Detail to be revealed at upcoming LIT hosted energy seminar & exhibition

Industry will learn how it can save up to 20% per annum in energy bills thanks to a breakthrough third-level research project that will be unveiled at a major energy efficiency conference in April.

The Energy Efficiency Benefits for Industry Seminar, which is a free event that will be held at Limerick Institute of Technology on Wednesday, April 1^st next, will hear how the joint LIT and University of Ulster research programme – Total Energy Management for Production Operations (TEMPO) – has the potential to help industry save up to €300m per annum.  The seminar will include the SNS Manufacturing Exhibition – SME 2015 which is an annual exhibition, led by SNS (snshannon.com), a mid-west based business network representing small and medium manufacturing companies.

Headquartered at the LIT ACORN Research Centre, which specialises in sustainable industry solutions, TEMPO devised a set of tools that enable companies establish effective ways of monitoring manufacturing energy consumption to clearly identify usage, optimisation opportunities and cost reductions.

The Acorn Research Centre, with the University of Ulster’s Centre for Sustainable Technologies and Intelligent Systems Research Centre, developed the tools after being approached by a number of multi-nationals based in Ireland that wanted to get a deeper understanding of energy usage at production facilities and how savings could be made.

The results so far have been hugely positive, identifying opportunities for energy savings of up to 20% for businesses, with details of how this can be achieved set to be presented at the seminar by John Cosgrove, Technical Director of ACORN.

“Energy costs may only be  7-10% of overall business operating costs however it is the last uncontrolled cost and may amount to  hundreds of thousands of euro every quarter for businesses.  Every percent that can come off the bottom line can help sustain jobs. We have been able to show companies where they can make savings of tens of thousands of euro, identifying opportunities to cut their energy bills by up to 20%,” said Mr Cosgrove.

“While there are many energy management tools, energy usage in production is rarely  analysed  from a cost savings perspective.  This is despite the fact that production accounts for up to 60% of energy consumption”

TEMPO has a full-time embedded researcher at DuPuy Synthes in Cork, where the TEMPO tools and techniques have been piloted.  Looking ahead to the conference, TEMPO Project Manager Dr Frances Hardiman said that many of the opportunities for savings are practical ones.  “Often in a production facility, machines will not be producing but they will be operating.  If companies can visualise it, they may be able to do something about it and TEMPO essentially gives them a very clear picture of what’s happening with their energy usage.”

The Seminar and SME 2015 Exhibition will feature both international and national speakers who will outline current trends in energy efficiency in industry and present case studies of industrial sites where the beneficial impacts of energy efficiency have been witnessed.

The day will also feature a series of workshops dealing with ECO Supports for SMEs, Impacts of the European Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and Opportunities for Waste Heat Recovery. A range of Industry Supports, Energy Service Providers and Energy Advisory Agencies will also be on display.

A parallel Manufacturing Exhibition and ‘Meet the Buyer’ event is open for SMEs, consultants and other companies interested in exhibiting.

Speakers at the Seminar will include Nina Campbell, an Energy Policy Analyst, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) and project manager on the IEA’s two-year study on the multiple benefits of energy efficiency and Ulrika Wising, who leads the Sustainable Energy Services team in Europe for one the world’s leading world’s leading certification bodies -DNV GL. In her work Ulrika helps large corporations improve their energy efficiency.

Also speaking will be Dr Rick Greenough, an expert in Industrial Sustainability who leads research at the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester and Hilco Hakman –Manager of Energy Consulting Services at Electric Ireland.

For free registration, visit: www.energyefficiencybenefits2015.eventbrite.com. To exhibit, contact marketing@snshannon.com.  For general enquiries, contact frances.hardiman@lit.ie

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