Reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the benefit of the environment and climate is one of the most urgent challenges for industry. However, suitable measures that cover the entire value chain are still associated with high costs. Because production, energy and information technology must be coordinated with each other, there are interactions that affect the identification and price of the measures.
The results of the collaborative project “Climate bOWL” (“Climate neutral Business in Ostwestfalen-Lippe”), which was completed after a three-year term at the end of March with a total volume of around 3.16 million euros, provide solutions to this problem. In cooperation with partners from science and industry, the Paderborn University with the involvement of the Chair of Automotive Lightweight Design (LiA) developed an intelligent assistance system for determining and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Further project partners included the SICP - Software Innovation Campus Paderborn, Bielefeld University, NTT Data Business Solutions AG, GEA Westfalia Separator Group GmbH, Miele & Cie KG and Phoenix Contact Smart Business GmbH. The project was funded by the it's OWL Spitzencluster and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIKE.NRW).
The developed assistance system includes a product-specific carbon footprint (PCF) tracking system that uses automated data processing to provide companies with information on the emissions of their products and increase transparency. In addition, it includes a tool that automatically proposes, evaluates, and prioritizes measures for the holistic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as part of a climate neutrality strategy. The practical suitability of the assistance system was demonstrated using product examples from the partner companies and a lightweight vehicle component from LiA. Within the project, the work of LiA focused on the development of an holistic approach for the development of decarbonization strategies at product level, the standard-compliant and automated calculation of PCFs, the development of methods for the automated derivation of energy efficiency and emission reduction measures as well as their ecological and economic evaluation.
The LiA would like to thank it's OWL Spitzencluster and MWIKE.NRW for funding the project as well as all project partners and the Projekttr?ger Jülich for their excellent cooperation.
Further information on the project and the results can be found on the Project-Website and the it's OWL Innovationsplattform.
