EECA guiding businesses into green win-win

The search for cleaner business practices is driving the producers of commercial waste to develop new revenue streams that in turn can help improve the environmental footprint of commercial users of fossil fuels, Minister of Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee says.

"With help from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority Business Programme companies like Southern Pine Products, which once spent $180,000 a year on waste disposal, are now making money from the repackaging and sale of their waste as heating fuel.

"This is a great example of lateral thinking with the potential for bottom line and environmental benefits for all sorts of businesses.

"There is huge potential for businesses to be making cost savings through better use of energy - EECA estimates around $2 billion of the business sector's $9.3 billion annual energy costs is wasted through not exploring better options.

"Most businesses can shave at least 20 per cent off their energy costs, sometimes far more with smarter energy use," Mr Brownlee said.

Southern Pine Products manufactures a range of timber products, including medium density fibreboard which creates a huge amount of waste dust.  That dust had been costing $15,000 a month to dispose of, which led the company to explore other options.

With assistance from EECA, Southern Pine installed a briquette press to turn the MDF dust into boiler fuel.  Southern Pine found a customer for the briquettes in Moffatts Flower Company, a nearby commercial flower grower with two hectares of greenhouses heated by two boilers.

Moffatts too had taken advantage of an EECA grant; to convert its coal-fired boiler to run on wood fuels.

Southern Pine now supplies about 10 per cent of Moffatts' boiler fuel needs, while Moffatts' switching from coal to wood fired heating has reduced its CO2 emissions by 3,100 tonnes a year while saving the company $98,000 a year in fuel costs.

"The Southern Pine and Moffatts example is but one of a growing number of success stories resulting from the business community's willingness to consider alternative operating methods based on the simple premise of being more environmentally aware," Mr Brownlee said.

Other businesses to have recently undertaken money-saving energy efficiency initiatives with EECA support are Winstone Wallboards, which installed a heat recovery system in their wall drying system and is saving $160,000 a year, and the Crown Plaza Hotel, which through energy efficiency initiatives including thorough auditing and management is saving $100,000 a year.

For more information visit: www.eecabusiness.govt.nz