The Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association (CAIA) states that it will continue to support the current process of implementing energy efficiency measures.

“As a relatively intensive user of energy, the chemicals industry contributes to greenhouse gases through its consumption of different energy sources,” says CAIA executive director Dr Laurraine Lötter. She adds that the CAIA is a signatory to the energy efficiency accord and has been collecting energy consumption data from Responsible Care signatories since 2003.

The energy intensity of production based on electricity use has reduced significantly since data was collected and energy efficiency improved by about 12,5% over the period, says Lötter.

She says that the data from those manufacturing companies that submitted electricity use date for all five years was used to ensure comparability.

In addition, Lötter says that pilot energy efficiency audits were undertaken by six CAIA members. The audit was supported by the National Cleaner Production Centre as part of its support for the chemicals industry and its commitment to improving energy efficiency.

“As reported in the Responsible Care initiative, the CAIA members have improved energy efficiency by 12,5% from 2003 to 2007,” says Lötter. However, in order to improve even more, investment in energy efficiency equipment is required in addition to energy efficient operation.

Lötter says that the surveys were aimed at assisting the industry participants in gaining an understanding of their energy consumption baseline and significant consumers within their processes.

Coupled with this, the project aims at identifying possible options that can be considered for implementation, which will assist in reducing current energy demand levels.

Lötter says that the assessments were based on the Energy Audit Protocol as developed by the CAIA. Each participating company was requested to identify and nominate an energy efficiency team, where appropriate, including a team leader who served as a contact for the project.

Lötter says that the participating companies were issued with an energy survey previsit questionnaire (PVQ), which they were requested to complete and return prior to any site activity taking place.

The PVQ enabled the consultant to gain insight into the big energy users on site and to gather monthly information on energy use.

“Having completed initial desktop analysis of the information provided within the PVQ, and having under- taken the project launch formalities, arrangements were made to visit and analyse each site,” says Lötter.
The information compiled from the energy survey was used to identify areas where there was potential for reduction in energy consumption and peak demand.

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