Charge Me Up!

Published in LogiSYM Magazine - October 2022

Energy Storage Development – A Fast Emerging Technology Needed for Sustainability

When was the last time you ordered food from a company using an app on your phone? For most people it probably wasn’t that long ago. That said, when was the technology there to even make ordering from an app possible? The answer would definitely be within the last 10 years. Before that, all the needed elements would not yet have been in place.

That is not to say that one could not see the future coming. The first iphone only came out in 2007 – ushering in smart phone apps and all the rest in very quick succession. For transportation and logistics – the revolution to decarbonize is likewise well underway.

As a sustainable logistics consultant I’m often reading up on how technology is evolving in the energy sector. Sustainable energy is needed in our energy grids in order to truly make our battery operated machines emissions free. This month I wanted to shed a light on emerging battery technology.

Fossil fuel proponents like to claim that oil and coal are the only “rainy day” energy source out there. This has not only been hammered by recent world events – it’s also being destroyed in the lab by teams of people coming up with ways to simply store wind and solar power cheaper and cheaper.

The Energy Grid

Batteries that store variable renewable energy (VRE) like wind and solar power are making many headlines. A recent report in AZO Cleantech goes into the detail on how promising research showed aluminum-sulfur battery design has really come along. Researchers at MIT have figured out how to make a new battery with abundant and cheap base materials. The real chemical secret to make aluminum and sulfur work together this way seems to be in the type of molten salt they use as an electrolyte. Sulfur is the cheapest of all non-metals. Aluminum is the second most available metal in the world marketplace of metals. What is left for the research team and their partners is to move the tech up to industrial scale storage prototypes. The work is ongoing here.

Sand of all things is also in the energy storage mix! It may not sound “high” tech – but it is new – and it is very attractive for companies that want to store energy when it is being generated in abundance and then later get the energy’s heat back. BBC reported on how this was being applied in Finland for storing wind and solar power in a community using 100 tons of low-grade sand and a giant silo looking storage building. Amazingly the energy from the wind/solar power heats the sand up to 500 degrees Celsius. That heat is then used in the form of hot air to heat homes and pools. It is also attractive for industrial uses like food, pharmaceuticals, and textile production.

Electric Transportation

On the vehicle side too there is serious R&D going on now to make LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries just as power packed as the lithium ion battery. According to an article I read in Automotive News, this is driven by USA’s need for more battery raw materials from more secure origins. The technology is there and being developed rapidly to ensure that LFP batteries will start selling alongside lithium ion batteries in much greater volumes.

In addition to the benefit of keeping up with the demand for the shear volume of batteries that will be needed to transition to green – the LFP batteries also have advantages for safety. They also can last longer – which lowers total costs of ownership of electric vehicles further. Another nice thing is that they perform better at high temperatures (nice for Southeast Asia).

If given support clever people can build our power grid structure into a sustainable one. We are seeing the results slowly but surely. Let’s do our part and propel our industry into the new technologies. Press our energy suppliers for more sustainable energy in the grid. The tech is there and it is developing fast.

Full Circle – The Promise and Struggles of the Circular Economy and Green Supply Chains

published by LogiSYM Magazine September 2022

Getting the right product to the right place at the right time in the right way! This is my mantra for building green supply chains. Whether the “product” is raw materials to your factory or it is finished “product” to your end customer – this phrase would sum up the purpose and mission of a logistician in our current millennium. “The right way” emphasises that our fundamental relationship with the Earth demands that products be made and transported in ways not harmful to the Earth.

The devil is definitely in the details. As the Earth buckles under the strains of disposable consumerism – business leaders today must address exactly what is the “right” product. It can’t simply mean anymore a product that will catch a consumer’s dollars. Products have to be made in such a way that they do not harm the environment throughout the entire life cycle of the product. In addition, there is the moving of products around from node-to-node throughout it’s entire life cycle in an environmentally carbon-neutral way.

Circular Design – The Right Product

The main challenge for designers today clearly rests on producing products that do not become landfill or ocean garbage at the end of its product life cycle.

Today’s innovators are making some amazing inroads for this. Some are incremental and some are revolutionary. An example of an incremental change would be what Coca-Cola is doing for its plastic bottles. In a recent article Chris Casey of Supply Chain Dive covered the developments at Coca-Cola We will shortly see the change from colored plastic bottles to clear plastic bottles. This incremental change allows for greater recycling use and needs to be done in order for Coca-Cola to reach its 100% recycled bottle content objective by 2025.

More revolutionary designs wipe out entire links of carbon emitting processes to produce products with significantly lower footprints as compared to their competing products in the market. A study by the University of Michigan in 2018 showed how a patty of plant-based Beyond meat compared to a regular US beef patty of meat. The comparative assessment showed that the plant-based patty reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 90%! There was among other environment benefits an over 99% less impact on water scarcity and 93% less impact on land use as compared to beef.

