Awareness of environmental and resource risks is growing. Over the last ten years, six or seven of the top-10 global risks identified each year by the World Economic Forum’s “Global Risks Report” have consistently dealt with resource or environmental threats. Step by step, we increasingly see this global understanding of risks translating into concrete business decisions. A poll of Schneider Electric’s customers in Europe revealed that 82% of them consider resource scarcity and sustainability as key elements in their decision-making processes.
By Andrew Chastain-Howley, Director of Water Solutions, Atonix Digital
Few appreciate the cost of water like commercial facilities and industrial manufacturers. Many of them are selling a product that requires water as part of the larger infrastructure setup that ultimately results in consumer goods. Take for instance food and beverage makers, for whom water is the good. Or paper and pulp companies, whose dry products rely almost exclusively on water.
By Zack Olson, Founder, NextGen Agriculture; and Chris Vigil, Project Manager, NextGen Agriculture
From food safety and regulatory compliance to packaging and supply chain logistics, the food and beverage industry is constantly hunting for solutions that balance profitability and sustainability. With market share increasingly on the line – particularly for large consumer goods companies – food and beverage companies are being squeezed to analyze every cost.
Data Center operators and businesses need predictability in their power supplies. Their infrastructure has to operate regardless of grid stability, weather conditions and other factors that threaten their systems.
Network problems, IT system failures and hosting disruptions are significant reasons for data center outages. The biggest culprit, though, remains interrupted power supply, according to research from the Uptime Institute.
By Maryline Daviaud Lewett, Director of Business Development, Transformative Technologies; and Randal Kaufman, Sales Director, Transformative Technologies
By Jason Abiecunas, Director of Distributed Energy Resources; Daniel Chang, Market Development Services Lead for Distributed Energy Resources; and Randal Kaufman, Sales Director for Black & Veatch’s Transformative Technologies business
The changing energy landscape is prodding businesses to rethink how they use and manage electricity, and 3M Co.’s aggressive shift to renewable energy illustrates that thirst for sustainability.
$10 trillion dollars. If you run, work for, or are seeking to invest in a global company, this is a figure that should be top of mind. $10 trillion is larger than the annual GDP of all but two of the world’s economies. $10 trillion is nearly double the market cap of the Dow Jones Industrial Average companies. And yet, $10 trillion is just a fraction of the financial might working to transform how companies view and invest in sustainability.
Efforts to reduce nutrient levels are shifting and becoming more widespread as water and wastewater utilities work to improve effluent and adhere to regulations
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Nutrient pollution and the resulting excess of nutrients in waterbodies continues to plague aquatic environments around the world, threatening waterways, fish and plant life — and even public health. The runoff of phosphate and nitrogen from farming, stormwater, wastewater treatment plant discharges and other sources into waterbodies continues to unbalance ecosystems, resulting in toxic algal blooms and hypoxic dead zones.
Nontraditional delivery methods are gaining ground when commissioning large-scale water projects
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There are an estimated 240,000 water main breaks every year in the United States, and those ruptures waste between 14 percent and 18 percent of the nation’s drinking water. Aging infrastructure is primarily to blame, as an estimated 40 percent of U.S. water and wastewater pipes are beyond their life expectancy, notes a recent article in WaterWorld.
When it comes to asset management, water utilities tend to weight their efforts toward preventive maintenance
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Water utilities the world over faced with challenges, including of increasing demand, falling revenues and climate change. While building new assets remains part of the solution, enhancing the performance of existing assets is more important than ever before.
