Energy efficiency opportunities

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Opportunities to save your energy, reduce costs, and achieve other benefits

The Australian Government “Energy Efficiency Opportunities” (EEO) is a program requiring corporations using over 0.5 petajoules (PJ) of energy per year to rigourously and comprehensively search for and evaluate opportunities to reduce energy consumption.

How much is 0.5 PJ? Roughly (depending on prices) O.5 PJ equates to:

Energy source Quantity to equate to 0.5 PJ Approximate annual cost
(depends on prices paid)
Natural gas: 500,000 GJ A$2M to $4M
Electricity: 139,000 MWh A$11M to $20M
Diesel fuel or aviation turbine fuel 13 million litres A$15M to $20M

The energy consumption applies to corporate (not single site) energy use, so organisations with lots of small sites (e.g. banks, fast food chains, petrol stations) can trigger the 0.5 PJ  threshold.

Both transport and stationary energy are included, so companies which use 13 million litres of diesel fuel within Australia will also trigger the threshold, and so are required by law to comply with the EEO program’s Key Requirements.  Transport companies are obvious examples, but other companies which could trigger the threshold include fishing fleets, marine logistics, mine haulage contractors, etc.

How can we help you? We will show you how to maximise the “whole of business” benefits of participation in the EEO while minimising total costs. We have a very good understanding of the EEO program and its requirements.

While we don’t recommend outsourcing of your EEO activities and EEO compliance (and beware of consultants who offer to do it all), we can certainly make it easier for you to comply with the EEO legislation and key requirements, and maximise the whole of business benefits of EEO participation in the EEO program.

We can work with you and your staff to:

  • understand the requirements of the EEO program
  • comply with the Key Requirements
  • maximise the energy savings, while sensibly controlling the upfront time and effort spent on energy audits etc. (e.g. through the use of existing data and ‘Representative Assessments’)
  • maximise the ancillary benefits of the energy efficiency opportunities identified and implemented,  such as improvements in productivity, product yield, OH&S, capacity, maintainability, etc.
  • manage records so that EEO verification is a much easier process.

We can help you to identify energy efficiency opportunities in:

  • Manufacturing
  • Transport (trucking, rail, shipping)
  • Power generation, transmission, distribution and cogeneration
  • Water treatment and pumping
  • Mining, mineral processing and basic metals transforming
  • Energy metering, sub-metering, monitoring, telemetry and energy usage analysis

We can also facilitate energy opportunity workshops and in-house energy management programs, and can assist you to develop assessment and reporting schedules and “representative assessments”. Please contact us to discuss how this can work.

 Why consider Genesis Now to assist you with Energy Efficiency Opportunities?
Genesis Now:

  • worked closely with the Commonwealth Government on the EEO precursor programs, including Big Energy Projects, and Energy Efficiency Best Practice.
    This included working with Amcor, Barrett Burston Malting, Norske Skog, Visy and CUB. It was the success of these projects in achieving large energy savings for participants which convinced the government to introduce the EEO program.
  • working with RET to design and refine EEO, including:
    • industry liaison during the development of the EEO program legislation, regulations, industry guidelines, e.g.
      • BHP Billiton
      • Qantas
      • Virgin Blue
      • Asciano
      • Connex
      • Woodside
      • BP
    • developing draft requirements and procedures, and liaising with industry to obtain feedback and solicit improvements, then incorporating these improvements in the new version of the EEO procedures and requirements.
    • trialling EEO procedures including, data analysis, staff opportunity workshops, reporting and case studies, and trials of energy efficiency actions, with companies including
      • Coca Cola Amatil
      • Midland Brick
      • Bunker Freight Lines
  • assisting RET to develop support materials, including:
    • the assessment handbook
    • transport case study and Midland Brick case study
    • transport energy mass balance guide
    • the Representative Assessment Guide (including liaison with a wide range of EEO participants, such as: QR, Telstra, Veolia, Brisbane City Council, Macquarie Broadcasting, Coles, ANZ, NAB, Sydney Water, Boral and AMP)
    • creating the EEO energy threshold calculator
  • assisting EEO participants with compliance and to maximise the benefits of the EEO compliance activities, including:
    • Bunker Freight Lines
    • Australia Post
    • HJ Heinz
    • Golden Circle
    • Australian Air Express
    • James Hardie Australia
    • John Holland Group
    • Veolia (Environmental Serviecs).
  • assisting RET as a specialist energy efficiency advisor on five EEO verification projects.

We would be happy to discuss your EEO participation and how best to marry EEO activities with your broader business goals.
Please contact us for a no-obligation discussion.