flexible generation
Flexing your assets' muscles
There is a lot of talk on energy markets today about flexibility. What are the most common sources of flexibility, and how do they compare? Read to...
There is a lot of talk on energy markets today about flexibility. What are the most common sources of flexibility, and how do they compare? Read to find out!
Our contribution to a sustainable future
Climate crisis
We are in the middle of a climate crisis. This fact can’t be denied any longer as we already face extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and droughts. The increase in greenhouse gases has already caused a 1,1°C rise in temperature in the last 80 years. An increase of 2°C is an existential crisis for our planet. According to IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations), a 2°C increase means the melting of the glaciers and ice masses at the poles can hardly be stopped anymore.
Even with an increase of a maximum of 1,5°C a dramatic sea-level rise and more droughts will happen. Droughts, changes in weather patterns, more heat, less water from inland glaciers, etc. will drastically reduce drinking water sources in many regions. More and more people will have to leave their homes because they suffer from disasters and the consequences of climate change.
Greenhouse gases
Some gases in the Earth's atmosphere stop the sun’s heat from leaking back into space. Many of these gases occur naturally, but human activity is increasing the concentrations of some of them in the atmosphere, in particular:
- carbon dioxide (CO2 from fossil fuels and industrial processes) 64%
- carbon dioxide (CO2 from forestry and other land uses) 11%
- methane 17%
- nitrous oxide 6%
- fluorinated gases 2%
CO2 is the greenhouse gas most commonly produced by human activities, and it is responsible for 64% of human-made global warming. Other greenhouse gases are emitted in smaller quantities, but they trap heat far more effectively than CO2, and in some cases are thousands of times stronger. Methane is responsible for 17% of man-made global warming, nitrous oxide for 6%.
Considering all the sources of greenhouse gases, livestock production is the single largest contributor of emissions around the globe. Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than planes, trains, and cars combined!
Responsibility
Every person living and every company operating on this planet has an obligation to help to stabilize our climate. At enspired, we are very aware of our role in this fight against climate change. Hence, we introduced a set of actions to minimize our carbon footprint.
Certification
We follow the CarbonNeutral® Protocol and are certified as a CarbonNeutral® company to make our actions and commitment visible to everyone.
Carbon neutrality is achieved by calculating a carbon footprint and reducing it to zero through a combination of in-house efficiency measures, renewable energy, and external emissions reduction projects. The CarbonNeutral Protocol provides businesses with a clear framework to deliver carbon neutrality for their business.
We are part of the Leaders for Climate Action network, too. (lfca.earth)
Actions
We are using green electricity and have a mainly electric fleet. We try to avoid air travel and favor online meetings. Our office is located next to an underground station and we promote using public transport or traveling by bicycle or foot. We are considering CO2 emissions and energy efficiency in all the supplies and services we need for our operation. This means using LED lighting, cloud-infrastructure, and reducing our waste. We are also a paperless company.
Benefits
- We offer the option of working from home a few days a week.
- We recommend plant-based drinks and food. Hence, we offer free oat milk and daily plant-based lunch options.
- We want our employees to reduce their CO2 footprint, too. This means supporting them on their way to a more sustainable and climate-friendly lifestyle. And in the meantime, we offset their personal emissions.
What you can do
According to researchers at Oxford University, we need to look no further than our plates to save the planet. A study from 2018 revealed that the single most effective action every person on this planet can take is to switch to a plant-based diet. Additionally, switch to more climate-friendly travel, cut down on streaming quality on your devices, delete unnecessary data from the cloud, and rethink your consumption of fast fashion, energy, devices, and water.
You can check for additional resources here:
https://lfca.earth/content-hub
https://www.carbonneutral.com/the-carbonneutral-protocol
https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/
https://theshiftproject.org/en/home/
Greenpeace's newest clip about deforestation: https://youtu.be/8rIjVDo_u8c