Manufacturers still in the dark about energy costs
6 May 2011
London – Faced with higher energy costs UK manufacturers are still opting to switch energy supplier and turn out lights instead of adopting energy-saving technologies such as variable-speed drives and high efficiency motors, an ABB-sponsored survey has found.
However, the survey by Benchmark Research, noted a greater awareness of the cost of energy, with 52% of respondents experiencing price hikes in the past year. This has triggered an increase in the desire to find energy saving alternatives with 36 per cent of survey respondents managing to reduce their electricity prices within the past year.
Frustratingly, for suppliers such as ABB, the most popular energy-saving tactic was turning off lights whilst switching to motion sensor lighting was also highly rated. Despite this, some 30% of respondents have no specific targets for annual energy reduction.
When it comes to saving electricity costs, 30% of manufacturers thought the most effective way would be to change electricity supplier. Clamping down on non-efficient lighting and compressed air leakage was also favoured by manufacturers. Investing in equipment that makes industrial processes more efficient came further down the list.
“This list is upside down,” said Steve Ruddell, energy spokesperson in the UK for ABB Ltd. “Reducing lighting costs is highly commendable, but the reality is that the real savings exist by reducing energy use within manufacturing processes.”
Most companies, he argues, can save thousands of pounds worth of electricity and some can even save hundreds of thousands of pounds by upgrading existing industrial processes, often at comparatively low cost.
“It concerns me that the people tasked with allocating the resources in industry are not more aware of how electricity is used. If equipment is purchased on the basis of first cost alone but at the expense of high running costs, nothing is gained.
Additionally, process efficiency in industry needs to be addressed in order to get CO2 emissions down. 65% of electricity in industry is used by electric motors, but approximately only 10 percent of motors have efficient speed control,” Ruddell said.
Most processes in industry are designed for a worst-case scenario that only occurs infrequently, if at all. Yet, motors tend to be left running at a fixed speed which is much higher than what the production requires. Most motors can be reduced to 80% speed without any negative effects on the process - a 20% reduction in speed can save nearly half the energy.
“The potential energy savings in industry are staggering. Realising these savings could help to substantially reduce CO2 emissions. However, our survey suggests people are looking for savings in the wrong places,” concluded Ruddell.
More manufacturers are embracing the low carbon agenda with 78% of those surveyed indicated they were measuring and monitoring carbon emissions. The adoption of carbon management strategies have also grown in popularity to 37% - a rise of 3% since 2009.
However accessing information on low carbon energy alternatives is a struggle for many respondents; 41% branded resources poor or very poor, this may be one reason why many have yet to move forward with carbon cutting initiatives. Firms also failed to become early adopters because emission reduction strategies are seen as a distraction from day-to-day business activities.
Referring to the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, many organisations feel that without clearly defined goals in place, there is no point in wasting resources on meeting the scheme’s requirements. Out of those organisations who qualify for the scheme, almost 50% said they measured energy use and 33% recorded CO2 output.
