EECA EnergyWise Award winners announced

1 March 2006

EECA EnergyWise Award winners announced

The winners of the 2006 EECA EnergyWise Awards were announced in Auckland tonight.

'The EECA EnergyWise Awards celebrate achievements in producing, delivering and using energy in the best possible ways,' said Heather Staley, Chief Executive of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

The nine winners come from a broad cross-section of the economy. 'These organisations clearly demonstrate that smart energy choices make sound financial sense', said Ms Staley. 'Smart energy choices also have positive environmental and health benefits for all New Zealanders.'

The EECA Supreme Award went to Contact Energy for their Healthy Homes project. 'We were impressed by so many aspects of the Contact Energy project,' said Ms Staley. 'Contact Energy thought about what would actually work for people, and they tailored the project to make energy efficiency easy. Delivering better value for the same energy bill benefits their customers and makes good business sense for them.'

The entries were judged on the benefits of the project (energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy and greenhouse gas reductions), cost effectiveness, innovation, and sustainability (the continuation of the project and the ability for it to be replicated by other businesses).

Reporters note: Full winners list, contact details and background notes attached.

EECA EnergyWise Awards 2006 Winners

EECA Supreme Award and the Fujitsu General NZ Ltd Community Award - Contact Energy for the Contact Healthy Homes Initiative throughout New Zealand. Contact Pattrick Smellie 021 588 203
Transpower Energy Supplier Award - Energy for Industry for Auckland Hospital. Contact Andrew Cooper 021 442 549
Meridian Energy Renewable Energy Award - Carter Holt Harvey for Kinleith Mill, Tokoroa. Contact Robyn Orchard 0274 749 058
Honeywell Innovation Award - Energy for Industry for Winstone Pulp International heat plant, Karioi. Contact Andrew Cooper 021 442 549
Shell New Zealand Transport Award - Auckland Regional Transport Authority for the Auckland Walking School Bus Programme. Contact Sharon Hunter 021 545 230
Genesis Energy Commercial/Services Award - ECO Systems Ltd for McDonald's Head Office. Contact Frans Plugge 021 315 326
Energy for Industry Industrial/Manufacturing Award - Fonterra Co-operative Group for their energy reduction project. Contact John Redwood 012 507 072
Contact Energy Manager Award - Trevor Gerken, Carter Holt Harvey. Contact Robyn Orchard 0274 749 058
Ministry for the Environment Public Sector Award - Department of Corrections for their energy savings programme. Contact Rose Artemiev 021 761 828

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
EECA Supreme Award and the Fujitsu General NZ Ltd Community Award - Contact Energy for the Contact Healthy Homes Initiative.
Contact Energy's Healthy Homes project focused on the link between the high incidence of respiratory illness in New Zealand and the low average temperatures, dampness and coldness in the nation's older homes.
The national project, undertaken in stages during 2005, combined a strong media campaign to raise public awareness with practical advice and financial incentives for homeowners to undertake energy efficient retro-fits. Testing with consumer groups showed that appealing to the family health benefits of energy efficient behaviours was just as, if not more, compelling than promoting straight financial savings. Consequently, Contact reframed the energy efficiency message to emphasise that a warm, dry home is a healthy home.
Contact partnered with two retailers, Mitre 10 and Noel Leeming, to provide practical solutions to energy efficiency problems. Retail partners achieved record sales of Pink(r) Batts(r).
'Contact Energy thought about what would work for people, and they made energy efficiency easy,' said Heather Staley, Chief Executive of EECA. 'Delivering better value for the same energy bill benefits their customers, and makes good business sense for them.'

Transpower Energy Supplier Award - Energy for Industry for Auckland Hospital.
A $7.8 million cogeneration plant built by Energy for Industry to supply heat and power to Auckland City Hospital will pay for itself in just six and a half years. The payback will be even faster if electricity prices rise at a higher rate relative to gas prices.
The facility includes a diesel generator and two engines fuelled by natural gas. It supplies 3.6MW of baseload electricity - meeting most of the hospital's demand - and 4.2MW of heat as hot water. This is used to heat buildings and for domestic hot water. The facility also provides 2.8MW of emergency standby power to the hospital, ensuring security of supply.
'The hospital's cogeneration plant is efficient because it uses heat , which would otherwise be a waste product at a power station,' said Heather Staley, Chief Executive of EECA. 'The electricity generated by the new plant replaces supply previously sourced from the grid, which can contribute to deferring transmission lines upgrades.'

Meridian Energy Renewable Energy Award - Carter Holt Harvey for Kinleith Mill, Tokoroa.
Carter Holt Harvey's Kinleith Mill generates steam for its pulp and paper process using a boiler that burns a combination of wood waste and natural gas. By burning more biomass, the mill is able to significantly reduce the amount of natural gas used.
Forest residues left in the Kinleith forest after harvesting was used in the trial project to boost the amount of biomass. In the first year the project delivered 40,000 tonnes of biomass at an economic rate and 50,000 tonnes in 2005.
In 2004, a total 319,000 tonnes of biomass were burned as fuel.
'The project has significant environmental benefits,' said Heather Staley, Chief Executive of EECA. 'Replacing natural gas with biomass from forest residues has resulted in a considerable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.'

