Our world is in a constant state of change, and with it the requirements that companies, societies and individuals have to meet in order to endure are also changing. In this development, technology plays a decisive role and lays the foundation for the sustainable shaping of our future.
For several years now, we have been working with market-leading energy suppliers for renewable energies and offer efficient and future-proof solutions for highly complex processes. We have also gained experience in the implementation of sustainable software applications in the mobility and logistics sector. Through our projects with renowned companies, we are firmly anchored in the industry.
In addition, we are guided by the United Nations' sustainability goals and, as part of the Data Respons Group, have set ourselves the goal of becoming CO2-neutral by 2025.
Our projects
Online energy trading platform for renewable energy
We have developed an energy trading platform for the German market and are now expanding the concept across Europe. The platform makes it possible to sell energy from a minimum size of 3,000 MWh - no matter whether solar, wind, water or biogas, the main thing is sustainable. Energy suppliers can thus market their offer in the best possible way and receive the right market price without delay. At the same time, the platform also creates incentives for more and more people to invest in small amounts of renewable energy. The surplus energy can simply be offered via the portal.
The project contributes to the green turnaround and offers the possibility to benefit from sustainable energy production even with little effort and energy market knowledge.
Online solar power platform for all
A similar project is our development of an online platform that advertises plots of land for future solar power plants. Property owners provide information in an advertisement about the conditions of their property on which solar cells are to be installed. Providers of solar energy and energy storage systems can thus easily get in touch with the landowners and make them their individual offers. A major advantage of this platform is that it also acts as a bridge to the open energy market. Property owners with a solar system on their property can later buy back the energy at a discount or use it elsewhere, for example in their holiday home.
The online platform enables people whose plots of land are only suitable for setting up small solar plants to contact the companies without any major hassle. This makes it easy for them to access renewable energy and become almost self-sufficient. Above all, the platform also lowers the hurdle for private individuals to offer renewable energy and participate in a future-proof energy infrastructure.
Predictive maintenance for solar power storage units
Together with one of Europe's leading energy service providers for renewable energies, we implemented an innovative predictive maintenance system for the maintenance of solar power storage units. With the help of large amounts of data, a neural network was developed and trained. The software uses transmitted live data to identify defect-prone devices at an early stage.
If we look into the future, in a few years there may not be 75,000 storage units, but 500,000 or even 1 million installed in private households around the world - without any scaling problems at all. Together with our project partners, we are driving the energy transition forward.
Smarter and more effective windmills
Our next project is all about making wind turbines more effective and intelligent through automation and smarter connectivity. Wind turbines require regular maintenance and may not operate under certain circumstances. For example, when endangered bird species pass through an area or the wind force exceeds a certain speed value.
We have developed and implemented a software stack that collects data related to the availability of wind turbines over a defined period of time. This data enables more reliable planning of operating time as well as expected downtime. More accurate data and an accompanying better understanding of operations make it easier to integrate wind energy into the grid. Operators of wind turbines thus get a clear picture of the potential energy mix at any given time.
Smart charging network across Germany
Anyone who owns an electric car in Germany has probably been confronted with the problem of not finding a functioning charging station, or even a suitable charging station at all. The multitude of charging providers and access to information regarding the location often lead to lengthy processes for what is actually a simple process: charging an electric car.
For this reason, we have developed a platform that combines several charging providers on one digital platform and thus makes it easier to charge an electric car at different providers. The first phase, the introduction of the product in Germany, has started successfully and a Europe-wide expansion is already being planned. New providers and charging stations are continuously being integrated. In order for the energy transition to succeed, a functioning infrastructure must also be provided for it. This project is a big step in the right direction. It not only increases the attractiveness, but also contributes significantly to the expansion of this future-proof technology.
Urban electric car sharing
Statistics show that cars are parked 95 % of the time. In recent years, we have been working on an e-car sharing platform for one of our clients. The goal of the platform was to be able to use vehicles more efficiently and reduce their number in cities. From architecture to agile coaching to development, our employees have taken on leading tasks in almost all areas and components of the project. The use of e-cars is thus to be promoted.
E-car sharing contributes to making our cities quieter, less polluted and altogether more liveable. These vehicles are only used when they are actually needed and do not release any emissions during this time.
Transporting more goods with fewer trucks
Freight transport by truck is an integral part of our infrastructure and offers numerous starting points for making it more sustainable. Efficiency and real-time information play an important role in this. More accurate data and optimised connectivity can, for example, help to transport more goods with fewer trucks, avoid unnecessary journeys and identify low-emission routes.
Together with our project partner, we have developed a fully comprehensive telematics and logistics solution that connects every truck in the fleet to the cloud, taking connectivity and data collection to a whole new level.
Read more in our project references.
Sustainability in the company
However, we do not only pay attention to supporting sustainable innovations in our software projects, but have also been after making our office as well as our processes green for years.
One of our first steps back then was to switch to 100 % green electricity from renewable energy sources for our office. As far as our hardware is concerned, we try to use it as long as possible. For example, some of our teams use old laptops as control units for our hardware backup or for displaying the monitoring instead of buying new computers for this purpose. Basically, we try to re-use or donate older hardware internally.
We have also streamlined or digitised most of our internal processes to reduce our printouts. For this purpose, we have also purchased our own software and hardware, e.g. to be able to sign documents digitally. The Atlassian tool suite with extensive adaptations and its own add-ons plays a central role in this. However, if something has to be printed, it is done on recycled paper.
In addition, we are taking steps to reduce our business travel. Most of our meetings already take place online, and when a business trip is really unavoidable, our staff prefer to take the train instead of the plane, if possible.
As far as the possibilities of Green IT are concerned, we are only at the beginning and are currently evaluating different concepts for our company. We are always looking for new ways to reduce our CO2 consumption. In addition to our affiliation with the Data Respons Group and our orientation towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it is above all our Sustainability Guild that is driving this issue forward for us. Since 2019, it has been actively strengthening sustainability awareness and taking concrete steps that affect our entire day-to-day office life.
A follow-up article, in which we discuss our sustainability measures throughout the company in more detail as well as present our CO2 compensation projects in cooperation with the Data Respons Group, is already in the works.
