Energy efficiency investment stalling
11 Oct 2013
Investment in energy efficient plant and equipment, particularly in the chemicals and food and drink processing sectors, has flattened out as firms struggle to justify the cost of additional measures.
According to industry representatives, many firms have secured early “easy wins” when looking at the energy efficiency of their plants, but now the find the cost of investing in further measures prohibitively expensive.
“From 1990 to 2010 we saw a 35% improvement in energy efficiency in the chemicals industry, split roughly half over each decade,” Chemical Industries Association energy director Nick Sturgeon told Process Engineering.
“The new Climate Change Agreements (CCA) targets negotiated for 2008 to 2020 are for an 11% improvement, so represent a deceleration. We see a reducing potential for improving energy efficiency and an increasing cost of doing so.”
An energy efficiency measure has to stack up against other opportunities
Food and Drink Federation’s Stephen Reeson
Likewise Food and Drink Federation head of climate change and energy policy Stephen Reeson said while many food plants have adopted basic initiatives like not heating ovens when they are empty, they struggle to justify the cost of installing energy efficient technology.
“People have lists as long as their arms [of measures they could implement] but the question is whether it is cost effective,” says Reeson.
“An energy efficiency measure has to stack up against other opportunities. A new boiler will deliver efficiency but other opportunities to spend on new products or processes may offer much better returns.”
The cost barrier to investing in energy efficient technology is at its most acute among small and medium sized process firms, says independent energy consultant Andrew Walker.
He says that often small companies are aware of the benefits available but are unable to afford the up-front cost of efficiency measures.
“If you are lighting a production line 24 hours a day then the payback on more efficient lights and controls could be a couple of years or less,” he says.
“Then you will have better task lighting [i.e. better suited to the tacks being carried out]; you are more likely to comply with legislation; and you could save tens of thousands of pounds each year. But lighting upgrades may cost up to £40,000 or £50,000 to install and many companies just don’t have that money.”
This article is taken from a feature in Process Engineering’s forthcoming Energy Management in Process supplement.
