Today we live in a rapidly changing world and with the start of the new decade we are faced with a progressively worsening problem – climate change. It’s almost universally accepted that, if we don’t take drastic steps to cut our carbon emissions – starting now – the consequences for the future of our planet are likely to be dire and the damage we are doing irreparable.
New environmental regulations and renewable energy initiatives are being launched to speed up our transition to a more sustainable world, but the transition itself presents some unique challenges. In the short term, as we gradually switch to electric vehicles for example, the demand for energy will only increase and there is a substantial risk that there will not be enough generating capacity to meet our needs.
This means that it is vital for us to reduce our energy consumption in other areas and increase our energy efficiency. This poses a particular problem for businesses, which today must be conscious of their energy usage and their carbon footprint and work continually toward reducing them. How can this be accomplished?
Related to electrical energy efficiency, power quality issues are also on the rise as 21st century installations are equipped with an increasing number of non-linear loads. One prominent issue, that of harmonics on the electrical supply, is often worsened by the introduction of energy efficiency improvement measures and so the two subjects should be considered together.