Sustainable Energy continues to gain momentum. But is it poised to overtake carbon energy in the years ahead? The answer may lie in the adoption of disruptive technologies such as energy storage. 

In the third study from the new Moving Forward research series, Panasonic Corporation of North America assesses how senior technology decision makers view Sustainable Energy, the technologies driving it forward, and the impact it will have on industries such as energy & utilities and building & construction. Panasonic is deeply engaged in these technologies.

That’s important because when you’re creating entirely new experiences, chances are you’ll need to combine many of these technologies into an integrated solution. Findings from this research provide insight into the investments other organizations are making and the challenges they face.

Across all industries, moving to renewable energy is a priority among those we surveyed. In fact, out of 10 leading disruptive technologies making an outsize impact on the world today, renewable energy is one of the most highly adopted – along with mobile devices, apps & commerce, the cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Almost half of the companies in our study have already invested in renewable energy technologies, and almost three in five intend to do so in the near future.

Energy and utility companies, which made up a subset of the companies surveyed, expect that meeting future renewable demand will be a challenge as growing demand outpaces supply. In fact, fewer than one in three believe they’ll definitely be able to increase renewable energy production to meet consumer needs.

The number one challenge that they see? Affordable materials. Affordability and other issues will hinder growth of green energy in the short term, according to respondents, who predict that it will account for less than half the total energy produced in the next five years.

One technology that’s widely seen as an important contributor to Sustainable Energy adoption is energy storage. It’s playing a stronger role in Sustainable Energy growth than even government subsidies. Among senior technology decision makers responsible for Sustainable Energy solutions, nearly three in five see affordable energy storage as “transformative.”

Why? Today, solar and wind energy are time-sensitive assets. Most energy produced is either immediately consumed on-site or shared into the grid. By capturing excess energy at peak times, affordable storage can make energy available any time, regardless of when it was generated. Decision makers recognize the potential of this technology and see “cost savings” as the best reason to invest in it.

Some 40% of energy in the U.S. is consumed by residential and commercial buildings, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and the majority of that is from carbon sources. Going green is an increasing priority in building & construction.

Historically, boosting green energy in this area has involved both a carrot (lower electricity costs and tax incentives) – and a stick (government regulation such as net-zero energy codes). Net-zero requires that buildings produce as much (renewable) energy on-site as they consume. California, for instance, has mandated that all residential buildings be net-zero by 2020 – and all commercial buildings by 2030.

While seven in 10 decision makers are interested in technologies that address net-zero, fewer than one in five believe these technologies will be available in the next five years.

For building & construction and energy & utilities – two industries that contribute heavily to building out Sustainable Energy capacity – lack of skilled employees is the #1 challenge to adopting disruptive technologies. No surprise then that more than three in five energy decision makers cite the need for a partner to help integrate technologies as a factor that could drive multi-year growth.

For our part, Panasonic stands ready with Sustainable Energy solutions to help companies move forward. For starters, we’re focused on solving the affordable energy storage challenge. With our billion-dollar investments in the Gigafactory, for example, we’re doubling worldwide production of lithium-ion batteries in a single facility. Scale as much as anything drives savings, and we intend to continue to invest to achieve scale.

As one of the few industry leaders with expertise across the spectrum of disruptive technologies, we’re here to work the full breadth of the sustainable energy market to partner with those that have new ideas or challenges to help them take full advantage of all the benefits.

In the coming months, we’ll continue to share the results from some new research studies. In the meantime, see our overview for an interactive data visualization of technology adoption by industry, and find out which tech is fueling the Integrated Supply Chain revolution.

For more on energy, explore our capabilities and perspectives on Sustainable Energy solutions.

This research was commissioned by Panasonic Corporation of North America and fielded in the U.S. and Canada. The survey included 200 CTOs and other senior technology decision makers in organizations with at least 200 employees.

Technology leaders in Integrated Supply Chain industries – manufacturing, logistics, food service, hospitality & retail – increasingly rely on disruptive technologies to accelerate their businesses. They’re investing to improve things like personalization and communication, and see a time when artificial intelligence will play a critical role in their business. These industries and others are adopting 10 leading disruptive technologies expected to generate trillions in economic value in the decade ahead.

Panasonic is deeply engaged in these technologies. We believe that connecting them into integrated solutions is essential to creating entirely new experiences. To understand the role they play in other organizations, Panasonic Corporation of North America commissioned a new research series, Moving Forward, on how disruptive technologies are impacting businesses, government agencies and entire industries.

The first report in our series detailed reasons that tech leaders are adopting these technologies and asked about their future plans. This piece looks closely at key technologies being adopted by senior decision makers working in Integrated Supply Chain businesses.

Consistent with our findings across all industries, mobile devices, apps & commerce and the cloud are the most commonly adopted disruptive technologies across the supply chain, particularly within the customer-facing food service, hospitality & retail industries (90% adoption of mobile, 84% for the cloud). Similarly, adoption of the Internet of Things and renewable energy was high in these industries.

But the Integrated Supply Chain also has its own set of industry-specific priorities: 

• Manufacturing companies are particularly interested in robotics, advanced materials and 3-D printing, which have the potential to impact both product and process.
• Food service, hospitality & retail firms are especially bullish on artificial intelligence (AI), which can help them better understand the needs and behavior of their customers.
• And two in five logistics companies intend to adopt autonomous vehicles in the near future – by far the most of any industry surveyed.

In the supply chain, one of the most significant trends being driven by disruptive technologies is greater personalization. Nine in 10 Integrated Supply Chain companies believe that personalizing the way they engage with customers is important to their future success. Many already have efforts under way, with three in four saying they will have fully personalized their interactions with customers within five years.

But what exactly does “personalize” mean to these companies? As it turns out, different things. By about a 2-to-1 margin, companies view personalization as simplifying engagement with customers, rather than customizing services and offerings for them.

Logistics and manufacturing, for example, are primarily interested in simpler interactions through technology such as mobile apps. Food service, hospitality & retail are focused on that as well, but also on using customer data analytics to predict and impact purchase behavior.

In adopting disruptive technologies, companies are bringing a lot of diverse data into their operations and engaging with customers in both online and physical experiences, creating complexity.

To achieve the level of personalized engagement they want, Integrated Supply Chain decision makers understand that they need to simplify operations and better integrate data across channels and touch points. Not surprisingly, companies say automation software that simplifies processes is the area where they’d benefit most from innovation.

These companies see automation as key to tackling many day-to-day frustrations including:

• Manual data entry that is prone to human error and backlog
• Lack of streamlined communication between owners of various parts of the order life cycle
• Goods delivered late or to the wrong place
• Management information systems not in sync

In addition to automation software, companies are eyeing many other areas where disruptive technologies would benefit them, including integration of IoT sensors into supply chain systems (66%) and integration of more robotics into operations (61%).

Artificial intelligence is an area of strong interest across the entire supply chain. Nearly 3 in 5 think their company would benefit from machine learning that predicts patterns and behaviors. And 45% expect it to play an indispensable or important role for their company or industry by the year 2025.

Up next week in this Moving Forward series, we examine how Sustainable Energy technologies are impacting the energy & utilities and building & construction industries. In the meantime, be sure to explore some of our other perspectives on Integrated Supply Chain innovation.

This research was commissioned by Panasonic Corporation of North America and fielded in the U.S. and Canada. The survey included 200 CTOs and other senior technology decision makers in organizations with at least 200 employees.