Sustainability 101: What is clean energy?

[ad_1] Do you're feeling a bit misplaced when folks check with sure environmental sustainability matters and aren’t certain the place to begin in relation to studying extra? Sustainability 101 is a weblog sequence that you may flip to for details about completely different environmental phrases that will come up at work, throughout discussions with associates, and even at your annual vacation gathering.

Likelihood is when somebody flips on a light-weight change or activates a pc, they don’t take into consideration what's producing that electrical energy.

The demand for vitality is rising throughout a spread of industries and sectors, pushed by applied sciences like synthetic intelligence (AI), and electrical automobiles (EVs) and the digitization of rising and creating economies. In keeping with a brand new report from the Worldwide Power Company (IEA), world electrical energy consumption is forecast to develop at round 4% yearly by means of 2027. That’s the equal of including an quantity better than Japan’s annual electrical energy consumption yearly between now and 2027.

How is the world going to fulfill this demand for electrical energy? Extra energy-efficient expertise, grid digitization, and clear vitality are issues that may assist. Clear vitality specifically can play an necessary position in making a safer, dependable, replenishable, and sturdy vitality system that lowers prices and reduces environmental impacts. In keeping with the IEA’s Renewables 2024 report, “…renewables will account for nearly half of world electrical energy era by 2030.”

What's clear vitality Clear vitality is any energy supply that releases little to no direct greenhouse fuel (GHG) emissions into the environment. As a pollution-free vitality different obtainable in just about each a part of the world, it boosts and diversifies the worldwide vitality provide and may typically be cheaper.

Photo voltaic and wind energy typically come to thoughts when you consider clear vitality sources, however additionally they embrace ocean, geothermal, nuclear, and hydropower.

Renewable vitality is a subset of unpolluted vitality. Nevertheless, not all clear vitality is renewable. Take nuclear energy, for instance: It’s thought of clear vitality as a result of the ability launched from splitting atoms doesn’t launch GHGs however will not be renewable because the uranium assets mandatory are restricted.

Advantages of unpolluted renewable vitality For Cisco, clear renewable vitality has proven quite a few advantages equivalent to:

Could be competitively priced in some markets and over time can get monetary savings. Could be much less susceptible to market fluctuations and provide chain disruptions, relying available on the market. Helps firms meet GHG emissions discount targets, that are regularly aligned with these of their worth chain companions and buyer base and important when prospects require companies to scale back or remove operational GHGs as part of doing enterprise.

For communities positioned close by, a brand new clear vitality plant can:

Increase native vitality manufacturing and availability at aggressive charges. Spur native financial progress with energy plant employment and infrastructure growth; 42% of all vitality jobs are actually within the clear vitality sector. Emit fewer air pollution.

What's Cisco doing? For Cisco, utilizing clear renewable vitality for our operations makes good enterprise sense. Along with value financial savings, elevated vitality entry, and enjoying a job in our aim to succeed in web zero GHG emissions throughout our worth chain by 2040, it additionally strengthens our repute as a frontrunner in sustainability.

Cisco started its clear vitality journey in 2007 with 11% of its electrical energy generated by clear vitality sources. In the present day, 96% of our world electrical energy use comes from renewable sources, and we attempt to help additional adoption of unpolluted vitality. Areas the place we focus embrace:

Creating expertise for vitality grid effectivity and resilience that delivers energy extra securely. The ever-increasing adoption of decentralized clear vitality sources can pressure energy grids. Tailor-made to utilities and good grids, Cisco options can assist preserve digital infrastructure safe, up-to-date, and optimized. Participating in long-term, native clear vitality contracts to energy our services. Each time potential, Cisco seems at methods to generate our personal onsite electrical energy. Nevertheless, when that isn’t sensible or cost-effective, we enter energy buy agreements (PPAs) with clear vitality builders constructing new tasks, as we did for our first wind vitality challenge in the identical market as our Richardson and Allen, Texas campuses. Fisher County, Texas residents additionally benefited, gaining an electrical energy plant and jobs from the developer and operator. Extra not too long ago we signed PPAs with X-ELIO and Southern Energy.

In India, Cisco’s Bangalore campus, which incorporates places of work, a analysis lab, and a big information heart, not too long ago entered a 15-year, fixed-price settlement with a clear vitality plant 164 miles away. At any given time, the Cisco advanced runs on anyplace from 98 to 100% clear energy.

Investing in clear vitality improvements. The Cisco Basis and Cisco Investments, the corporate’s enterprise arm, supplies funding to nonprofits and start-ups advancing clear vitality options.

Some organizations they've invested in embrace:

SHYFT Energy. In Africa roughly 600 million folks nonetheless lack electrical energy, largely in sub-Saharan international locations. SHYFT energy has launched a expertise platform encouraging clear vitality adoption in Nigeria.

CorPower Ocean, a Swedish firm creating viable methods to harness ocean waves as a steady, renewable vitality useful resource.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy lazy-hidden size-full wp-image-474838" data-lazy-type="image" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/DSC05717_600x407_caption-to-come-from-vijay.jpg" alt="Five people wearing hard hats and yellow vests standing in front of solar panels." width="600" height="407" srcset="" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"/><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-474838" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/DSC05717_600x407_caption-to-come-from-vijay.jpg" alt="Five people wearing hard hats and yellow vests standing in front of solar panels." width="600" height="407" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/DSC05717_600x407_caption-to-come-from-vijay-300x204.jpg 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/DSC05717_600x407_caption-to-come-from-vijay.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"/> Cisco crew’s go to to the hybrid vitality plant in India that powers the Bangalore campus. Their joint 92.1-megawatt renewable vitality challenge with Cisco delivers a mixture of 69 megawatts of solar energy and 23.1 megawatts of wind energy. Having two sources of renewable vitality will increase the hours of era. Evolving in the direction of a extra vitality safe and sustainable world Clear vitality adoption supplies alternatives to extend vitality safety whereas serving to to scale back prices, create jobs, and stimulate financial progress. By our efforts to obtain clear vitality for Cisco, we now have seen the advantages to our enterprise, to our prospects, and to the planet.

Learn extra about Cisco’s clear vitality journey, in addition to how different firms can begin or advance their very own within the new Cisco Clear Power Playbook.

Evan Brown is predicated out of Cisco’s Analysis Triangle Park campus in North Carolina. Vijay Ettiyagounder is predicated out of Bangalore, India, Cisco’s largest campus outdoors of america.