SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable development is achieved when industrial development adheres to the three principles of economic efficiency, social equity and environmental responsibility. These three elements can be defined as: profits, people and planet.      

At the corporate level, sustainable development is often defined as achieving a balanced triple bottom line – a way of managing risks, obligations and opportunities on a financial, social and environmental level.  

WHY BE SUSTAINABLE?

The elements of the triple bottom line are interlinked. Companies with a strong environmental and social focus also have superior leadership and financial performance. Furthermore, these companies attract and retain employees more easily and are exposed to lower financial and reputational risks.  Finally, these companies are innovative and adaptable.  

KEY ELEMENTS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

To be sustainable, industrial development must respond to three major macroeconomic challenges:  

Businesses play a crucial role in promoting sustainable development. By addressing these issues, they positively influence their triple bottom line, which includes their financial, social and environmental activities.    

Some of the actions taken by companies contribute to sustainable development and their triple bottom line, as shown in the table below:   

WHAT ACTIONS CAN SUSTAINABLE COMPANIES TAKE?

A number of good practices can help companies strengthen their sustainability and thus move from follower to leader in this field.   

Stakeholder engagement: Organisations can learn from their customers, employees and surrounding communities.  Mobilising does not only mean conveying messages, but also understanding opposing viewpoints, comparing opinions, finding common ground and involving stakeholders in a common decision-making process.   

Environmental management systems: these systems provide the structures and processes that allow environmental efficiency to be incorporated into corporate processes and culture, mitigating risks. ISO 14001 certification is the most widely recognised standard worldwide, but there are many others. Indeed, there are sector-specific standards, e.g. Responsible Care for the chemical industry the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme EMAS.   

Reporting and disclosure: Measurement and monitoring activities are fundamental to the creation of stable sustainable development practices. Through them, organisations can not only collect and compare data, but also present a complete picture of transparency to external stakeholders. The Global Reporting Initiative’s 3G Guidelines are one of many examples of reliable sustainability reporting standards.       

Life cycle assessment (LCA): Organisations that want to make a big step forward should systematically analyse the environmental and social impacts of the products they use and produce, including through life cycle assessments that allow them to measure their impacts in great detail.    

EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABLE COMPANIES 

Which companies can claim to be sustainable? To find out which companies are at the top of this ranking, let’s take a look at the Corporate Knights Global 100. This ranking analyses the most sustainable listed companies in the world with gross sales of at least 1 billion. Among the criteria used to compile the list are KPIs such as resource management, investment in R&D, women in management positions and revenue. 

Among the criteria used to compile the list are KPIs such as resource management, investment in R&D, female presence in management positions and revenues from green goods and services.   

These are the companies that occupy the top positions:  

1. Orsted A/S   
First place goes to this Danish renewable energy company. In just 10 years, Orsted has changed a business model that used 85% fossil fuels in its processes. In doing so, it has gone from working with oil and natural gas to setting itself the challenge of achieving zero carbon emissions by 2025.    

Overall score: 85.2%.   

2. Chr. Hansen Holding A / S 
Denmark is at the forefront of sustainability policies and the results are reflected in its companies. In second place in the ranking is a sustainable chemicals and nutrition company whose aim is to use natural ingredients in food production. Crops and enzymes, natural dyes, plant protection products and probiotics are some of its products.   

Overall score: 83.9%.   

3. Neste Oyj
The three most sustainable companies in the world come from Northern Europe. Finland’s Neste Oyj works with oil refineries, but does so as a world leader in the production of renewable diesel. In the 2000s it started its corporate turnaround, which was realised with the NEXBTL technology. Through its use, it transforms fats into molecules that replace fossil materials in fuel production.  

Overall score: 83.6%.   

8. Enel Group 
Jumping to eighth place, we find the first Italian company in the ranking. Since the 1970s, Enel has been a pioneer in the use of renewable energy. In 2004, it joined the UN Global Compact, an initiative that allows companies to incorporate policies on human rights, the environment and labour legality. With the Open Power project, they want to bring energy and new technologies to the poorest regions of the planet.   

Overall score: 81.77 

Così la Corte di Cassazione (sentenza 27 settembre 2022, n. 36555) respingendo le doglianze contro un provvedimento di sequestro di un’area in Lombardia dove erano state realizzate opere di rimodellamento del terreno, utilizzando scarti della lavorazione di lapidei e altri materiali (asfalto, cemento, piastrelle, laterizi, bancali di legno, sfridi e limi della lavorazione di lapidei), da considerare come rifiuti e non sottoprodotti come pretendeva l’impresa ricorrente.

