THE DESERT CITY OF MASDAR in the United Arab Emirates has been regarded for some time now as a synonym for the resource-saving city of the future. The city emerging on the Arab peninsula, at a cost of around 20 billion US dollars, will be the world’s first carbon-neutral city and a showcase for all that is feasible in green technology. It is a project to which Siemens has been making a strong contribution. That makes a lot of sense, since the Munich-based company has transformed itself into a “green giant” at breathtaking speed, and now qualifies as the world’s largest provider of environmentally friendly technologies. In Masdar, Siemens will install, among other things, an intelligent electricity network (Smart Grid) and combine it with energy-efficient building technology. At some point, 50,000 people should be able to live and work here – including several Siemens employees. The company’s headquarters the Near and Middle East, plus a competence centre for building technology, will also be located here.
Without a doubt, the once highly diversified Siemens conglomerate is gaining strategic acuity now that CEO Peter Löscher is consistently “orienting business around the megatrends of urbanization, demographic change and climate change”, as he described the way forward in an interview three years ago in which he also spoke of the “enormous growth potential for green technologies”. You can say that again. For the targets set out then in the field of environmental technologies have been met much more quickly than anticipated. Löscher again: “With a turnover of 29.9 billion euros in the Siemens environment portfolio, we have exceeded the original target of 25 billion euros that we set for the year 2011.” Roughly 40% of the company’s turnover is already attributable to environmental technology, and this business field continues to have high priority. By the end of 2012, the company aims to increase turnover in that sector to at least 40 billion euros.
The environment stands to gain. Accountancy firm Ernst & Young has worked out the extent to which Siemens is contributing towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions worldwide: in 2010 alone, its products and technologies – from energy-saving light bulbs to wind turbines – ensured that 270 million tonnes of CO2 were not emitted into the atmosphere. That corresponds to the CO2 emissions of the six metropolises of Hong Kong, London, New York, Tokyo, Delhi and Singapore. A reduction of some 317 million tonnes is anticipated for 2011, taking into account the full range of environmental technologies installed since 2002. And that range is certainly broad, covering practically every single ecological niche: from hybrid buses driving through London to turn-key solar parks, combined cycle power plants, water treatment plants, developments towards rapid charging technologies for electric vehicles and the broad field of green building technology.
Taiwan’s tallest building, Taipei 101, qualifies as a kind of lighthouse project for this. The 508-metre tower is a model of energy efficiency and has been awarded the LEED platinum certificate. The designation LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a kind of Oscar for sustainable construction, which has to fulfill a strict catalogue of criteria. The Siemens Building Technologies division is co-responsible for the eco-qualities of the skyscraper. The engineers optimized the building automation as well as its energy efficiency, with the result that about 10% less electricity and water are consumed. All in all, the Taipei 101 requires one third less energy compared to an average building. What is often decisive for the success of such projects is the sum total of the detailed solutions. New ideas are in demand, and Siemens employees produce these: according to Siemens, nearly 40 inventions are registered by its employees – every day. In the 2011 business year, 8,600 inventions have been counted, that is 10% more than the previous year. The overall number of patents granted rose from 51,300 the previous year to 53,300, Peter Löscher reports. Spurred on by this, he would like to increase spending on research for the current 2012 business year by 500 million euros to almost 4.5 billion euros. This propensity to innovation is also being acknowledged worldwide. China’s leading business magazine Global Entrepreneur has already nominated Siemens as the country’s best research centre for the third time in a row. And for the first time the prestigious US technology magazine MIT Technology Review has included Siemens on the list of the world’s 50 most innovative companies.
The fact that the potential of wind power is very far from being exhausted is proven by the Lillgrund offshore wind farm in the Öresund. Recently Siemens handed over the whole site plus grid connection to Vattenfall, the Swedish energy provider, ready for use. Roughly seven kilometres from the Swedish coastal city of Malmö, 48 wind turbines are now turning on 20-metre-thick concrete foundations. Lillgrund is one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms. Almost without any CO2 emissions, the rotors generate 110 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply a small town of 60,000 households. This avoids 300,000 tonnes of C02 emissions per year, compared to the conventional fossil-fuel energy mix. And that is just the beginning. An attractive future market exists for the whole sector. Michael Süss, member of the Managing Board and CEO of Siemens’ Energy Sector, speaks about a “swiftly growing global wind energy business”, which is why the Munich-based group recently bundled its activities in this sector to form the new Wind Power Division in Hamburg. Süss can look with satisfaction at full order books with record total orders of almost 11 billion euros. Environmental business running smoothly.///
