Air conditioners powered by the sun, windows that generate electricity and smart buildings — these are just some of the innovations that major firms in the Middle East are pursuing in an effort to save energy.

Energy efficiency often does not get the attention it deserves, but it is a key component in the energy transition. That is one reason why, in 2000, Aramco established an energy management program, which has cut almost 30 million tons of CO2 emissions since its inception, including 1.26 million tons in 2021 alone.

Looking ahead, and within our ambition to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions across our wholly-owned operated assets by 2050, the Energy Program Transformation Strategy aims to reduce our corporate energy intensity — or the amount of energy used to produce one barrel of oil equivalent — by 35 percent by 2035.

Utilities are one area of opportunity, and major operators have brought on-stream co-generation power plants that convert waste heat to steam, which allows them to produce electricity as a byproduct of their operations. This means less fuel is used to produce energy.

In 2021, the generated power from Aramco’s co-generation facilities was 5.3 gigawatts, resulting in fuel gas savings equivalent to 343 million standard cubic feet per day of gas.

Digital technology is having an impact in other areas, too. Aramco’s 4IR Center, which capitalizes on technology breakthroughs, has developed a Carbon Footprint Solution to measure carbon footprints down to a granular level, which will better help in developing an action plan to reduce them.  Our engineers have also developed a tool to monitor and optimize our energy-intensive equipment, such as fired heaters, boilers and compressors.

Aramco buildings use state-of-the-art energy-management systems and Internet of Things applications, such as smart metering, advanced data analytics, sensors and artificial intelligence, to make our communities “smart cities”. These include smart streetlights and smart meters that help save water and energy, as well as make the communities better places to live.

Other innovative technologies are being used for non-industrial purposes. These include solar-assisted air conditioning, which can reduce power consumption by 20 to 30 percent compared to conventional air conditioning. In addition, retrofitting photovoltaic solar films to windows and skylights allows engineers to generate power at the same time as reducing glare.

Cooling is another key area of focus for energy-efficiency in the Middle East, because of the importance of keeping equipment and people cool in one of the world’s hottest regions. Also, technologies around cooling already account for a significant part of energy demand, and are set to grow further over the coming years.

As well as solar-assisted air conditioning, which reduces energy consumption for cooling in the hot summer months and feeds power back into the grid when it is cooler, engineers are also exploring a range of technologies that offer the potential for efficiency gains. Indirect and direct evaporative cooling, uses the evaporation of water to cool buildings and cuts energy consumption by 30 to 60 percent, compared to conventional air conditioning.

Another technology, advanced membrane energy-recovery ventilation, can be used to complement other heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems by capturing and reusing energy in the air expelled from a building. It cuts energy use by up to 30 percent compared to conventional systems and allows smaller cooling systems to be installed.

As these examples illustrate, tools for reducing energy consumption are rapidly expanding, and managing energy efficiently may be crucial in helping firms cut their carbon dioxide emissions.

But beyond the impact of a cleaner environment, adopting more efficient energy policies has the potential to significantly cut company power bills. This can lead to a positive impact in another key area — the bottom line.

• Khalid Al-Qahtani is chief engineer at Aramco