Una sostanza o un oggetto può essere qualificato “sottoprodotto” e quindi non rifiuto se soddisfa le condizioni di cui all’articolo 184-bis, comma 1, o rispetta i criteri stabiliti in base all’articolo 184-bis, comma 2, Dlgs 152/2006. Tali requisiti devono sussistere contestualmente. Nel caso di specie la mancanza di certezza del riutilizzo (desunta dai Giudici di merito, in modo logico, dalla mancanza di un piano di caratterizzazione e dal mero accumulo sul terreno di tali residui), esclude che essi possano essere qualificati come sottoprodotti, a prescindere dalla indagine in ordine al carattere delle operazioni cui sottoporli per il riutilizzo.

documenti di riferimento

Area Normativa / Rifiuti / Giurisprudenza

Sentenza Corte di Cassazione 27 settembre 2022, n. 36555

Rifiuti – Sottoprodotti ex articolo 183, comma 1, lettera qq), Dlgs 152/2006 – Qualifica – Rispondenza alle condizioni dell’articolo 184-bis, comma 1 e soddisfacimento dei criteri di cui all’articolo 184-bis, comma 2, Dlgs 152/2006 – Certezza del riutilizzo – Necessità – Sussistenza – Sequestro area ove era ubicata una discarica autorizzata – Violazione articolo 256, commi 1, 2 e 3, Dlgs 152/2006 – Legittimità – Sussistenza

Area Normativa / Rifiuti / Normativa Vigente

Dlgs 3 aprile 2006, n. 152

Norme in materia ambientale – Stralcio – Parte IV – Gestione dei rifiuti, imballaggi e bonifica dei siti inquinati

Speciali

SPECIALE Sottoprodotti, “Mps” & “End of waste”

Lo Speciale che effettua una ricognizione sul confine tra ciò che, alla luce del diritto ambientale, è “rifiuto” e ciò che non lo è, offrendo in particolare gli strumenti per comprendere le differenze concettuali (ed i relativi riflessi operativi) tra le diverse categorie giuridiche di “sottoprodotto”, “Mps” ed “End of waste”

DIRITTI DI PROPRIETÀ INTELLETTUALE ED INDUSTRIALE – LIMITAZIONE D’USO
© Copyright riservato – Riproduzione vietata – La presente News ed i relativi contenuti editoriali veicolati sono oggetto di proprietà intellettuale ed industriale di ReteAmbiente Srl, Milano e come tali protetti. È consentito esclusivamente l’utilizzo personale e privato, dunque non commerciale. Sono vietate la riproduzione, la distribuzione con ogni mezzo (anche telematico), la pubblicazione e la cessione a terzi a qualsiasi titolo.

Il provvedimento, in particolare, detta le tempistiche per l’adozione di quelle riforme inquadrate dalla Strategia nazionale per l’economia circolare (Dm 24 giugno 2022, n. 259). Tra di esse spicca l’impegno alla trasmissione dello schema di decreto ministeriale che definisce la disciplina del Registro elettronico nazionale di tracciabilità dei rifiuti (Rentri) entro il 30 settembre 2022 al Consiglio di Stato e alla Commissione europea. Il varo del Dm dovrebbe avvenire nel primo trimestre 2023 (come previsto, lo schema di Dm è stato ricevuto dalla Commissione Ue il 29 settembre 2022).

Tra gli altri impegni l’individuazione – nel secondo trimestre 2023 — dei sussidi dannosi all’ambiente che ostacolano l’implementazione della Strategia nazionale per l’economia circolare definendo interventi normativi per la loro eliminazione. Il Mite si impegna a definire schemi di decreto per l’istituzione di sistemi di responsabilità estesa del produttore (Epr) per filiere strategiche “circolari”: tessile (entro fine 2022) e plastiche non imballaggio (nel quarto trimestre 2022). Sempre entro fine 2022 è prevista l’adozione del regolamento ex articolo 214-ter, comma 2, del Dlgs 152/2006 sulla autorizzazione semplificata alla preparazione per il riutilizzo.

Tra gli impegni indicati nel cronoprogramma già realizzati: l’istituzione di un Organismo di vigilanza dei Consorzi e dei sistemi autonomi degli imballaggi (articolo 22, Dl 144/2022 – “Aiuti ter”) e la modifica (fatta dalla legge 118/2022) all’articolo 238, comma 10, del Dlgs 152/2006 eliminando i 5 anni di durata per la scelta pubblico/privato per la gestione dei rifiuti ex assimilati agli urbani (ora il termine è 2 anni).

