When it comes to the new Carbon Reduction Commitment
(CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme, the ability to achieve
accurate measurement will be of critical importance. Neil
Webster of ABB’s UK Measurement Products business,
explains how the latest instrumentation equipment can
play a frontline role

The CRC is effectively a cap and trade
system aimed at large non-energy
intensive organisations in the public
and private sectors, including small to
medium industrial facilities. As such, it is
aimed at getting organisations to reduce
their carbon emissions through a system of
carbon allowances, priced at an initially fixed
level of £12t of CO2 emitted.

The amount of carbon allowances an
organisation can purchase will be uncapped
until April 2013. At this point, allowance
allocations will be capped and an open
market created where organisations will be
able to trade their allowances, with the best
performers able to sell their surplus
allowances at the market price to companies
that are lagging behind.

At the moment, the scheme affects around
5000 organisations with a half hourly
metered electricity consumption of over
6000MWh per year, with a further 15,000
below this threshold having to provide
information on their energy use.

Even at this early stage, the key to an
organisation’s success within the CRC
scheme will depend on its ability to
accurately measure energy consumption.

This means not just metering the amount of
electricity it consumes, but identifying
separate aspects of its operations to spot
every possible opportunity for
improvements in energy performance.

Measure to manage
Today’s instrumentation equipment is
packed with new possibilities for optimising
energy efficiency through the highest levels
of accuracy. Coupled with the benefits of
advances in communications technology,
such as Wireless HART, Ethernet and
Fieldbus communications, these instruments
can help operators to unlock new levels of
performance through improved levels of
reporting, status updates and diagnostics
checking.

Instruments such as flowmeters can serve
a vital role in the front line of any energy
saving programme. Using a flowmeter to
measure steam consumption to one or more
processes, for example, can help
organisations assess the efficiency of those
processes and take steps to improve
performance if necessary.

These flowmeters can then be
supplemented with data recorders to collect
energy data such as consumption and trend
patterns, which can be transferred easily to a
PC or relayed to a control system for
subsequent analysis. A range of reporting
options also allows reports to be readily
produced if required, useful for CRC
reporting purposes.

Compressed air is another key area where
savings can be readily achieved. Any chance
to reduce the energy used to generate
compressed air is especially valuable, since
around 90% of the energy consumed by a
compressor ends up as waste heat, not
compressed air. Even more surprising is the
amount of air that can be lost where a hole is
present. A 10mm hole, for example, can
result in losses of 322kg/h, equivalent to
23kW, which in turn equates to over £15,000
per year (where electricity costs £0.08 per
kWh, compressor efficiency is 65%,
operating 8000h/year).

The first step in tackling this sort of waste
is to use a thermal mass flowmeter to directly
measure the compressed air consumption to
a process. By comparing actual consumption
against the theoretical ‘perfect’ consumption,
it’s possible to quickly identify if leaks are
present. In pneumatically actuated valve
applications, compressed air consumption
can also be reduced by using the latest smart
positioner technology, to ensure that air is
only supplied to the valve actuator as and
when necessary. Replacing this positioner
with a smart positioner could save between
£500 and £1200/year per positioner through
reduced compressed air consumption.

Measure, optimise, save
Accuracy of data is a key requirements of the
CRC scheme, as is the need to keep suitable
records for audits which will be carried out
on a sample of 20% of participants each
year. At the end of the first year, the best
performing organisations will get money
relating to the proportion of emissions that
have been monitored.

To date, the importance attached to energy
efficiency within industrial companies has
been patchy, with some companies much
further advanced than others. Using
instrumentation to gather information on as
many aspects of process performance as
possible will provide a valuable starting point
to helping site operators identify areas for
greater energy efficiency and ensure a
successful start to the CRC scheme.

ABB is a company with the products,
applications expertise and knowledge to help
companies prepare for the CRC Energy
Efficiency Scheme and ensure greater energy
efficiency throughout their processes.