https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Organisation assists business in becoming energy efficient

MONITORED CONSUMPTION NCPC-SA is trying to find ways to optimise South Africa’s energy consumption

SME EFFICIENCY Businesses of all sizes in South Africa are eager to save money, but hesitant to adopt energy efficiency

Photo by Bloomberg

10th November 2017

By: Nica Schreuder

Journalist

     

Font size: - +

Lack of energy supply security, economic costs associated with energy, and environmental costs, such as depleting resources, contributing to climate change are just some of the factors that can be mitigated if South Africa embraces energy efficiency and reliable renewable-energy alternatives, says the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA).

As such, NCPC-SA energy management systems expert Wendy da Cruz points out that the centre provides a range of subsidised energy performance improvement programme-related services at little or no cost. These include energy management systems based on ISO 50001, which specifies energy management systems requirements.

She explains that energy management systems requirements are “aimed at providing benefits for large and small organisations . . . in the public and private sectors, in manufacturing and services”. These systems provide organisations with a recognised framework for integrating energy performance into their management practices.

NCPC-SA aims to assist organisations in becoming more efficient with their energy- consuming assets. This includes creating transparency and communication in managing energy resources, promoting energy management best practices, reinforcing good energy management behaviours and assisting facilities in evaluating and prioritising the implementation of new energy efficient technologies. In addition, NCPC-SA assists in promoting energy efficiency throughout the supply chain and facilitating energy management improvements for greenhouse-gas emission reduction projects.

Organisations and regulatory authorities are entrusted with setting targets for improving energy performance, and can implement ISO 50001 to establish a baseline performance on which to improve. Da Cruz emphasises the importance of measuring and reporting verified energy consumption for South Africa to better understand and manage its energy profile.

Further, there are tax incentives for improving energy efficiency and management systems. Da Cruz says the energy efficiency tax incentive – Section 12L of Taxation Laws Amendment Act, No 25, of 2015 – increases the tax deduction from 45c/kWh to 95c/kWh, or kW hour equivalent, of energy saved.

However, for an organisation to benefit from this, energy performance indicators must include provision for accommodating changes in relevant variables. This legislation, sometimes deemed confusing, prompted the NCPC-SA’s two-day training course on energy performance measurement and indicators to promote the understanding of this.

Energy Efficiency in Business

Da Cruz says, despite South African businesses being enthusiastic about saving money, they are equally cautious about implementing energy management systems into their businesses because of the belief that energy efficiency is costly.

The NCPC-SA and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation industrial energy efficiency programme aims to dispel these beliefs and promote the ways in which energy management systems can benefit organisations through training, assessments and implementation. “Once organisations have insight into the [energy efficient] approach, they are enthusiastic about implementing energy management systems,” Da Cruz says.

The programme, implemented across South Africa at advanced and expert levels, creates the skills required to maximise energy efficiency, she says. The NCPC-SA conducts in-plant assessments at participating companies to identify areas where energy, water and material assessments to gauge current consumption, can be improved, as well as identify opportunities to lower production costs.

Monitoring energy consumption enables associations, such as the NCPC-SA, to find ways of improving South Africa’s energy consumption habits, an essential first step in becoming a more energy-conscious and efficient country, Da Cruz concludes.

Edited by Zandile Mavuso
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Features

Comments

Showroom

Schauenburg SmartMine IoT
Schauenburg SmartMine IoT

SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
John Thompson
John Thompson

John Thompson, the leader in energy and environmental solutions through value engineering and innovation, provides the following: design, engineer,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.097 0.151s - 158pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now