On Possibly, we’ve talked about how we can cut out greenhouse gas emissions from our homes and cars. But we wondered, how are factories and manufacturers working on this problem?

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

We’ve talked on this show about how we can cut out greenhouse gas emissions from our homes and cars. But we wondered, how are factories and manufacturers working on this problem?

We had Will Malloy and Hamid Torabzadeh look into this question!

Will Malloy: Hi Megan!

Hamid Torabzadeh: Hey!

Megan Hall: So, why is it so hard to get rid of emissions in manufacturing? And how are we going to get there?

Will Malloy: First of all, when we talk about why manufacturing is a problem for the environment, we often think of physical waste.

Hamid Torabzadeh: Right, like big companies that make disposable water bottles that end up in the landfill or the ocean.

Megan Hall: But that’s not great, right?

Will Malloy: Definitely, but even if every product was completely biodegradable, recyclable, or reusable, manufacturing is a challenge because it uses a ton of energy.

Hamid Torabzadeh: And most of our energy comes from fossil fuels, like burning natural gas, which is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Megan Hall: Okay, but this seems like an easy problem to solve! We just need to get our electricity from renewable sources.

Will Malloy: We do – but for manufacturers, this electricity problem is trickier than it seems.

Hamid Torabzadeh: To find out more, we talked to John Eustis:

John Eustis: I’m the Senior Vice President of US Group Procurement for Toray Industries America.

Will Malloy: Toray is a company that produces plastic films, which end up in products we use every day.

John Eustis: We make the film that goes into the bags made for holding snack food products like Doritos.

Hamid Torabzadeh: And manufacturers like Toray burn a lot of natural gas to heat up the plastics to make their films. Way more than we use at home!

John Eustis: Imagine, you know, your household oven that you heat up to bake a cake to 300 or 400 degrees. Imagine thousands of those ovens to equal the size of an oven in our manufacturing facility.

Hamid Torabzadeh: They need so much energy, in fact, that they make their own electricity on site using natural gas. So even if the grid was 100% renewable, it would barely make a dent in their emissions.

Megan Hall: Wait, so they don’t just get it from the grid like the rest of us?

Will Malloy: That’s right – Toray feels that the energy supply from the grid is too expensive and not reliable enough, so they make their own.

Megan Hall: What do you mean by not reliable enough?

Will Malloy: Well, sometimes there are little blips in the energy supply, but most of us don’t notice them at all. Maybe your lights flicker a bit.

Hamid Torabzadeh: But for a company like Toray –

John Eustis: A small blip in the power supply can cause hours worth of downtime in the production facility.

Hamid Torabzadeh: And that can be really costly.

Will Malloy: At the end of the day, both the cost and reliability of energy from the grid are a big deal for companies that compete on a global market.

Megan Hall: So do we have any ideas for how to tackle these issues?

Hamid Torabzadeh: We do need to find ways to make enough renewable energy to meet our electricity needs.

Will Malloy: But that’s not enough. That energy also needs to be reliable and available when we need it.

Hamid Torabzadeh: So we need efficient batteries. Companies like Toray use energy even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.

John Eustis: The lines run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Hamid Torabzadeh: Battery technology has come a long way in recent years, but we will need a lot more of them, and a much larger supply of renewable energy.

Will Malloy: Upgrades to the grid so that there are fewer interruptions will be really important, too.

Hamid Torabzadeh: But, some of these upgrades might be less urgent if manufacturers like Toray can put batteries on site.

Will Malloy: Consistently making enough affordable, reliable renewable energy to meet manufacturing needs is a big challenge, and while we’re making progress, nobody has the full answer yet.

Hamid Torabzadeh: But it’s not hopeless. Transitioning to renewable energy is possible, but we need to move quickly to avoid the worst of climate change.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks for looking into this!

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, at askpossibly.org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or X at  “askpossibly”

Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and The Public’s Radio.

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