Enigin Distributors in Australia Ideally Placed to help with EEO Program
IN July 2006 the Australian federal government set up the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Program (EEO), which has recently produced a report on energy efficiency which highlights the environmental and financial benefits of energy efficiency.
The EEO’s primary aim is helping large energy consumers to recognise opportunities to improve energy efficiency.
To achieve this aim corporations have to identify, evaluate and report publicly on their cost-effective energy savings opportunities and efforts. The reports must identify the energy saving opportunities, quantify the amount of energy that could be saved and state the organisation’s response to the opportunities.
Enigin Distributors across Australia are perfectly equipped to help commerce and industry in reporting their energy efficiency, and then to apply technology in the most effective way to reduce power use without affecting output.
The EEO is mandatory for all corporations that use more than 0.5 petajoules (PJ) of energy per year, roughly equivalent to the energy used by 10,000 Australian households. There are more than 220 corporations currently registered for the program.
The controlling corporation cannot focus on just it core business or concerns, the EEO report must also cover all its major business entities, including subsidiaries, joint ventures, partnerships, business units, sites and activities.
The EEO Program mandates reporting and publication of energy efficiency action rather than forcing compliance to strict energy efficiency standards. But the program is powerful as it can raises awareness of what a business is doing about energy efficiency, which can make a difference to their clients and future investment into the business.
In February this year the EEO produced it “First Opportunities Report” which covered the period 2006-2008, before the global financial down turn but the main details were telling - here are some of its conclusions:
- Identified energy savings were expected to lead to net financial benefits of $735.8 million for projects with payback periods of four years or less.
- Corporations in the manufacturing, mining and transport industries used the largest amount of energy in 2007-2008.
- Corporations currently participating in the EE O Program identified opportunities to save 6.4 million tonnes of CO2-e (MtCO2-e) per year, which is equivalent to 1.1% of Australia's 2006-2007 total greenhouse gas emissions.
- Action to reduce emissions by 3.9 MtCO2-e per year has already been implemented or committed to.
The report also revealed that some of the most effective opportunities came from an assessment of energy usage in the whole business to determine how much energy was needed and then analyze how this energy could be used in the most efficient manner.
The Eniscope is the ideal energy management system to make this sort of assessment, whether in the business as a whole, separate sites, unite or even individual pieces of plant.
The report noted that operating methods could make a difference to the amount of energy being used. Improving technology performance and optimising processes – for example by turning off redundant equipment and better or controlled start-up and shut-down procedures.
These methods are a low or even no cost way of increasing energy efficiency. Nevertheless, the availability of specific data to help operational managers is needed to benefit on these opportunities.
The report also identified energy efficiency opportunities, including:
- Process control
- New technology investments
- Retrofitting of existing equipment
- Improved energy metering
Energy efficiency and consumption reporting also helps to change behaviour among those who have access to the energy efficiency and consumption reports, which is where the power of public reporting hits home.
Real-time energy data provided by the Eniscope is just what Australian business need.
