Digital Engineering: Today’s Trends Shaping Tomorrow’s Sustainability

Digital Engineering and AI: Building a resilient and sustainable future
By Hari Sadarahalli (22 February 2024)

Platformization offers a range of benefits, including accelerated innovation and trend adoption. Engineering leadership also benefits from enhanced standardization, compliance, reduced turnaround times, and growth potential through disruptive technology. As this transformation progresses, consumers are the ultimate beneficiaries, enjoying personalized experiences, increased satisfaction, and enhanced value. Across the board, platformization’s impact is nothing short of transformative.

However, it is not solely about business; it’s about addressing the planet’s most pressing challenges. The demand for sustainability, net zero emissions and resource scarcity necessitate a holistic approach and collaboration across sectors in designing and implementing solutions that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency, promote a circular economy and enhance social wellbeing.

Sustainability At The Core Of The Built Environment For A Greener Tomorrow
By Gabe Carter

In enhancing energy efficiency within engineering designs, a shift towards efficient and streamlined design is crucial. Traditionally, conservative design practices resulted in oversized infrastructure. Optimizing efficiency not only yields capital and operational advantages but also aligns with the evolving trend of more efficient building systems. Notably, advancements in commissioning and controls, especially in critical systems like chilled water plants, present real-time refinement opportunities. Leveraging artificial intelligence and the incorporation of centralized utilities plants can result in significant carbon reductions of around 30%. In addition, meticulous attention to MEP systems, addressing overdesign issues, and refining commissioning practices are essential steps toward achieving compliance with energy efficiency standards, and fostering more sustainable practices in the engineering sector.

In the realm of sustainable design, life cycle cost analysis plays a pivotal role in decision-making. Utilizing digital tools, particularly during the early design phase, allows for a holistic perspective. Clients vary in their priorities—some emphasize initial capital expenditure, while others, such as investment funds, are more concerned with ongoing operational costs (OPEX). The strategic analysis delves into whole-life cost considerations, intertwining sustainability and energy efficiency.

Sustainability Trends: 5 Issues To Watch In 2024

By Amanda McGrath (7 February 2024)

Net zero: The race moves forward

The global focus on achieving net-zero emissions—the point which human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are balanced by an equivalent amount removed from the atmosphere—has intensified in recent years. Many countries have committed to reaching net zero by 2050, aligning with the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. And businesses across various sectors are setting rigorous sustainability goals, investing in renewable energy sources and developing innovative solutions to reduce their carbon footprint. These efforts are often driven by stakeholder expectations, regulatory requirements and the recognition that sustainable business practices can improve the bottom line. And they could drive economic gains: Research shows markets for carbon-neutral goods and services may be worth $10.3 trillion to the global economy by 2050.

Sustainability reporting: Accountability on the record

Investors, regulators and stakeholders are increasingly demanding that companies disclose their exposure to climate-related risks , such as dependence on fossil fuels or vulnerability to weather events. Through both mandatory reporting and voluntary disclosures, companies can identify and manage climate-related risks, and provide valuable information to investors and other stakeholders for greater transparency.

Reporting is also becoming critical to corporate social responsibility initiatives. As more companies set broad environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, finding a way to track and accurately document progress is increasingly important. The transparency provided by regular and thorough reporting is one way to help avoid greenwashing, or misleading claims about sustainability and environmental impact. With regulated documentation, consumers, governments and other stakeholders can make better decisions based on trustworthy information.

Circular economy: When waste is a resource

Businesses play a crucial role in promoting the circular economy by redesigning products to be more durable, reusable or recyclable, cutting down resource consumption and reducing waste throughout the product life cycle. Retailers, particularly in the fashion industry, are increasingly embracing circular business models: rental and resale programs offer opportunities for growth, while repair services offer an alternative to landfill disposal. Other businesses are getting involved by providing avenues for extending product life or plans for recycling or refurbishment.

Biodiversity: Embracing nature-positive

Efforts to preserve biodiversity and natural resources gained momentum in December 2022, when countries signed a global biodiversity framework at the United Nations’ COP15 summit. Governments, businesses, and non-profit organizations globally are implementing initiatives such as establishing protected areas, restoring degraded ecosystems and promoting sustainable agriculture and forestry practices.

Sustainable technology: New ways to do more

With a boom in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and a host of other advanced technologies, 2024 is poised to the be the year for tech-driven sustainability. As companies consider their climate impact in the coming year, several tools and capabilities can help guide key sustainability goals:

Artificial intelligence: AI can help optimize energy consumption, reduce emissions and support decision-making processes in sustainability strategy development. Some organizations are leveraging AI’s capabilities to pursue their own sustainability—for example, to provide more accurate climate predictions, optimize energy use in buildings or identify areas of waste or inefficiency in the supply chain.

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