What is Electrification? It’s Reshaping Buildings, Transport and Jobs

Why is electrification important?

When industries, businesses and communities electrify, they are replacing outdated technologies that need fossil fuels to function with systems that run on clean, emissions-free electric power. The benefits include lower greenhouse gas emissions, greater energy efficiency and improved resilience in the face of rising energy costs.  

Electricity for these systems can come from multiple renewable sources — like wind, solar or hydropower — which displace combustion-based power and cut dependence on fossil fuels. As the electric grid itself becomes cleaner, the benefits of electrification compound over time.  

While electrification and energy efficiency are related, they are distinct decarbonization levers. Energy efficiency ensures that systems use less power overall, while electrification shifts energy demand from fossil fuels to renewable electricity. Together, they help companies reduce costs, consumers save on energy bills and communities move towards a net-zero future. 

Electrification strengthens sustainability and the bottom line

Businesses face mounting pressure to cut emissions, satisfy sustainability standards and protect operations from volatile fuel costs. Electrification addresses all of these needs, creating an array of benefits across the value chain such as:  

• Reduced pollution and climate impacts: Heating, cooling and transport systems that run on clean electricity can reduce or eliminate combustion emissions, which contribute to poor air quality and climate change. At scale, these reductions will drive measurable progress toward global climate goals.
  
  
• Increased operational flexibility: Electrified assets integrate with energy storage technologies and advanced controls, allowing facilities to mitigate fluctuating energy prices in real time while decreasing operations costs with tools like predictive maintenance and thermal management systems. The result is a lower total lifetime cost of ownership, and enhanced energy security and resilience.
  
  
• Regulatory and market advantages: Customers, investors and regulators increasingly reward companies that embed sustainability into strategy. A robust electrification roadmap demonstrates leadership in this arena, while potentially increasing access to capital and attracting talent focused on building careers with sustainable companies.

Electrification in action

From comfort systems and transport refrigeration to industrial manufacturing processes, electrification is accelerating decarbonization and adding value across industries. Here are some real-world examples of how electrification is impacting both sustainability outcomes and the bottom line. 

A 100% renewable-powered manufacturing campus

At Trane Technologies’ La Crosse, Wisconsin, campus, engineers replaced a combustion-powered boiler system with heat pumps and thermal batteries. The electrified system now provides both heating and cooling without burning fossil fuels, cutting annual energy use by 30%. As of October 2024, the plant is powered by 100% renewable electricity, reducing emissions and costs, as well as exposure to volatile fuel prices. 

Zero-emissions refrigerated transport in South Africa

Thermo King’s AxlePower system captures kinetic energy from trailer wheels, stores it in a battery and uses the recovered energy to power an electrified refrigerated transport unit. In a 2024 pilot with retailer Woolworths and logistics partner DP World, the zero-emissions technology kept food cold during long stops, eliminated diesel motor noise and avoided an estimated 20 tons of CO2 annually.  

Electrification equals savings for an urban office complex

New York City’s 55 Water Street — a 3.5-million-square-foot complex with its own ZIP code — converted to an electrified integrated thermal management system that stores power at night, and uses it during the day, reducing energy use intensity by nearly 20% while saving $1.5 million in operating costs each year. The upgrades earned over $14 million in tax credits and rebates from the city and local utility company.