It is high time to take green development as the base of circular economy

In Goofy’s view, China is paying more and more attention to recycling, “now cities like Shanghai can no longer see so many tower cranes 10 years ago, urban construction has shifted from large-scale infrastructure construction to the stock stage, it is expected that there will be more enterprises seeking transformation and optimization of the management stage in the future.” In this context, we need to focus on extending the life of equipment, avoiding the disposal of equipment that can be reused as much as possible, and promoting recycling.”

PR6426010-010+CON021916-160 At the end of 2023, the Central Economic Conference proposed “to improve technology, energy consumption, emissions and other standards as traction, to promote large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods to replace the old for new”; At the beginning of March this year, the executive meeting of The State Council passed the Action Plan to promote large-scale equipment renewal and replace old consumer goods with new ones, which put forward the requirements of orderly promoting the upgrading of key industries such as equipment and improving the level of resource recycling. During the National Two sessions this year, the “Government Work Report” once again proposed to “promote the renewal and technological transformation of production equipment and service equipment”. The above series of large-scale renewal policy “combination” points out that circular economy has become an important direction of the development of the Chinese market, and will form a large-scale renewal and transformation effect. Goofy said: “At present, there is no place where such a program has been deployed on a large scale. It can be seen that China wants to be at the forefront of global circular economy development.”

Faced with the development speed and huge potential of the circular economy, Schneider Electric has made a long-term layout. In 2023, Schneider Electric established the EcoFit™ Adaptive Transformation Capability Demonstration Center in Xiamen, focusing on green low-carbon and circular economy, and integrating the concept of circular economy into customers’ business through related services to help them achieve more safe, reliable, economical, environmentally friendly and sustainable transformation benefits.

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Goofy believes that through EcoFit™ adaptation services, enterprise users will gradually change their perception and actively become participants in the circular economy in the process of experiencing services. “In one of the simplest examples, the circuit breaker that is essential in a power distribution system is made up of three parts: plastic, metal and digital parts. Plastic and metal have a lifespan of about 20 years, but digital parts mostly have a shorter lifespan. In the past, once a digital part is damaged or faulty, users need to replace the whole, but with the adaptation service, users only need to replace the digital part, ‘change the core without changing the shell’, and can realize the product upgrade by themselves.”

EcoFit™ adaptation services can help organizations achieve cost savings of 43 to 65 percent compared to full replacement. From the perspective of applicability, whether it is critical component adaptation, partial upgrade or system update and expansion, EcoFit™ adaptation services can provide the appropriate solution.

Schneider Electric has also introduced a more sustainable solution for sulfur hexafluoride gas, which is widely used in the power sector. The data show that the greenhouse effect of sulfur hexafluoride is about 24,000 PR6426010-010+CON021916-160 times that of carbon dioxide. Schneider Electric’s innovative development of a new generation of green intelligent medium voltage switchgear that uses dry air instead of sulfur hexafluoride can help companies accelerate the process of decarbonization and improve the sustainability of their operations. Through air substitution, each AirSeT avoids the use of up to 3 kg of sulfur hexafluoride greenhouse gases, thereby reducing the potential carbon footprint of 75,000 kg of CO2.

In the face of the challenges of the global economic downturn, Goofy’s view is also optimistic, he said that companies need to face up to the change and provide inventory renovation services based on the infrastructure that has been established. According to his observation, economic growth is more driven by the service sector, and this trend is growing in China. This can be seen in the proportion of Schneider Electric’s digital business and services in recent years – Schneider Electric’s digital business and services have accounted for more than 50% of global revenue, and will continue to grow in the future.