Page 10 - Climate Control News Magazine April 2021

News
Rapid adoption of drive technologies
A NEW WHITEPAPER has identified signifi- cant energy efficiency improvements in the built environment through the adoption of high effi- ciency motors and variable speed drives.
The ABB whitepaper calls on governments and industry to accelerate the adoption of this technology to combat climate change.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), industry accounts for 37 per cent of global energy use and some 30 per cent of global energy is consumed in buildings.
While mostly hidden from public view, electric motors – and the variable speed drives which optimise their operation – are embedded in al- most every built environment.
They power a vast range of applications from industrial pumps, fans and conveyors for manu- facturing and propulsion systems for transporta- tion to compressors for electrical appliances and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in buildings.
Motor and drive technologies have seen rapid advancement in the past decade, with today’s innovative designs delivering remarkable ener- gy efficiencies. However, a significant number of industrial electric motor-driven systems in operation today – in the region of 300 million globally – are inefficient or consume much
Motor and drive technologies have seen rapid advancement in the past decade.
ABB motion president, Morten Wierod.
more power than re- quired, resulting in monumental waste.
Independent research estimates that if these systems were replaced with optimised, high-ef- ficiency equipment, the gains to be realised could reduce global
electricity consumption by up to 10 per cent. This would account for a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions needed to meet the 2040 climate goals established by the Paris
Agreement.
ABB motion president, Morten Wierod, said
industrial energy efficiency, more than any other challenge, has the single greatest capac- ity for combatting the climate emergency.
“It is essentially the world’s invisible climate solution,” he said.
“With 45 per cent of the world’s electricity used to power electric motors in buildings and industrial applications, investment in upgrading them will yield outsized rewards in terms of effi- ciency,” Wierod said.
By 2023, ABB motors and drives will enable customers globally to save an additional 78 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, almost as much as the annual consumption of Bel- gium, Finland or the Philippines and more than the total annual consumption of Chile.
Investing in technology, STEM careers
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT last month re- leased the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing Roadmap that shows how businesses can capitalise on Australia’s access to resources, which will be needed to manufacture many new technologies.
Applications under the government’s $1.3 bil- lion Modern Manufacturing Initiative also opened to help manufacturers scale-up produc- tion, commercialise products and tap into global supply chains.
The roadmap supports jobs across Australia, particularly in resource rich regions like the Hunter, Western Australia and Central Queensland.
Australian Resources and Energy Group AMMA welcomed further investment in ad- vanced manufacturing.
AMMA chief executive Steve Knott said the roadmap provides a strong plat-
form to attract more investment
into the critical minerals sector,
renewable energy technologies, is an area of huge growth potential for Australia.
“Department of Industry data shows there are
CLIMATECONTROLNEWS.COM.AU
to support local advanced manu- facturing, and most importantly, to help create thousands of new STEM (Science, Technology, Engi- neering, Mathematics) related jobs.
He said critical minerals, such as those used in the latest battery and
AMMA chief executive Steve Knott
more than
20 critical minerals projects, that are either already committed or ad- vanced in planning, in our major pro- ject pipeline. AMMA forecasts these projects will create at least 2700 new jobs in the next five years,” Knott said.
“Further, there are more than 50 additional prospective projects, less advanced in the pipeline, that could see that jobs figure tripled if those op- portunities could be converted to committed investment.” ✺
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