Plant Services - March 2008 - (Page 30)

SuStainability Energy advertising and public relations: Many projects are started for these reasons, and fail because other justifications are used to disguise the main purpose. Projects with obvious visibility, such as windmills and solar panels, tend to be favored, often with poor outcomes on costs and even on environmental results. If the goal of PR is honestly recognized, the combined challenge of delivering superior technical or economic performance while still fulfilling the primary PR goal might stimulate creativity. There are excellent examples of creative customer and community displays associated with less visible but more effective solutions, such as combined heat and power, biomass, efficiency and selected renewables. Reducing carbon footprint: Clearly, one of the main reasons to implement a renewable energy supply is to reduce the company’s greenhouse gas emissions. There’s one basic hurdle in the Unites States: How can we measure the value when there’s neither a predictable financial gain nor a clear regulatory requirement? The only way is to set clear numerical targets and hold people accountable for them via compensation and other mechanisms. Phantom carbon pricing is a common approach, valuing carbon reductions at somewhere between $10 and $50 per metric ton. Under this approach, the small premium for “green electricity” for a plant in a coal-heavy system no longer looks like a penalty, but like phantom cost avoidance. Reducing direct energy costs: Implementing renewable supplies simply as a direct replacement for traditional sources rarely delivers rapid energy cost savings, which immediately raises demands for subsidies of some kind or project cancellation. However, the economics of renewable energy change completely when they’re a part of a totally integrated approach that combines efficiency, heat recovery and renewable alternatives. Depending on tariff structures and weather, renewables can come into their own as a mechanism to reduce peak rates. Part of the reduction in overall energy costs can come from public support incentives. In the industrial world, smart solutions usually are those that make pretty good sense anyway, meet the desired objectives, and the incentive is added value that’s the makeweight in the final analysis. Currently, most state energy office and similar incentives are heavily focused on single-technology solutions, and aren’t well structured to provide incentives that foster integrated efficiency/heat recovery/renewable solutions. That’s the bad news – the good news is that well-designed, integrated approaches generally are attractive enough to stand on their own. Reducing process material or energy waste: Many industries produce combustible byproducts or large amounts of unused heat. These fit well into appropriately designed renewable energy approaches. If the primary objective is to 30 www.PLANTSERVICES.com March 2008 http://www.aitkenproducts.com http://www.aitkenproducts.com http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Plant Services - March 2008

Plant Services - March 2008 Contents From The Editor Letters The PS Files Up and Running Crisis Corner What Works Asset Manager: Enterprise Thinking Technology Toolbox: Hydrogen In Action Cover Story: Get Real Electrical: Reliable Distribution Power Transmission: When the Belt Breaks Web Hunter: Tooting Horns In the Trenches Product Picks Classifieds Fast Facts Energy Expert: Energy versus Sustainability

Plant Services - March 2008

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