In a world of finite resources, what was waste is not the end of the line, but the beginning of something new.
What is the circular economy?
By encouraging the maximization of the value of the resources and finding new uses for what were once considered waste products and spent materials, we can move closer to net-zero.
The circular economy is an economic model that keeps resources in use for as long as possible, extracts the maximum value from them while in use, then recovers and regenerates products and materials at the end of each service life.
It is an alternative to a traditional “take-make-dispose” linear economy. The circular economy is regenerative by design and aims to preserve value in energy, materials, and workforce. It is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.
What role can Baker Hughes play?
Together with our customers and partners, we are transforming our business to navigate the energy trilemma, the need to provide reliable, affordable supplies of energy while focusing on sustainability. Supporting the circular economy with energy technology solutions, and in our own operations is key to supporting sustainable energy development.
We promote with our employees, partners and stakeholders the circular economy principles of minimizing resource use through ‘reuse, repair and refurbish’. We are committed to reducing our volume of waste, by using resources wisely and increasing the recycling of materials within our business. Circularity was identified as a critical component of our waste reduction strategy. You can find out more in our Corporate Sustainability Report.
Did you know there are 5 areas of focus to help promote circularity for sustainable energy development?
Closed Loop Molecules
Gas and fluids (oil) molecules are the backbone of world energy transportation and production, but today they work almost completely in open cycle with a high impact on atmospheric carbon footprint. This needs to change and some of the molecules that come out of the wells as hydrocarbons can flow back below the surface as CO2, eventually passing through different industrial or power generation usages.
Additional molecules such as Hydrogen, Ammonia, Methanol, Biogas, E-Fuels and SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) will be paramount for the activation of these closed loops. Electro-chemistry is going to gain traction as it is creating the bridge between the world of molecules and the world of electrons, allowing a bidirectional flow. H2O (water) will also play a key role as H2 molecule feed stock.
You can find out more about Hydrogen here.
Clean Electrons
Electricity today represented around 20% of total final energy consumption, but it is poised to grow substantially as both heating and transportation move into the electrification space.
Only one third of the electricity produced globally today is low carbon. Therefore, a big effort is needed to achieve 2030 targets.
Renewable energy sources will allow electricity production to be more local, distributed, and cheaper but will also require a more capable grid (smart grid) to handle this variability. Geothermal energy sources will be essential in the transition to resolve baseload issues.
Batteries are the other important element as they enable the power grid to also become an energy grid. To find out more about battery inspection, click here.
Low Carbon Minerals
Electric vehicles, energy storage, renewables and power grids will require unprecedented quantities of Lithium, Manganese, Nickel, Iron, Magnesium, Copper, and Alumina.
The energy footprint to produce all these minerals will be massive, therefore the emissions connected with these activities will need to be properly managed as much as possible into a circular closed loop.
The process to refine and transform ores, rocks and brines into minerals will require chemicals which will need to be recycled and not wasted, and the same must be considered for other waste residual also part of these processes.
Managing Waste
Today, only a low percentage of all used (and not naturally degradable) products are recycled or recovered with a large part being land filled, not properly collected, and dispersed.
Through technology, this waste can be transformed into new valuable feed stock, new categories of materials and new clean sources of power. In 2023, we reduced the volume of waste generated by Baker Hughes by 7.9% compared to our 2022 base year. Find out more here.
Effective waste management is critical to sustainability and our operations. We aim to embed the principles of a circular economy in all aspects of our business. This means minimizing the materials and energy used during all production phases, reducing waste, and increasing recycling.
As part of our waste management program, we review and verify our waste management vendors for disposal, recycling, and treatment to verify these vendors comply with our strict waste management requirements.
In addition, throughout 2023 experts in waste operations formed cross-business working groups focused on identifying opportunities for waste reduction. Waste checklists were created and piloted at top waste contributing sites with plans to replicate throughout the rest of Baker Hughes.
Read this story to learn more about circular and sustainable recycling of scrap metal.
Reused Assets
Big data, cloud systems, computing capacity and machine learning are enabling the circular flow of information.
Data stored in many different places is recovered, cleaned, aligned, and combined to build knowledge that can be used to better understand the working conditions of machines and assets and predict how to they will perform in the future.
The advanced Chat bot Machine Learning is showing unprecedented potential to use differently operating assets and reach new levels of productivity.
Applying the Circular Economy to Operations
We seek to apply the principles of a circular economy across our operations and value chain—to include the full life cycle of applicable products.
Our teams work to measure all emissions from operations, upstream and downstream, inclusive of the emissions from everything that is purchased, as well as the in-use emissions of all the technologies and solutions sold to our customers
In 2022, the Baker Hughes Sustainability team launched a proprietary Fast Life Cycle Assessment (FastLCA) tool, which allows to drive the quantification and analysis of the estimated ‘cradle-to-grave’ CO2e emissions impact of our products and services. In 2023, we completed 313 LCAs, a 627.9% increase YOY. Completing a full life cycle assessment enables to calculate Scope 3 emissions. You can learn more about the process here.
This quantification has directed our focus for carbon-reduction opportunities across our value chain by assessing CO2e emission impacts during product design, material selection, component sourcing, manufacturing processes, disposal of our products, product installation and use.
For more details about the Circular Economy concept, visit the Ellen MacArthur Foundation here
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