Energy efficiency - the new challenge for industry

Energy efficiency, in particular electricity usage, is a new challenge for industry with impending price rises likely. How do you know if your energy efficiency program (if you have one) is working for you and how to avoid the five common misconceptions about energy efficiency.

Most energy consultants focus on technology solutions such as LED lighting, more efficient air compressors, thermal insulation, and many others. Each of these can certainly be justified, but each requires capital investment, and most do not impact on the major consumer – your production processes.

QMI Solutions has been assisting companies reduce the cost of their electricity and introduce energy efficiency programs, achieving excellent results with minimal capital investment. This is because the approach of QMI Solutions is different. As process experts, we focus on the major consumers of electricity – your production processes. Understanding where your energy is going, and how much of it is productive can identify previously unrealised opportunities. Often the solutions are simple, requiring no capital investment and only a change in practice. A typical QMI Solutions project results in improved energy efficiency including cost savings of 10% through reduced energy consumption, and 10% through reduced peak usage charges.

Many businesses have already taken action. Some have changed their lighting, upgraded their air compressors, and changed to other energy sources. However, there is still much low-hanging fruit, but there are common misconceptions which prevent businesses from further reducing the cost of their electricity. From our practical experience, there are some common misconceptions of which industry should be wary.

Five common energy efficiency misconceptions preventing business from reducing the cost of their electricity:

1. My electricity is cheap, the price on my bill is only a few cents per kilowatt hour
2. I have already changed my lighting and upgraded my compressor, there is nothing more I can do
3. Power Factor Correction will reduce my electricity bill
4. A vendor says this small box will reduce my electricity bill
5. The peak usage charge makes my electricity more expensive for the rest of the month

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White Paper: Capability drivers for Queensland manufacturing

While the impact of the GFC for Australia manufacturers was less severe than first thought, the industry experienced an overall decline as a contribution to Australia’s GDP between 2005-06 and 2009-10 was 0.8%, falling from 9.5% to 8.7%.

The issue of manufacturing competitiveness has reached a seminal turning point for the industry in terms of its ability to remain competitive. Professor Goran Roos, former Thinker in Residence for the South Australian Government and current Chairman of the Advanced Manufacturing Council in Adelaide, in his 2011 Manufacturing into the Future Report, asserts the GFC changed the competitive environment for Australian manufacturing from a low-cost competitive environment to a high-cost one.

As a result, manufacturers need to realign themselves with some of key sources for competitive advantage in this new environment. Roos contends that these come from:

• innovation which is not limited to technology but also includes design and organisational innovation
• repositioning to leverage opportunities in renewable and alternative energy technologies
• unique opportunities to access resource projects and the global supply chain

This White Paper focuses on the third opportunity proposed by Roos – the ability of manufacturers (suppliers) to increase their capability so they are able to better compete for access to resource-related projects. The suppliers examined for this paper are based in Queensland, Australia.

Click here to access the White Paper.