Power is in your hands to reduce consumption

The Federal government has released the first stage of its carbon strategy. The sky isn’t falling: it’s a policy change, albeit a big one. How the initial carbon tax scheme will impact the industry is hard to determine. It certainly will have some influence on the trade, but exactly what will be revealed in time. The main point is that whenever a degree of chaos is introduced into a system, such as the printing industry, it is the best time for good companies to show their differences. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. So rather than lament the problems that a carbon tax will present to the industry, firms should be relishing the opportunity to demonstrate their strong skill set.

The challenge is that the carbon tax scheme will create increased energy costs. The overarching strategy is that companies and households will look carefully at their energy consumption; if it negatively impacts on their budget, they can take steps to reduce consumption and hence the size of the bill. It is a simple cost-demand situation. As costs go up, demand goes down. It has always been a fundamental law in economics. The Federal government is forcing fossil fuel energy costs up to the point where alternative energy systems that emit no carbon become economically viable.

I have long argued the printing industry is a leading industry in terms of environmental performance. So the special challenge for quality printing firms is how to make further advances in their environmental performance, such as reducing their CO2 emissions, when the sector has already achieved so much. Surely people would think there is not a lot more printing firms can do. In other business sectors, there is now a great awareness that the main focus is on energy consumption; as a result, high-energy consumers are looking to new technologies to make site-wide reductions in energy use.

One technology solution is referred to as ‘voltage power optimisation systems’. The concept is based on the idea that energy supplied to businesses and households is not very ‘clean’. The expectation in Australia is that electricity is supplied at 240 volts, however, products are made to run at their optimum at 230 volts. In Australian capital cities, the electricity supply can vary from 220 up to 250 or even higher (the same variations occur in three-phase power systems). There are two negative outcomes as a result of this fluctuation. Firstly, too much energy is employed to working equipment and lighting, but individuals and firms have little control over the power quality and quantity they draw from the grid. The closer the energy generation plant, the higher the power. It needs to be high so that it is still at a reasonable level even at a long distance from the generation plant. The next concern is the maintenance-free life of equipment and lighting systems that use fluctuating electricity supplies.

Voltage power optimisation systems bring the energy down to a preset voltage level so that a firm draws a constant clean quality electricity supply. As a result, electrical maintenance problems and plant breakdowns are reduced and also electricity bills are significantly reduced.

Of course, the key to all this is a smaller energy bill that reflects a drop in CO2 emissions.

Phillip Lawrence is a consultant and speaker who specialises in print and
the environment

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