Rondo Energy Founder and Chief Innovation Officer John O'Donnell

Watt It Takes

In the same way that “Climate Change” and “Global Warming” went from scientific terms to colloquial ones, “Decarbonization” is slowly permeating modern discourse. Decarbonization is the process of significantly reducing or eliminating CO2 and other GHG emissions that result from human activity.

“Human activity” encompasses a lot of different sectors. From agriculture and forestry, to transport and industry, we are emitting a lot of greenhouse gasses. And with the demand for industrial materials only projected to increase as more countries industrialize, emissions from industry are predicted to rise faster than any other emitting sector.

When I say “industrial” or “industry”, I’m referring to processes used to extract and refine raw materials. These processes include mining, manufacturing, construction and waste processing. According to the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency, the industrial sector is responsible for 24% of global carbon emissions and 1/3 of U.S. direct and indirect emissions.

For many industrial processes, process heating is a critical component. Process heating is used to raise and maintain the temperature of materials in manufacturing processes. Heating materials above 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit allows for the transformation of raw materials like limestone, metallic ore, and silica into materials we depend on everyday like cement, iron, and glass. But across the manufacturing sector, process heating is responsible for the largest energy demand and highest greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for over 30% of total industrial emissions.

Most efforts to decarbonize the industrial sector have historically targeted non-heating operations, but if we could find a way to decarbonize process heat, we stand a chance to make a large dent on total global emissions. My guest today, John O’Donnell, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Rondo Energy is doing exactly that.

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