Documenti di riferimento

Dm Transizione ecologica 19 settembre 2022, n. 342

Adozione del cronoprogramma della Strategia nazionale per l’economia circolare – Missione 2, Componente 1, Riforma 1.1 del Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza (Pnrr)

Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza (Pnrr) ed ambiente, check point attuazione

Legge 5 agosto 2022, n. 118

Legge annuale per il mercato e la concorrenza 2021 – Stralcio – Misure in materia di rifiuti, concessioni demaniali, energie rinnovabili, servizi pubblici locali

Dl 23 settembre 2022, n. 144

Ulteriori misure urgenti in materia di politica energetica nazionale, produttività delle imprese, politiche sociali e per la realizzazione del Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza (cd. “Decreto Aiuti ter”) – Stralcio

Dlgs 3 aprile 2006, n. 152

Norme in materia ambientale – Stralcio – Parte IV – Gestione dei rifiuti, imballaggi e bonifica dei siti inquinati

Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza (Pnrr)

Approvato dal Parlamento italiano il 27 aprile 2021 e dal Governo nazionale il 29 aprile 2021 – Approvato dal Consiglio Ue con decisione di esecuzione il 13 luglio 2021

Dm Transizione ecologica 24 giugno 2022, n. 259

Approvazione della Strategia nazionale per l’economia circolare – Missione 2, Componente 1, Riforma 1.1 del Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza (Pnrr)

Speciali

SPECIALE Economia Circolare e Pnrr

Una monografia dedicata alle norme unionali e nazionali in materia di economia circolare, quale modello economico nel quale i residui derivanti dalle attività di produzione e consumo sono reintegrati nel ciclo produttivo secondo una logica di piena rigenerazione delle risorse al fine di ridurre l’impatto umano sull’ambiente.

SPECIALE Tracciabilità rifiuti

Un’area dedicata alla disciplina giuridica sul monitoraggio dei rifiuti costantemente aggiornata all’ultima normativa di riferimento ed alla afferente documentazione

DIRITTI DI PROPRIETÀ INTELLETTUALE ED INDUSTRIALE – LIMITAZIONE D’USO
© Copyright riservato – Riproduzione vietata – La presente News ed i relativi contenuti editoriali veicolati sono oggetto di proprietà intellettuale ed industriale di ReteAmbiente Srl, Milano e come tali protetti. È consentito esclusivamente l’utilizzo personale e privato, dunque non commerciale. Sono vietate la riproduzione, la distribuzione con ogni mezzo (anche telematico), la pubblicazione e la cessione a terzi a qualsiasi titolo.

The Sustainable Development Goals of a company must be based on corporate social responsibility. It is no longer accepted that an entity only seeks to generate profits, more and more consumers and investors are demanding a commitment to the planet and a contribution to sustainable development. It is a matter of companies integrating social and environmental issues into their business operations and their relationships with stakeholders.  

Sustainable companies must change as the world evolves, adapting to the changing needs of the environment. At the same time, by combining their sustainable actions with corporate strategy, they make the latter more than just meeting legal, fiscal or labour obligations. When making decisions, they take into account all aspects that may affect present and future generations, thus becoming companies that are aware of the sustainability of the planet.  

Development in sustainable companies  

What is the sustainable growth of a company? In addition to the ultimate goal of the company’s economic viability in the long and medium term, the concepts of risk and opportunity associated with society’s needs must be taken into account. Taking these aspects into account results in sustainable development in which individual and collective well-being are paramount.  

Business commitment influences decision-making processes at all levels of society. If large companies take into account the wellbeing of all those involved in their activities, so will many other organisations that contribute to the development of the planet.  

Traditionally, it has been difficult to convince companies of the importance of being sustainable, as this is often seen as an expense with no return. However, over time, sustainable environmental management has translated into a positive financial impact. Therefore, companies have identified an opportunity to generate value and have become more involved in the process, driven by the benefits of being a sustainable company.  

How to be a sustainable company?  

• Controlling energy consumption  

Promoting habits that reduce energy consumption in the workplace can save a lot of money. For example, switching off equipment that is not in use, setting the air conditioning temperature to the right level, switching off lights and making the most of sunlight.  

• Save paper  

Stopping mindless printing and promoting digital formats is a big reduction that helps curb problems such as deforestation or climate change.  

