The South African government’s impending Carbon Tax,to be implemented in January 2015, will affect all industries and medium to large businesses.The country’seconomy will be hit by one of the single biggestnew taxes in its history. Carbon Tax will greatly increase the cost of doing business, and erode company profitability.Smaller carbon emitters in the manufacturing, mining, transport and retail sectorswill be no less affected, paying out millions of rands in annual Carbon Tax. In addition, energy costs for business are set to increase by an average of 15%.

To assist companies looking to improve efficiencies and decrease energy costs,Energex Africa, a component exhibition of the SA Industrial and Technology Fair 2013 (INDUTEC), will host a comprehensive two-day hands-on Workshop on ‘Achieving Industrial Energy Efficiency’. Ittakes place on 14 and 15 May at Gallagher Convention Centre inMidrand, Johannesburg. “With the CarbonTax starting at R120 per ton of CO2, Eskom will pay about R11-billion a year for its 230 million tons of annual CO2emissions, and Sasolwill pay R2,2-billion for its 61 million tons,based on emissions calculations submitted to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s voluntary disclosure project,” says INDUTEC organiser, John Thomson of Exhibition Management Services.“These costs will be passed on to all customers down
supply chains, leading them to seek out alternative suppliers with a lower carbon footprint,”continues Thomson. “So finding ways of reducing your carbon footprint, and thus reducing your Carbon Tax costs, will help retain customers, cut costs and improve efficiencies.”

The ‘Achieving Industrial Energy Efficiency’ Workshop at Energex Africa 2013 is an important tool for finding the most appropriate, affordable carbon mitigation products, equipment, techniques and strategies to effectively monitor, manage and reduce a business’s carbon footprint, and reduce its Carbon Tax liability. Companies with heavily emitting industrial applications need to find new ideas, technologies and strategies to reduce their Carbon Tax costs by 2015. Energy efficiency financing and
energy efficient products will be covered in detail at theWorkshop. Eskom will also presentits incentivesfor energy savings. Other Workshop topics include energy efficient
lighting systems, pumps and motors, and energy optimisation.

What Can Be Done to Reduce Costs and Improve Efficiencies?
The Workshop is aimed at all operational and management personnel including business owners, consultants, energy managers, engineers, facility and production managers, government department managers, industrial entrepreneurs, property developers, service providers and retailers. One of the workshop speakers is Carel Snyman, Managing Director for GridCars, a company developing and producing advanced mobility solutions such as electric vehicles and their components.Snymanis passionate about modern mobility needs in a world ready for radical change, and will present afascinating case study on re-inventing mobility. “Business and industry needs to consider the bigger picture – the purpose and impact of the Carbon Tax,” says Snyman. “It is causing the rapid development of cleaner, leaner, more efficient production processes and facilities, but the challenge is in planning and implementing the strategies needed to introducechange.”

Energy Efficiency Options Available for Organisations
Irvan Damon, CEO of CarbonTRACK South Africawill discuss remote energy reporting systems. CarbonTRACK made the first remote energy reporting device available to South African consumers. This intelligentdata system can accurately measure and report energy usage, patterns and energy efficiency,and has the ability to monetise energy savings,communicating data directly to a smart network.