead of covering them completely to boil. If a pot isn’t filled all the way up with water, this will save time as well as electricity.

9 kg savings CO₂ per year
Refrigerator: raise the temperature by one degree

Many households have their refrigerator set too cold. A temperature of seven degrees is sufficient to keep food fresh.

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Energy generated from solar and wind power in 2021

Together, these three regions account for almost three quarters of the world’s energy derived from solar and wind power. 

USA = 550 terawatt hours
European Union = 580 terawatt hours
China = 990 terawatt hours

(Source: IEA – Global Energy Review 2021)

Costs are decreasing

Over the past ten years, the cost of electricity ­generated from renewables has decreased significantly, which can be attributed to optimised technologies, economies of scale, increasingly competitive supply chains, and ­growing experience in project development.

Costs in the year 2010 = 100 %

Costs in the year 2019…
…Offshore wind energy = 71 %
…Onshore wind energy = 61 %
…Solar-thermal power plants = 53 %
…Photovoltaic = 18 %

(Source: IRENA)

North America leads the way in green start-ups

Start-ups whose business models focus on decarbonising the economy attracted a total of 60 billion US dollars from investors between 2013 and 2019. Just 11.7 per cent of this sum went to climate technology start-ups in Europe, while companies in North America received around half of the total.

USA and Canada = 49,3 %
China = 32,9 %
Europe = 11,7 %
Asia (without China) = 3,1 %
Middle East and North Africa = 1,5 %
Latin America = 1,1 %
Australasia = 0,2 %

(Source: PWC)

Facts of renewables

91 % is the share of solar and wind energy in the new electricity capacity from -renewable energies added worldwide in 2020.

(Source: IRENA International Renewable Energy Agency)

99,99 % of global power storage capacity today is covered by pumped-storage plants.

(Source: dena)

Electromobility

1.000 terawatt hours is the anticipated demand for power from electric vehicles worldwide in 2030. This represents an elevenfold increase over 2019 levels.

(Source: IEA, Annahme Szenario nachhaltige Entwicklung)

The post Sustainable development appeared first on Future Markets Magazine.

IRENA (the International Renewable Energy Agency) reports that the global capacity for sustainable, regenerative energy grew by more than 260 gigawatts over the past year. More than 80 per cent of the new electricity capacity added during that period was derived from renewable energy sources, with 91 per cent of this capacity relying on solar and wind power.

Semiconductors are a key technology in this transformation: in photovoltaic cells they generate electricity from light, and they convert energy in converters such that it can be fed into the grid with minimal losses. Semiconductors make drive systems more efficient, monitor all manner of systems integrated into the energy chain in sensors, and use the Internet of Things to link sustainable energy generation up to consumers in such a way that the supply and demand are in perfect balance.

In power electronics, semiconductors play a crucial part in converting, transmitting, and using energy more efficiently. In the view of market analysts at Yole Développement, the global market for power electronics is worth around 17.5 billion US dollars and will grow at a rate of 4.3 per cent between 2019 and 2025. Today, the largest share of the market for power components is accounted for by silicon MOSFETs, which make up 45 per cent of the total value. IGBT modules comprise the other major power electronics segment, which had a market volume of 3.7 billion US dollars in 2019.

Furthermore, energy-saving chips made of new materials like gallium nitride (GaN) or silicon carbide (SiC), which can avoid up to 90 per cent of energy losses in power conversion, are becoming more and more important. Market Study Report predicts that the global market for SiC and GaN power components will grow from around 570 million euros in 2019 to over 1.8 billion US dollars by 2025.

With new technologies like this and growing levels of investment worldwide, there is nothing to stop the years ahead from being defined as the decade of sustainable energy. However, this continues to require enormous levels of investment – yet it also offers tremendous opportunities for start-ups and established companies concerned with the efficient, sustainable generation, distribution, and use of energy. This new issue of ‘The Quintessence’ shows how varied the systems and technologies in this sector really are. Here at EBV, we use our innovative products and application-specific expertise to help our customers turn their ideas into solutions for a more sustainable future.

Yet we shouldn’t get too carried away: the share of renewable energies in the global primary energy supply is just over 13 per cent, so none of us can rest on our laurels. After all, the targets of the Paris Agreement are more than merely political goals – they are humanity’s best hope for averting catastrophe.

Thomas Staudinger
President EBV Elektronik

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