• Recycle  

Companies generate a lot of waste, so managing it correctly is a good step towards sustainability. The 3R rule should be present in every company.  

• Environmental education and training  

Training employees creates awareness that leads them to respect these points and apply them.  

• Green procurement

Choosing suppliers with an environmental commitment and, preferably, local or nearby is a gesture with great repercussions. This strategy is known as green procurement.  

• Sustainable means of transport  

Having hybrid or electric vehicles, promoting collective transport for workers, the use of public transport, cycling or walking are actions to reduce the environmental impact of transport.  

• Apply eco-design  

Ecodesign means designing products from an environmental point of view, taking into account the entire production process, from their creation to the end of their useful life.  

• Promoting sustainability among customers  

Conducting campaigns that reward customers’ sustainable actions is a good way to promote environmental responsibility and educate customers.  

• Cooperate with social organisations  

In addition to everything you can do within your company, you can also go further and collaborate with organisations that care about the environment.  

• Reducing the environmental footprint  

By measuring the impact of companies that harm the environment through their activities, you can plan actions to be more sustainable.  

The 100 most sustainable companies in the world  

Which companies can claim to be sustainable? To find out which companies are at the top of this ranking, we take a look at the Corporate Knights Global 100. This ranking analyses the world’s most sustainable listed companies with gross sales of at least 1 billion. Among the criteria used to compile the list are KPIs such as resource management, investment in R&D, women in management positions and revenues from green goods and services.  

These are the companies that occupy the top positions:  

1. Orsted A/S  

First place goes to this Danish renewable energy company. In just 10 years, Orsted has changed a business model that used 85% fossil fuels in its processes. In doing so, it has gone from working with oil and natural gas to setting itself the challenge of achieving zero carbon emissions by 2025.   

Overall score: 85.2%.  

2. Chr. Hansen Holding A / S

Denmark is at the forefront of sustainability policies and the results are reflected in its companies. In second place in the ranking is a sustainable chemicals and nutrition company whose aim is to use natural ingredients in food production. Crops and enzymes, natural dyes, plant protection products and probiotics are some of its products.  

Overall score: 83.9%.  

3. Neste Oyj

The three most sustainable companies in the world come from Northern Europe. Finland’s Neste Oyj works with oil refineries, but does so as a world leader in renewable diesel production. In the 2000s it started its corporate turnaround, which was realised thanks to NEXBTL technology. Through its use, it transforms fats into molecules that replace fossil materials in fuel production.  

Overall score: 83.6%.  

8. Enel Group

Jumping to eighth place, we find the first Italian company in the ranking. Since the 1970s, Enel has been a pioneer in the use of renewable energy. In 2004, it joined the UN Global Compact, an initiative that allows companies to incorporate policies on human rights, the environment and labour legality. With the Open Power project, they want to bring energy and new technologies to the poorest regions of the planet.  

Overall score: 81.77%. 

The digital product passport and the sustainable products initiative   

To counter this phenomenon, Europe must switch to sustainable and durable products and slow down the use of resources in their economic flow. The EU Sustainable Products Initiative is a big push in this direction.   

“We really need to make sure that the products we put on the market in our markets are designed to be durable, repairable and so on. That’s what we’re trying to do with the sustainable products initiative,” said William Neale, circular economy advisor at the European Commission’s Environment Department.   

The digital product passport will be part of this initiative. Currently, as goods are produced, bought and sold, information about their components and recyclability is lost.   

The passport will address this problem by ‘harnessing data for the public good‘, Neale said.   

“A material can make recycling impractical and pollute a lot. We need to know this,” he told an EVENT on the circular economy organised by EURACTIV.   

“We can set up a process where we can identify that information that is really crucial in terms of loss of value if it is not available,” Neale added, citing the example of the textile industry, where PVC printing on garments can prevent recyclability.   

TACKLING GREENWASHING  

For Europe to achieve its climate goals, it is crucial that consumers and companies keep products in circulation as long as possible, said David Cormand, French Green MEP.  

“We are designing and marketing objects that are not built to last. Most of the time, as soon as they are produced, they become waste, only a small part of which is designed to be reused, repaired or recycled,” he said.  

To address this problem, Cormand called for a mandatory European standard for durability and reparability that would make environmentally friendly products the norm on the market. The information should also be used to combat greenwashing and penalise companies that do not work in a sustainable manner, Cormand said.  

“Most of us have homes full of toxic chemicals, found in furniture, in floors, in concrete,” said Joan Marc Simon, executive director of the NGO Zero Waste Europe.  

