Case studies

Talbot Plastics has installed an electric moulding machine which only uses 35% of the energy used by the old hydraulic machine. The new machine's average load for 120 plastic injection ‘shots' per hour is 2.5kW, compared with 8kW for the old one.

The company now saves $4,500 in total costs and delivers CO2 savings of nearly 11.8 tonnes a year. The new unit uses only 35% of the energy used by the old hydraulic machine.

Christchurch specialty meats producer Verkerks is paying for a lot less energy after taking a fresh look at how it generates heat and processes waste.

By converting the boiler to burn tallow, a meat processing byproduct, Verkerks will likely cut their energy costs by $150,000 a year.

The boiler at the company's processing plant produces steam for heating the smoke houses and fermenting rooms, and water heating.

Until recently the boiler operated only on diesel, consuming around 7,000 litres - and thousands of dollars - every week.

During the design phase of Waitakere Hospital a design audit was undertaken to ensure that the new facilities were low-energy environments. Adjustments were made to the design so that the buildings made the most of natural ventilation, insulation and natural lighting levels were increased as well as the use of other energy efficient technologies.

The Mt Maunganui-based facility has installed a dual-fuel boiler that has reduced natural gas usage by utilising waste products from their factory. Now they are burning all their waste vegetable oils and tallow. The new boiler reduces their CO2 emissions by 1,378 tonnes per year.