ABB launches CRC survival kit

London – ABB has launched a CRC Survival Kit contains several tools developed to offer the biggest consumers affected by the government’s CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme an incentive to use drives and motors.

The Survival Kit features six-step plan, which describes the facts, the savings, the finance, the products, the proof and the action needed to successfully meet a CO2 obligation.

ABB is also incentivising current users of drives and motors by offering 17.5%-plus discounts off list price for end users that swap their old products from any manufacturer for new ABB drives and motors. The swappage scheme is targeted at the drive replacements market.

“Many drives are now reaching the end of their useful life,” says Steve Ruddell at ABB. “In fact some 40% of drives sales this year will come from replacements. The ABB Swappage Scheme aims to provide an easy and low-cost way of exchanging old technology for new.”

The water and wastewater sector, for example, is a typical industry that can benefit from the CRC 6-step plan and the ABB Swappage Scheme. A typical water company consumes around 270 GWh a year, 80 percent of its usage (over 215 GWh) is from the pumping of water and sewage. And it is in the speed control of pumps where variable speed drives can have their biggest impact.

Part of the swappage scheme includes recycling of drives. Over the past year ABB has recycled 13 tonnes of waste variable speed drives, recovering over 90% of their component materials by weight.

An ABB recycling programme takes scrapped drives, from any manufacturer, and recycles them according to the WEEE Directive, even though drives are not covered by the legislation. Once the drive has been removed for recycling, ABB issues a certificate that can be used for environmental audits by end users complying with ISO 14001

To help users determine their energy usage, ABB has developed an iPhone application that gives an estimate of the energy and CO₂ savings.

For those users preferring a traditional toola slide rule is available that demonstrates the energy saving using drives compared to a direct-on-line motor running at full speed with no damper or throttle.

“The reasons why more organisations do not use drives and motors remains a mystery,” says Ruddell. “While I appreciate it is my job to espouse the virtues of drives and motors, I have not come across any device that offers as much energy saving potential.”

“We are also the first company to recognize the ecological payback of its drives. With just half a day’s use, a variable speed drive can compensate for the environmental cost of its own manufacture and disposal. We can now demonstrate how long drives of various sizes need to be used before they begin making a positive contribution to the environment.”

The ecological payback was calculated for three ABB drives of 0.75 kW, 7.5 kW and 250 kW, respectively. The payback times were short in all instances, decreasing with higher power ratings. The 0.75 kW drive compensated for its global warming potential in 6 days; for the 7.5 kW drive it was 1.1 days and for the 250 kW drive it was 0.5 day.

By operating a drive for just half a day it is possible to avoid enough emissions to fully compensate for the carbon impact of manufacturing and disposal. The carbon footprint of the organisation then starts to shrink as the drive will continue to benefit the environment by saving emissions throughout its lifetime.

According to ABB, an industrial drive can typically provide total lifetime savings of around 7,500 MWh or 3,800 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.