Earth Day Perspective: Modern success built on a sustainable start.

Earth Day presents many opportunities. Not only does it remind us that we need to tend to this beautiful planet we inhabit, but it also prompts us to ask: How are we doing? How far have we come in our sustainability journey? At Siemens, that means looking all the way back to our inception. Approximately 175 years ago, our founder, Werner von Siemens spoke passionately of looking beyond profits and recognizing the impact we have on society.

I am proud to say we have lived up to that mission, keeping sustainability at our core in a variety of ways. First and foremost, we walk the walk by aiming to be among the first major industrial companies to achieve 90% CO2 reduction by 2030. This means reducing the energy footprint of our production facilities and buildings, as well as that of our suppliers. Siemens-funded programs that help other companies achieve energy efficiency and decarbonization goals are another critical element in this endeavor.?

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Yet, it is the everyday work we do with our customers that likely has the biggest impact on overall sustainability efforts. One of those clients is Marble Distilling Co. in Colorado. After touring dozens of distilleries and seeing enormous amounts of wasted water and energy, they knew they needed to do things differently. They are now on a mission to become the most sustainable, zero waste distillery on the planet.

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Working with Siemens and solutions partner Holbrook Service, Marble Distillery has made incredible strides in resource and labor efficiency. Manual processes have been significantly reduced using Siemens valves and actuators, which have helped take what once required 100 bottles of water to produce a bottle of vodka down to one. In addition, controls improvements that make heat recovery more efficient are now resulting in $400 per month in gas bill savings. ?

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The installation of Desigo Automation PXC4 controllers has also been key to improving distilling operations by automating distillery equipment and providing tighter controls, along with the improved monitoring of water source heat pumps, valves, and actuators. As a result, Marble Distillery is now doing a better job of conserving energy and resources, distilling overnight without onsite staff, and providing room guests with control over their environmental comfort.

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Seeing successes like Marble Distillery and how they parallel with the benefits we have realized internally at Siemens solidifies my confidence in our path forward. To see how prioritizing sustainability is not only helping the planet, but businesses as well, check out this Marble Distillery video.