“It is impossible to know if the product is safe, repairable, recyclable, so from this point of view I think a digital product passport is important for consumers,” she added.  

But the drive to create sustainable and durable products must go beyond the passport. There must also be processes in place that allow consumers to return products for repair.  

The product passport in practice  

Identifying the information users need along the supply chain is a huge job. For this reason, the European Commission will address the issue ‘product by product’ in delegated acts, said Neale.  

The creation of the passport requires the entire supply chain to sit down and discuss crucial information that could prevent a product from going to waste. These discussions could also help alleviate fears that the passport contains information that infringes intellectual property rights, he explained.  

“When it comes to intellectual property, privacy and so on, we have to make sure that it is handled through encryption or by making the data available at a later date. In any case, this will be done product by product and in full consultation,’ Neale said.  

‘We are talking primarily about existing data. We are talking about a decentralised or distributed approach to data. It should not move from where it was created,’ he added.  

One size does not fit all  

Today’s consumers need clear, reliable and accessible information about the products they consume, their repairability and the best way to recycle them. However, it will be very difficult for product manufacturers and all professionals involved to create, share and distribute the necessary data in a simple and cost-effective way. The digital product passport is consistent and meets the criteria of sustainability and digital transformation, but it will be a real challenge for companies.  

In short, the new regulatory framework will have positive effects in terms of product reuse and waste prevention, promote the implementation of the circular economy and thus the environmental sustainability of the economy. However, this new challenge will ultimately require the participation of all agents involved in the product value chain.  

With ecodesign, a new model of design, production and consumption is possible.    

Eco-design is one of the main tools for generating quality, environmentally friendly and socially responsible products and services. Ecodesign must take into account the fundamental elements that make a product marketable, from appearance or aesthetics to function, but unlike the outdated linear economy, it must also evaluate all stages of its production and distribution chain, in addition to the economic and commercial aspects.   

But to speak of ecodesign as a complete product development model, we must involve other concepts that take into account its environmental and social repercussions.   

A standardised concept   

Ecodesign concepts were established internationally in 2002 with the publication of the ISO/TR 14062 standard. This standard specifies that ecodesign aims to “integrate environmental aspects into product design and development”.   

In 2009, the European Union also defined the concept in a dedicated directive: “the integration of environmental aspects into product design with the aim of improving the environmental performance of a product throughout its life cycle“.   

But what makes a design environmentally friendly?   

When designing a product or service, we start by defining its characteristics and processes: its composition, the raw materials to be used, the way it will be manufactured, the way it will be transported and the way it will be marketed. But we also think about its utility and functionality, its lifespan and how to manage its useful life, especially in the final phase of the cycle. The breakdown of a product’s life cycle can be studied in its different phases. As developed by Silvia Barbero and Brunella Cozzo in their book Ecodesign, here are some criteria for ecodesign:  

Conclusion   

Ecodesign is a methodology that considers environmental criteria in the development process of products, processes and/or services, starting from the design phase. These criteria are considered at the same level as others related to quality, legislation, cost or durability. Their application implies that environmental aspects become intrinsic variables in the process. As a result, eco-designed products are more innovative and have better environmental performance, in addition to meeting all other technical, economic, regulatory and operational requirements.   

Natural materials and minimalism are fundamentals of ecodesign   

At the end of the day, the important thing is that all of us, designers and consumers, realise that ethics, sustainability and aesthetics can go hand in hand.    

It is worth trying.  

The criticalities of lithium batteries   

Before we get to the news, we need to talk about the lithium-ion battery.  This is the fastest growing battery segment in the world. Lithium-ion batteries are able to supply a large amount of electricity in short intervals, so they are used for consumer electronics and electric cars.  Moreover, they are practically the only batteries we use to store renewable energy on a grid scale.    

But the extraction of lithium is problematic.  The extraction process involves pumping underground water deposits to the surface. About 70,000 litres are used to produce one tonne of lithium.  More than half of the planet’s resources are located in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.  Extraction consumes 65% of the region’s already scarce water reserves.    

Lithium-ion batteries also use cobalt, which is expensive and is mined mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This activity is known to be linked to exploitation, the use of child miners and the devastation of local communities.  Lithium batteries can be flammable. They also lose capacity, so longevity is not their strong point.  Lithium-ion batteries work, but they cannot be the only solution for storing energy, especially on a grid scale.  According to the IEA, by 2040 we will need nearly 10,000 gigawatt hours of energy storage worldwide to meet climate targets.  This is 50 times the size of the current market.   

