Industrial Energy Efficiency
Where are we at?
Energy efficiency refers to the amount of energy required to produce goods and services. On average, if this value reduces over time, it means businesses can produce the same value of outputs with less energy. With much of the energy sources in our economy still linked to climate pollution, this means we can produce more of the things we need with a lower emissions impact.
Industrial energy efficiency in Australia capable of significant uplift this decade.
Why does this matter?
The industrial sector is Australia’s single biggest energy user, with manufacturing and mining together responsible for more than a quarter of Australia’s total energy demand.
There are smarter ways of making things that use less energy. Improving energy efficiency by switching from expensive and inefficient fossil gas to electricity or other zero carbon fuels, and upgrading to efficient new equipment or technologies can protect local industries from high gas prices while also cutting climate pollution.
How do we build more momentum?
The Federal Government’s “Powering the Regions Fund” has started funding industrial facilities to adopt new lower emissions technologies and renewable energy solutions. This is promising, but further dedicated funding is required to drive industrial energy efficiency at scale.
An “Industry Energy Efficiency Initiative” can identify best practice energy efficiency technologies and solutions across key sectors, and proactively engage with industrial facilities to adopt them. Facilities can then bid for grants on a reverse-auction basis to deliver improvements at the lowest cost. So industrial businesses are making best use of available government funding, and rapidly driving learning within their industry about effective and affordable energy efficiency measures.
* Clean energy includes electricity, which is currently generated with a mix of renewable and fossil-fuel sources, but can be rapidly shifted to renewable sources this decade.