So while improving the products and the packages used to hold them get re-designed - getting products to the right place and right time requires movement and positioning. This is the realm of the logistics professional. We can help business leaders by providing insight on the environment benefits or disadvantages of their different sourcing options to start with, but after that comes the physical moving of goods.

Green Supply Chains - The Right Place at The Right Time

Where customers receive products is not usually negotiable. That said our efficiency in running the logistics to get to their location is entirely up to logistics professionals. To eliminate unneeded transport or unnecessary miles is always something the logistics manager needs to do. This will always be the case and there are always new tools to assist with this. Load planning software, route planning software, fleet sharing platforms, telematics, and so forth

Timing when stores need replenishment or when factory production will increase its demand, will likewise have better forecasting software to lower the overall waste in our inventory and retail systems. Artificial Intelligence or AI technology is already being harnessed by some to predict better upcoming sales. By doing this, overstocks or express orders will be reduced and emissions associated with these also eliminated.

Green Logistics - The Right Way

The “right way” is all about using logistics and transportation machines that decrease fossil fuel use by replacing it with non-emitting substitutes. Solarization of warehousing is possible. Companies like Sembcorp, Mitsui & Co., Sunpower, Sun Energy Indonesia can all make our rooftops into power stations. Using engines that do not run on fossil fuels like EVs are coming into fleets slowly but surely (especially in the courier delivery sector).

Train, ship and airline technologies are lagging behind, but there are steps happening. I’ve plotted out initiatives for several companies directed at these transport modes. There are technologies out there to de-carbonize and with government assistance and focused ingenuity - the engines or fuels running these powerful machines can be de-carbonized. Do not pass over incremental solutions. Whether that is increasing percentages of Safe Aviation Fuels or SAF for aircraft or protecting your ship’s hull with barnacle repellent paint – there are steps that can be taken NOW that will help reduce emissions.

To get full circle on the journey to a circular economy and a green supply chain - please feel free to keep in mind my “Four Rights”. With this mantra, I am optimistic that our industry can stop harming the environment.

Top Tips to Cut Road Emissions

Cutting green house gas emissions for road transportation is critical for our future survival on planet Earth. There are fortunately many solutions available today to begin the process. The numbering below does not reflect the amount of impact the solutions would have in every fleets situation.

There are also many more solutions beyond this short list that may have great reductions for your company. Please contact a Susymbio consultant to work out which solutions will have more impact for your company.

above image courtesy of Mercedes (EVs)

​1. Optimise Your Fleet Operations

​Working smarter instead of harder - benefits the environment immensely. Reducing total kilometers and total numbers of vehicles used can reduce emissions significantly (depending on the organization) and can be done with little IT investment. It almost always pays for itself.

2. Optimise Your Fleet’s Network

​The locations and transit hubs that your fleet uses today may be based on needs to service a very different distribution pattern. Re-evaluate where the optimal locations would be using your present delivery destinations. This is another way to reduce distance and therefore emissions, costs and delivery times

3. Begin the Transition to EVs

​Where EV (electric vehicle) infrastructure growth is supported by the public and private sectors - begin replacing ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles in your fleet with EVs. You can start with the largest emitting routes first.

4. Transition to Alternative Fuels

​In many areas of the world other alternative fuels are being used. Bio-fuel blends for instance can reduce emissions in current vehicles. It is not a full solution, but it can get reductions immediately. Additionally there are CNG or Hydrogen solutions also available in some areas of the world. These are particularly recommended for heavy trucks.

5. Add Telematics – Give Speech to Your Truck

​Several companies can supply your fleet with sensors and computer interfaces that can reduce maintanence and fuel consumption (therefore reducing emissions). Installing these into your vehicles can show a quick return on investment.

6. Re-evaluate Fleet Makeup

​You can reduce emissions by changing the vehicles from gas guzzling models to fuel efficient ones. For cities changing to scooter, e-bike or actual bicycles can make huge savings in emissions and improve service. It also provides a solution around congestion and ever increasing barriers to inner-city truck/van delivery.

7. Goto Rail or Ship

​In some countries where rail and ferry services are seeing improving transit reliability – moving less on the road provides big reductions in emissions and in costs.

8. Get Your Carrier Partners Involved

​When using contractors or partner transportation providers, be sure to let them know that cutting emissions to zero is a priority. Provide them with targets that they can use to further invest in any of the above. This is everyones challenge – and everyone needs to be part of the solution. green house gas emissions for road transportation is critical for our future survival on planet Earth. There are fortunately many solutions available today to begin the process. The numbering below does not reflect the amount of impact the solutions would have in every fleets situation.

There are also many more solutions beyond this short list that may have great reductions for your company. Please contact Susymbio to work out which solutions will have more impact for your company.