Media Perspective丨Technology responds to climate change and enables global green development

As the world's most well-known high-performance analog chip manufacturer, ADI recently announced its own climate strategy, promising to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050, which also makes ADI one of the semiconductor companies that proposed carbon neutrality and net zero emissions strategic plans earlier. At the same time, as part of the company's net zero emissions development plan, ADI has also joined the United Nations "Business Ambition for 1.5°C" and promised to set emission reduction targets in line with the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

The following four aspects constitute the core points of ADI's climate strategy, including:

At the same time, the OCIA Alliance will also establish a strong multi-stage innovation ecosystem, building on WHOI's existing strengths in education and research to encourage scientists and engineers to focus on solving problems with high impact, including launching a new Climate Challenge Grant Program and providing seed funding for selected small but competitive projects.

Although the current energy conservation and emission reduction policies are mainly aimed at the chemical, energy, steel, transportation and other industries, ADI, as a semiconductor company, is not a major contributor to carbon dioxide emissions. However, in order to set emission reduction targets that meet the SBTi, ADI still classifies the sources of greenhouse gases (GHG):

Data from ADI's official website shows that since 2015, due to the purchase of renewable energy and more efficient emission reduction systems, ADI has not only achieved the goal of reducing Type I and Type II greenhouse gas emissions by 37%, but also in the corporate social responsibility report (CSR) released in 2020, it also proposed more ambitious goals, namely, by 2025, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 50% of 2015 levels, to achieve 50% recycled water utilization, and to adopt 100% clean energy.

Take ADI's Philippines factory as an example. Since 2017, the factory has reduced its Category 2 emissions by 68% by switching to a renewable energy supplier and installed solar photovoltaic panels to provide 25% of electricity for one of its buildings, which is expected to achieve cost savings in 10 years.

At the ADI Wilmington plant, electric vehicle drivers are supported through on-site charging stations, and the number of available parking spaces has increased from 6 in 2018 to 21 in 2020. At the same time, in order to increase employees' interest in electric vehicles, the Wilmington Environmental Health and Safety Department also organized a number of activities to let employees know various information related to electric vehicles.

ADI's European R&D Center, located in the Limerick campus in Ireland, is a LEED Platinum certified project. Here, solar panels generate about 9,400 kWh of electricity per year, smart and efficient lighting saves 100,000 kWh of electricity per year, and the central glass atrium, reflective roof and efficient air conditioning design reduce both lighting needs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Water is an integral part of ADI’s operations. While the company’s performance grew 74%, water conservation measures significantly reduced total water usage. In 2019, ADI’s water usage (in million gallons) was 6% lower than in 2015, while water recycling increased to 25% from 15% in 2015.

ADI’s water usage in 2019 was 6% lower than in 2015, and water recycling rate increased by 10%

"But in fact, the third type of emissions is the most complex topic and the biggest challenge." Yan Zheng said that sustainable development requires people's awareness and active participation, changes in previous behaviors, and the cultivation and motivation of employees' green awareness. Although ADI's offices in various regions have previously conducted detailed classification and statistics on how to use electricity scientifically and reasonably, the proportion of new energy use, and garbage classification, in order to manage and improve carbon dioxide emissions more scientifically and effectively, ADI hired a consulting company EcoAct at the end of 2020 to propose specific, reasonable, and scientific green emission reduction targets and implementation plans based on previous data. The relevant content will be announced in August-September this year.

Although ADI can currently only count business travel emissions when calculating scope 3 emissions, and such emissions have been on the rise since 2015 due to the special travel needs of the company's acquisition and integration activities, ADI has developed corresponding programs to educate employees about GHG emissions related to travel and commuting, and is committed to providing employees with a variety of alternative transportation methods in multiple locations to help reduce these emissions.

At the same time, ADI has also actively participated in the climate change rating of the world's authoritative carbon emission rating agency, the Center for Global Environmental Information Research (CDP), to conduct carbon disclosure in a more scientific manner.

