The energy elephant in the room (A piece written by Carl Reeve MD)
Is it just me or is anyone else concerned about the elephant in the room?
Having spent a hectic week with fellow members of the Plastics community, I feel I’m operating in a parallel universe. During two days at the Haitian open house in Germany, a day at Plastics Live in Coventry and then the BPF Council Meeting with the Bank of England I’m unsure why the there are so many relaxed faces.
The U.K. is in an energy crisis that is about to hit every home and every business. We all know that households have seen prices double and that they will increase again in October, don’t we? I’m sure I saw something about Europe being at war with its biggest energy supplier, or was that just pre Wimbledon? Why then, are so few manufacturers up in arms about their future?
In moments when my faith in humanity is challenged, I obviously reach for the good book. Yours may be different, but mine is by Dr Robin Kent, “Sustainability Management in Plastics Processing”. It reminds me that (chapter 6.1, page 195) “If your energy-saving actions to date have been confined to replacing fluorescent or high bay lighting with LEDs, then you haven’t understood where the costs really are.”
Hallelujah; I thought I’d missed the day in processing school, when they explained the lightbulbs use more power than the 500 ton lump, leaking oil in the mould shop.
According to the PMMDA figures it will take the U.K. 24 years to upgrade its current fleet of 17,000 moulding machines. One of the oldest equipment portfolios of any developed nation. 24 years, to modernise our single most important piece of equipment. If this was true of other equipment in our industry, we would mostly be driving Ford Sierra’s, chatting on a Nokia 3310, while waiting for our IBM computer screens to warm up.
So why don’t we upgrade machines inline with our global competitors? Well the most often used line is “these machines don’t owe us anything, they’re all paid for”.
The truth is we are still working on the theory that moulding technology hadn’t changed greatly in 30 years, so we could pay for the machine over 10 years, keep it for 20 years, and therefore the last 10 years are “free”.
Times have change. 24 years ago, the same year Google was launched, we didn’t have servo hydraulic and electric machines available at affordable prices. We didn’t have capital equipment that could provide a return on investment in under 5 years. But today we do.
When you next walk around a mould shop, remember the words of the good Dr Kent, 66% of the energy is going on Plastics Processing, and just 5% on lighting.
Now back to that elephant.
Energy is typically 7% of a moulder’s turnover. Industrial Electricity costs today stand, on average, at £0.14 kWh. Renewal costs on average stand at £0.42 kWh. A 300% increase.
Have a chat with your Financial Director, accountant, invoice clerk and see what difference that makes to your company’s profitability.
If only there were some way to negate these increases. Well, what do you know? There is technology out there that can cut your energy use by 60-80%.
Now obviously I believe that Haitian machines offer the “best bang for your bucks”, but as we hurtle towards a winter where energy security will define the economic climate, we all need to do our bit. We must reduce our energy consumption or the lights will go out. All the major machinery suppliers, have the technology to transform your energy usage and can demonstrate your return on investment.
We, literally, cannot afford to ignore this.