The ISQ group as a leader in technology and innovation is committed and prepared to support the industry towards carbon neutrality. In this sense has been making a strong commitment to the development of solutions in different areas of Industrial Sustainability namely in low carbon strategies and resource efficiency.
Resource Efficiency has been a major bet of ISQ in recent years, namely the Circular Economy and Industrial Symbiosis – when applied to Industry. In this area, ISQ, through national and European projects such as Maestri, Scaler, Produtech SIF, has been developing several tools and methodologies that allow evaluating the maturity, potential and implementation of Industrial Symbiosis in industries.
Recently, in the context of the “Sustainable and Circular Production” project, ISQ is also focused on tools for identifying, selecting and implementing new circular models in the industry. Also in the field of Resource Efficiency, one of the recent bets is the Bioeconomy, which also aims to boost the circular economy through the principles – reduce, reuse and recycle, with the production, use and conservation of biological resources aimed at a sustainable economy.
ISQ towards carbon neutrality 1
In order to enhance new skills and solutions for the market in this area, ISQ has integrated, the recent approved, European project SEA2LAND that aims to provide solutions to overcome the challenges related to food production, climate change and waste reuse.
The SEA2LAND project responds to these challenges by improving and adapting nutrient recovery technologies for the production of bio-based fertilizers from by-products of fish processing and aquaculture. Thus promoting large-scale fertilisers production in the European Union from its own raw materials, based on the circular economy model, transforming by-products into nutrients for crops.
In this project, ISQ will actively contribute to the “Regulatory Assessment”, “Compliance with legislation” given the vast experience and in particular in the consulting work it provides at national and international level. It will also contribute to the “Sustainability Assessment”, and the “Environmental Impact Assessment” in view of the great experience and leadership of these tasks in several previous projects. Also, as a way to improve its skills, participates in the activities of “Life Cycle Assessment from a Social Perspective” and will lead the “Development of a Decision Support System”, as well as “Business models, exploration and replicability”.
In the area of Low Carbon, the solutions are mainly related to energy efficiency, both industry and buildings, the latter with a particular focus on thermal energy efficiency.
In the buildings, following the European projects Moebius and ClimAct, ISQ currently coordinates the Surefit Project, which strengthens its skills in the area of building rehabilitation and development of new business areas, crucial to meet this EU priority line. The consortium of this project includes mostly European SMEs, manufacturers of innovative technologies for building rehabilitation (e.g. heating and cooling of buildings). This aims to boost and accelerate the rehabilitation of buildings in Europe by reducing rehabilitation time by 40% and ensuring a reduction in energy consumption by 60%. The success of this project will lead to the production of new commercial products enhancing the EU’s competitiveness and the growth of SMEs. It will also contribute to European excellence in combating energy poverty and improving the quality of life of its citizens.
In the energy efficiency of the industry, ISQ, along with the various consulting services, energy audits and through participation in different national and European projects, has a set of tools and methodologies to support the optimization of thermal energy in the industry, both equipment (improvement of modus operandi), or heat recovery by process integration (heat recovery between processes / equipment). Across the board, with the participation in the national project “Sustainable and Circular Produtech”, ISQ is also focused on the development of new Circular Models in the energy sector (in addition to waste), namely through solutions of industrial symbiosis of heat both in the same company and between companies and municipalities.
Muriel Iten, coordinator of Low Carbon and Resource Efficiency at ISQ's R&D Unit.
Assistant Professor at Universidade Lusíada, member of Future Energy Leaders Portugal (FELP.PT) of the Portuguese Energy Association.
PhD in Mechanical Engineering - Sustainable Energy, Technology and Construction from the University of Coventry, Master in Engineering for Development from the University of Cambridge, Master in Environmental Management and Technology from the University of Coimbra
As a project initiated by ISQ, insight is open to contributions from everyone who wants to participate and who can bring their vision, scientific studies and reasoned opinion to enrich the themes and the debate.
If your activity is linked to research or the analysis and implementation of measures in the topics discussed here, please contact us using the form attached.
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