Honeywell Innovation Award - Energy for Industry for Winstone Pulp International heat plant, Karioi.
A new biomass-burning heat plant at Winstone Pulp International has helped the pulp mill achieve a dramatic drop in its greenhouse gas emissions. The company now buys its heat from Energy for Industry, which financed, designed and built the plant on the mill's Karioi site between Ohakune and Waiouru.
Previously the mill relied heavily on LPG in its pulp drying process. The site's consumption of LPG halved to less than four million litres in the first 12 months since the new plant was commissioned in 2004.
The 12MW heat plant burns wood residues from the mill and dried pulp sludge, a processing by-product, which had not been used previously because it was too wet and unsuitable as a fuel. The biomass material was previously disposed of in landfill, where it produced the greenhouse gas methane.
By reducing methane from landfill and CO2 from avoided use of LPG, the biomass-burning heat plant avoids greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 30,000 tonnes of CO2 a year and guards the mill against increasing LPG costs.
'Energy for Industry's project demonstrates the link between economic benefits at a company level, and the considerable environmental benefits for New Zealand as a whole,' said Heather Staley, Chief Executive of EECA.

Shell New Zealand Transport Award - Auckland Regional Transport Authority for the Auckland Walking School Bus Programme.
Auckland's first Walking School Bus - groups of children with a parent 'driver' in the front and a 'conductor' behind, walking to and from school - was set up in 1999. Further Walking School Buses were established throughout the region with the early support of EECA and the Auckland Regional Council, and later the Auckland Regional Transport Authority.
Each walking bus is eligible for a grant of $1,500 on start-up. There is annual health and safety training for volunteers, and safety issues are monitored through the development of a Hazard ID Register for each route.
Starting with 20 children on one Walking School Bus route at one school, there are now 181 routes across 85 schools, with more than 3,000 children using them as their preferred mode of travel to school.
Heather Staley, Chief Executive of EECA, says 'The Walking School Bus programme helps reduces school car trips, which account for 34% of peak traffic. This means less fuel used and therefore lower carbon dioxide emissions.'
The Auckland Regional Transport Authority calculates Walking School Buses currently displace 96,000 litres of petrol and diesel that would otherwise have been used to transport children to school.

Genesis Energy Commercial/Services Award - ECO Systems Ltd for McDonald's Head Office.
'ECOsystems Ltd's upgrade of McDonald's head office in Auckland shows that even modern commercial office buildings can reduce energy consumption by more than 20%,' said Heather Staley, Chief Executive of EECA.
ECOsystems replaced the building management system with an Energy Automation System (EAS) which controls air conditioning and ventilation. The EAS monitors the air temperature and matches the heating and cooling to the requirements on each floor, using the most energy efficient way to satisfy demand. This includes using free fresh air to cool areas before requiring the chiller to operate.
The new lighting system uses energy efficient light fittings saving 45% of energy. The system maximises the use of natural daylight by adjusting the output of the light fittings to maintain a comfortable light level at each desk. Timers and occupancy sensors are also used make sure lighting is only provided when needed.
Overall energy savings were 23%, worth $68,000 for 20 months. Total savings, including avoided maintenance and electricity demand charges, were more than $40,000 a year. The payback period will be around five years.

Energy for Industry Industrial/Manufacturing Award - Fonterra Co-operative Group for their energy reduction project.
'Energy is dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative Group's third-highest cost after wages and depreciation, so smart energy choices are essential for business success', said Heather Staley, Chief Executive of EECA.
The organisation's ambitious Energy Reduction Project aims to achieve a 10% reduction in energy consumption per unit of production by 2007, relative to 2003.
The project has expanded from pilot activities at 10 major sites to cover all 23 sites. Fonterra plans to invest nearly $17 million of capital and $3 million in operational costs to achieve energy savings of $79 million in the 15-year life of the project.
Fonterra aims to apply the successful measures across multiple sites. Fonterra's Lichfield pilot site was the first to exceed the 10% target. In the 2003 calendar year it had achieved a 6.7% improvement, and is now making a 17% saving. The Clandeboye and Whareroa sites are both expected to exceed their 10% savings target by the end of the 2005/06 processing season.
The amount of energy consumed per litre of milk is falling, despite the product mix becoming more complex and an increase in downstream processing of the whey from casein and cheese plants.

Contact Energy Manager Award - Trevor Gerken, Carter Holt Harvey.

'Having a dedicated Energy Manager at Kinleith has seen Carter Holt Harvey achieve a sustained improvement in energy performance since 1998 and keep its carbon dioxide emissions stable, despite increasing production by more than 50%,' said Heather Staley, Chief Executive of EECA.
Energy accounts for around 17% of the mill's production costs.
Trevor Gerken has overseen major upgrades to machines and processes to optimise steam and hot water use. He was also a key member of the team looking at boiler improvements and the use of biomass in one of the boilers. He has been the Kinleith facilitator for the project to gather biomass residues from the forest, and the wind farm study being undertaken in the forests.

Mr Gerken writes regular energy articles in the mill's weekly newsletters. He sets key performance indicators for energy use and displays them on daily production reports and the mill's information system. He has improved the systems that monitor energy usage.

Mr Gerken has helped achieve almost $9 million of energy savings in 2005 as compared to 2000.

Ministry for the Environment Public Sector Award - Department of Corrections for their energy savings programme.

The Department of Corrections is the government's second-largest user of energy, with an annual spend of more than $6 million. This will increase to $8 million in the next year as more prisons are built and energy costs increase.
While prisoner numbers rose by 16% from 2002 to 2005, energy use increased by only 7%, with energy intensity falling by 8.6%.
In the same period, head office space increased by 37% while electricity use reduced by 5%.

Energy saving initiatives have involved 18 major existing sites and 94

Probation and Offender Service offices. Best energy practice has been incorporated into the design and construction of four new prisons costing hundreds of millions of dollars, and energy end-use savings by 5,300 staff and more than 7,500 prisoners.

Site energy management plans have been developed based on energy audits. An annual energy efficiency investment budget has been created to capture the savings identified.

'The Department has realised that good energy management often relies on staff buy-in. It has customised staff training to build expertise in energy management and developed an ongoing programme to promote staff awareness of energy use,' said Heather Staley, Chief Executive of EECA.

ENDS

© Scoop Media