Product category:
Drives, motors and power transmission, couplings, clutches
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors) | Subject: Energy payback calculator
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 02 May 2003
Loan calculator shows energy saving
profit
An innovative energy payback calculator helps small and medium enterprises evaluate the benefit of buying variable speed drives using the government's Action Energy loan.
ABB has launched an innovative energy payback calculator that helps small and medium enterprises (SMEs) evaluate the benefit of buying variable speed drives using the government's Action Energy loan The calculations show that even with modest energy savings, the loan enables the user to save several hundred pounds per month
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 25 Jun 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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This is because variable speed drives can save as much as 60% of the energy in many common applications, normally giving payback in 12 months or less on energy alone.
The Action Energy loan is totally interest free and splits the repayment over four years, giving the user an overall net saving when both the energy savings and the loan repayments are taken into account.
"The Action Energy loans offer a really good incentive to small companies to start saving energy with variable speed drives," says James Haigh, Senior Vice President, Drive Products, at ABB.
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"This is a customer group where cash flow issues can be of paramount importance, regardless of the energy saving potential of the suggested solution.
With an Action Energy loan, we can propose a repayment option which is tailored to this customer group." Loans from Action Energy are available to SMEs with no more than 250 employees and an annual turnover of less than ?25 million.
With, for instance, a 70 kW pumping application, the monthly saving can be GBP 421 per month.
This assumes the drive installation costs GBP 5,400, repaid with GBP 112 per month, and runs 8,000 hours per year, operating at 70% speed.
After four years, when the loan is paid off, the saving increases to GBP 533.
"Essentially, users are getting paid to use a variable speed drive," Haigh says.
"By proving the energy savings as well as making the business case for either a new drive installation, or the replacement of an existing drive, we can make a substantial improvement to the cash flow of a small business." In the case of drive replacement, the investment will be worthwhile because new drives are more energy efficient than old ones.
A 75kW ACS800 from ABB can save about GBP 1,000 per year in energy, compared to a 15-year old SAMI B drive from the same company.
ABB will remove the old drive and recycle its parts in accordance with current legislation.
"There is tremendous scope for energy savings in small and medium sized businesses," says Haigh.
"With our new Action Energy loan calculator and our programme for replacing and recycling drives, there is now nothing to stop small companies capitalising on their energy saving potential." Action Energy is run by the Carbon Trust and funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Executive and Invest Northern Ireland.
It was established in 1989, and previously known as the Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme.
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