As the head of ADI green team in China, Yan Zheng also mentioned the "ADI Green Organization", a spontaneous non-governmental organization of ADI, with 17 teams and more than 300 members worldwide, and activities involving green travel, family day, biodiversity research, beach cleaning and many other contents.

ADI's main work is to sense, collect and transmit data by using advanced technologies in measurement, interpretation and connection, and ultimately build a bridge connecting the digital world and the physical world in the wave of digitalization. Therefore, how to use the company's expertise in connecting the analog and digital worlds to mitigate the impact of climate change and build a more sustainable future has always been ADI's core focus.

Perhaps many people have not realized that 93.4% of the heat generated by the earth is absorbed by the ocean. The source of most climate anomalies can be traced back to ocean anomalies. Ocean warming will also trigger a series of chain reactions, such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels, destruction of marine biodiversity, reduced fishery production, and frequent natural disasters in coastal areas.

Among many goals, the ADI and OCIA alliance will focus on the development of a "networked ocean." ADI will apply its sensing, signal processing, and communications technologies to related projects, by placing sensors in the marine environment to continuously monitor key indicators related to ocean conditions, thereby informing business and policy decision makers, enabling evidence-based management of ocean health, and using real-time data for more accurate climate and weather forecasts.

As mentioned above, ADI has exceeded the previous 2.5% standard water reduction target and has set a new goal on this basis - doubling the water recycling/reuse rate by 2025 compared to 2015. At the same time, ADI also provides a modular detection platform that users can use to design flexible electrochemical water quality measurement solutions, including chemical indicators, biological and bacterial indicators, and even some low-level pollutants such as heavy metals.

Danfoss, which is dedicated to the desalination process, is working with ADI to use ADI's breakthrough condition monitoring technology to provide fresh water to areas in urgent need of water resources in an energy-efficient and efficient way. The condition monitoring (CbM) technology platform launched by ADI is designed to continuously and accurately detect and monitor the asset health status of machines and other types of important equipment. After using CbM technology in the post-production desalination pump test, this high-energy test runs 23% faster while reducing energy requirements. In the future, these tests may run 50% faster.

Energy storage systems (ESS) in smart grids are an industry that has grown in tandem with wind and photovoltaic power generation. As we all know, energy storage systems (ESS) are equivalent to oil tanks or coal warehouses in the field of electricity. They keep modern power grids stable by capturing and storing renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy, so that they can supply power to all users and applications at any time in a "peak-shaving" manner, including charging electric vehicles (EVs) and powering buildings, hospitals and schools. ESS can not only support the grid during peak hours, but also maintain the existing grid infrastructure without the risk of grid overload and collapse.

For example, in the construction of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, as the charging power of new energy vehicles increases year by year, the electricity generated by renewable energy such as photovoltaics or wind power must adopt corresponding high-voltage and high-power conversion systems when interacting with the power grid. ADI's high-voltage isolation driver chip can well meet the above requirements, so that the energy storage system can not only meet the challenges of fast charging to the power and energy of the power grid in a short period of time, but also interact with the power grid to reduce peaks and fill valleys, thereby ensuring that the impact on the power grid is reduced to a safe level.

"China's dual carbon '30/60' goal has driven the proportion of renewable energy adaptation, resulting in a rapid increase in the proportion of energy storage systems that are compatible with renewable energy, power grids, and new energy vehicle charging piles." Wang Xingwei, marketing and application manager of ADI China Products Division said that ADI China Products Division is using China speed and local decision-making, R&D and support to quickly respond to the requirements of relevant industries in China. The launch of the first mass-produced BMS battery management chip ADBMS1818 is a concentrated reflection of this strategy.

Both carbon neutrality and net zero emissions are extremely daunting challenges that require forward-thinking governments, industry associations and leading companies to work together to discuss relevant strategies and paths. Companies themselves also need to formulate feasible "net zero emissions" goals in stages around low-carbon electricity, energy efficiency improvement and net zero technology, and form top-level ideas and path designs for the above issues.