News
ASK THE EXPERT: Energy management the key to a green and profitable future
IN today’s environmentally conscious society, industry is under escalating pressure to clean up environmental performance and ‘think Green’. The perception is that the required initiatives will negatively impact the bottom line—but this need not be the case.
For example, one Green initiative that will provide immediate return is energy management. By minimising energy use, both power bills and carbon emissions are slashed, resulting in a win-win situation.
Monitoring energy use is the fundamental first step, as ‘you can’t control what you don’t monitor’. All energy streams into the plant—water, air, gas, electricity and steam—need to be monitored. In most cases, electrical and gas energy are the most significant. Automatic monitoring systems that capture data for analysis facilitate the identification and implementation of potential energy-efficiency improvement opportunities.
Beyond the obvious and easily achieved objectives—such as switching equipment off or installing the latest high-efficiency motors—industry can look to integrated and intelligent plant-wide control systems to reap significant energy benefits. Linking production control systems, networks, and energy monitoring equipment—such as the Allen-Bradley PowerMonitor range—will permit energy use to be directly equated to production, with improvements measureable per unit of output over time.
Should a carbon trading market be established in Australia or New Zealand, energy management initiatives will reduce short-term operational costs and provide competitive advantages. Now is the ideal time for companies to lay the foundations to leverage this advantage.
Corrie Van Rensburg
Industry Solutions Manager
Rockwell Automation
Print This Page
Locations Contact Sitemap Legal Notices