PUMPED HYDRO STORAGE

Today, it is another technology, pumped hydro storage, that accounts for 96 per cent of global storage capacity.  This is based on rather simple gravitational principles: when you have an excess of energy, you use it to pump water uphill to the highest reservoir.  When you want to recover the energy, you let the water flow downstream and spin a turbine generator.  However, these designs are difficult to build. In addition, many of these projects operate within conventional hydroelectric dams, which require a lot of initial capital and damage the local habitat.    

Sustainable alternatives to lithium batteries   

Renewable energy storage will require much more flexibility and modularity than reservoirs.  One promising alternative that is making inroads comes from something you can find on your kitchen table: salt.  Sodium is much more abundant and is chemically similar to lithium.  It is in the same group of the periodic table. According to Rosa Palacin, a battery researcher at the Institute of Materials Science in Barcelona, it is the simplest alternative because it basically mimics lithium-ion battery technology. But sodium is a thousand times more abundant, costs 20-40% less and is not sensitive to temperature variations.  Hence, no explosion problem.  But it has a lower energy density and therefore heavier batteries, which is why it was not marketed earlier.  If it is an electricity grid, however, this will not matter much, as everything is stationary.  Although they are already on the market, analysts predict that they will be produced at scale in the next few years.   

Research is also underway for calcium, magnesium and zinc batteries, but for these the technology is really at the laboratory demonstration level.    

Speaking of salt, what if we could store energy in the form of heat in an extremely hot salt?  That’s what the company ‘Malta‘ is doing in the US. They take electricity generated by renewables, such as wind or solar, or simply from the grid, and convert it into heat energy.    

It turns out that molten salt is an excellent heat preserver.  It resembles water and has more or less the same viscosity.  Here’s how it works: when excess electricity is generated, the energy is used to heat a large insulated tank of molten salt to very high temperatures.  A high melting point means that the salt can absorb a lot of energy.  It loses little of that heat and can retain it for over six hours.  In comparison, lithium batteries can only last for less than four hours.  When the grid needs energy, the plant converts the heat back into electricity via a turbine.  One such plant would be sufficient for a large city, for at least ten hours.  Malta’s first commercial plant will not debut until 2025.  Although the material costs are relatively low and the system is quite scalable, its efficiency is still lower than that of hydropower and lithium.  The hope is that the market will make it feasible 

Sandpiles 

It is possible to do something similar with sand piles.  Two Finnish guys decided to use some local heaps to solve one of Finland’s biggest energy problems: heating.  Instead of converting heat into electricity, they use it directly.    

“The storage capacity is on the order of 1,000 times cheaper than lithium batteries,” explains Markku Ylönen, who co-founded a company that produces sand batteries.  ‘We turn electricity into heat.  We can produce it so cheaply that we can play with large volumes of energy.”  How much sand? 100 tonnes of sand can store heat at around 500-600°C for months.  This heat then goes directly to heat municipal buildings.  Above all, it could provide heat to the heavy industry sector, which is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.  In cold countries, this solution makes a lot of sense.  The company currently has a system that heats Kankaanpää, a city in the south-west with a population of 13,000.  The 100-tonne sand battery can technically stay warm for months, but is recharged in two-week cycles to keep it efficient.  The company is also trying to source sand that is not used in the construction industry, as it too is in short supply, and aims to produce larger batteries.    

The future of batteries   

Let’s bear in mind that these are just a couple of solutions. Each technology has advantages and disadvantages, so it must find its specific application.  Investment has focused on new battery technologies, driven by the electric vehicle market.  The global grid-scale market is expected to grow by 25 per cent per year until 2027.  Of these, redox flow seems to be the most promising.  They are just not yet commercially mature.  The truth is that we are not going to abandon lithium-ion anytime soon.  The huge demand for electric cars means that some of the technologies and efficiencies being developed will spill over to the grid.  But the fossil fuel industry is embedded in the economy.  Adapting entire systems, including infrastructure and policies, to renewable alternatives is a huge challenge.  The good news? The investments are there.  Spending on grid-scale batteries has increased by more than 60 per cent by 2020.  At the end of the day, cost is the factor that most limits the adoption of a new technology.  The market will determine how far they have come and how far they will go.    

Did you know that even stones can be used as energy accumulators?  Apparently, nature has all sorts of solutions for us.  We just have to figure out how to use them correctly.