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Industry

Despite all the efficiency improvements achieved by industry in recent years, there is still plenty of scope for additional energy savings. Since around the turn of the century the tempo of energy conservation has taken a downward turn. In the Netherlands the government’s target of 2% savings a year is failing to be met. Two key questions arise: what are the main reasons, and what policies are needed for the potential savings to indeed be realised? Here, more so than in other sectors, due allowance needs to be made for the fact that industries are competing in European and global markets.

There are savings options available both within and outside core businesses, for example by building cogeneration plant (i.e. combined heat and power generation, CHP). One new option is capture and storage of industrial CO2 emissions (i.e. carbon capture and storage, CCS).

Our expertise

  • Assessing financial costs and environmental impacts.
  • Unravelling impacts on supply chains.
  • Reviewing barriers and opportunities.
  • Designing and elaborating policy instruments.

Our work focuses on four areas:

Heat and cold integration. CHP
In the competitive struggle with other forms of power generation the market position of CHP has deteriorated and in the absence of additional policy its potential will not be realised. One new development is the utilisation of industrial cold available at LNG terminals (storage fa-cilities for liquefied natural gas). It is up to regional governments to create the right kind of conditions for facilitating such integration.

Biomass in industrial processes
There are certain industrial processes that are particularly suitable for large-scale use of bio-mass and CE Delft can assess their lifecycle environmental impacts and financial costs. It emerges that such applications sometimes score considerably better than the options currently at the heart of government policy, such as vehicle biofuels.
See also: biomass.

CO2 storage
Among policy-makers as well as the public at large there is growing debate on introducing carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities at coal-fired power plants. However, we see major opportunities for CCS in the context of industrial processes (e.g. Corus, ammonia industry, Vopak LNG terminal). There are opportunities here for low-cost CCS.

Energy conservation. Regulation via the Environmental Control Act
Under the Netherlands’ Environmental Control Act (ECA), companies have a mandatory obligation to take action to improve their energy efficiency. In practice, though, local and regional authorities find this legislation hard to implement, which means it is sometimes given only low priority. CE Delft helps government authorities effectively implement the regulations involved. Besides pursuing technical efficiency (focusing on industries and measures with major savings potential), we work on the premise that such action should involve as little organisational and administrative burden as possible and that the results achieved should be plain for all to see. Energy-saving via the ECA is also important for non-industrial companies in the built environment.

Our clients

The Netherlands’ Parliament, European Commission (DG TREN), Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM), VROM Inspectorate, Vopak LNG Projects, SenterNovem, DCMR Environmental Protection Agency, AKZO Nobel, VNPI, Energy Valley, Thermphos, provincial authorities of Groningen, South Holland and Zeeland, South Holland Environmental Federation.

For further information or queries on this theme, please contact Ab de Buck.