Heineken and Siemens have partnered for a long-term decarbonization program, aiming to reduce energy usage at more than 15 Heineken beer and malt production sites in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
For the project, Siemens plans to target the energy use associated with heating and cooling during the brewing process. After analyzing an energy digital twin of a Heineken brewery in an initial collaboration, the companies found that 70% of the site's energy use comes from heating and cooling systems. Siemens estimates that optimizing and monitoring these systems may account for an energy savings of 15% to 20% at each site, also reducing carbon emissions by about 50%.
Siemens will use an energy digital twin at each Heineken site to implement a scalable, replicable end-to-end electrification program through the use of heat pumps powered by renewable energy. Siemens’ cooling plant optimization algorithms will be used to analyze data from the plant to reduce energy costs and ensure efficient operations. The company will also deliver a five-year performance and monitoring contract, allowing for remote assessment of Heineken production sites.
“Working with Heineken as a partner in this way demonstrates a thoroughly modern approach to data-driven decarbonization,” said Matthias Rebellius, managing board member of Siemens AG and CEO of smart infrastructure. “By collaborating on an end-to-end program, we’re able to combine hardware, software, and analytics to predict and deliver the long-term results which are now crucial to every industry.”
Heineken has partnered with Siemens on the new smart monitoring and electrification project in part to reach its goal of meeting net zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2040.
Several studies have shown that using smart monitoring systems, AI, robotic systems, and other digital tools can significantly improve facilities’ energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in a wide range of industries. Many of these efficiency gains are made possible simply because digital tools may simplify and expedite manual monitoring of large-scale facilities. In the current project, digital tools were able to both identify the main opportunities for energy efficiency gains and will be able to continuously monitor facilities.
The buildings sector accounts for a third of global energy consumption, and the Department of Energy claims that improving building energy efficiency is a cost-effective way for businesses to reduce emissions. With a number of digital tools able to support energy-efficient technologies, companies may be better equipped to make necessary changes for decarbonizing building operations.
