Using EECA’s services pays off
Practical and financial assistance from EECA has helped Viscount Plastics New Zealand become more energy efficient – and saved it money in the process.
For Viscount Plastics New Zealand, getting the results of EECA-funded energy audits at its Auckland and Christchurch factories was an eye-opening experience.
“Until the energy audits we didn’t know where our power was being consumed – then EECA came and kind of picked it out in flashing lights,” says the company’s Commercial Manager, Tony Fox.
“The audits were marvellous. They told us where we were using energy and how well we were doing.”
Energy Achiever session
The company had the energy audits done following an Energy Achiever session with an EECA account manager. Energy Achiever sessions are available free to businesses spending more than $500,000 a year on energy. The hour-long session, attended by members of Viscount Plastics’ senior management team, looked at levels of energy awareness within the company, and where it could improve its performance.
Mr Fox says the company booked the Energy Achiever session because it was keen to reduce its energy consumption – and cut its power bills – but it didn’t know where to start.
“Like everyone, we don’t want to be buying too much power, particularly as the price of it keeps going up.”
It turned out to be the first step in a process which is expected to cut Viscount Plastics’ energy bills by almost $60,000 a year. In particular, it made the company realise that if it was serious about cutting its energy use, it needed to find out exactly where its power was going. The best way of doing this is through an energy audit.
Energy audits
Viscount Plastics has two factories, one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. Following the Energy Achiever session, the company decided to have energy audits done at both factories. These were partly funded by grants from EECA’s Emprove programme – which provides up to $50,000 towards the cost of an energy audit for companies with energy bills of more than $100,000 a year.
Energy audits don’t just help companies work out where they are using their energy, they also provide practical suggestions about how they can become more energy efficient. In the case of Viscount Plastics, these included low- and no-cost changes which the company implemented almost immediately. They ranged from fixing leaking shower heads to installing sensor lights in some areas of the factory. The result was an almost 10 per cent reduction in energy use at the Auckland factory.
Upgrades save $
But the real energy savings have come from upgrading the cooling water systems at the two factories – the main recommendation in both audits. Variable speed drives have been installed to control the amount of chilled and cooled water that gets produced. Previously the cooling water systems were working at maximum capacity all the time, regardless of demand.
The two upgrades cost a total of $158,000 and were completed in October 2007. They are expected to cut the company’s annual energy bill by almost $60,000.
Energy Intensive Business (EIB) programme
Once again, EECA provided financial and technical assistance. This included a $48,000 grant from the Energy Intensive Business (EIB) programme to help pay for the upgrade at the Auckland factory. The EIB programme was established in 2005 to encourage businesses with high energy use to implement innovative energy efficient technologies.
Even though the EIB grant didn’t cover the cost of the work at Viscount Plastics’ smaller Christchurch factory, the company was so convinced about the value of the proposal it decided to go ahead with it anyway, despite the $38,000 price tag, recognising that the investment would pay for itself.
According to Mr Fox, using EECA’s energy management services has helped his company in its first important steps towards becoming more energy efficient.
“It’s a concept we have embraced. Once we’d done the energy audit we had a better idea of what we were doing. Now we’re trying to drill it down to the next level.”
