Second National Energy Efficiency Conference to Showcase Energy Efficiency as a Business Opportunity

Singapore, 18 September 2012 – Eight companies and two public sector agencies, as well as two individuals will be recognised for their efforts in implementing energy efficiency improvement programmes to reduce energy wastage and improve energy efficiency at the second Energy Efficiency National Partnership (EENP) Awards Ceremony. Among them are four companies that will receive the Excellence in Energy Management Award, double the number of award recipients last year for the same award. Organised by the National Environment Agency (NEA), Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Energy Market Authority (EMA), the Ceremony will be held in conjunction with the launch of the National Energy Efficiency Conference (NEEC) 2012 this evening.

Energy Efficiency National Partnership Awards
The EENP  Awards, presented by this year’s Guest-of-Honour Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, aim to recognise the efforts and achievements of corporations and individuals in improving energy efficiency. There are three award categories:

Category 1: Excellence in Energy Management
This award recognises companies that have demonstrated a high level of commitment to excellence in energy management. The four award recipients under this category are:
1. HGST Singapore Pte Ltd
2. Natsteel Holdings Pte Ltd
3. Wyeth Nutritionals (Singapore) Pte Ltd, part of Pfizer
4. Novartis Singapore Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Pte Ltd

Category 2: Best Practices
This award recognizes corporate teams whose implementation of EE projects have led to improvements in the energy performance of their facilities. The four recipients (three award winners and one Honourable Mention) under this category are:
1. Aventis Pharma Manufacturing Pte Ltd
2. Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
3. International Engine Components Overhaul Pte Ltd

Best Practices (Honourable Mention)
1. Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd

Category 3: Outstanding Energy Managers of the Year
This award recognises outstanding Energy Managers (EMs) within the organisation who have demonstrated leadership in driving Energy Efficiency (EE) improvements across the organisation, and who have played an instrumental role in promoting EE initiatives within the organisation. The award recipients under this category are:
1. Mr Ping Chay Soon, GlobalFoundries Singapore Pte Ltd
2. Mr Rangaswamy Premkumar, Eastman Chemical Singapore Pte Ltd

NatSteel Holdings is one of the recipients of the EENP Excellence in Energy Management Award. The company is one of the first companies to attain ISO50001 certification which attests to its commitment in energy management.

NatSteel’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, in terms of tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel, was reduced by about 7.5% between FY2010 to FY2012 . Natsteel has one of the most energy efficient electric arc furnace plants in the world, and aims to reduce CO2 emissions to 0.4 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel by 2020. For more details on NatSteel’s energy efficiency initiatives, please refer to Annex A.

The National Institute of Education (NIE) and Woodgrove Secondary School will also be presented with the “Best Energy Efficiency Practices for Public Sector Agencies” Award. This commendation recognises outstanding public sector agencies that have demonstrated exemplary performance and commitment to energy management efforts and have been proactive in implementing energy efficiency improvements.

Chief Executive Officer of National Environment Agency, Mr Andrew Tan said, “Energy efficiency makes good business sense and is an opportunity for businesses to lower energy costs while Singapore benefits from greater energy efficiency and reduced energy demand. A total of 125 organisations have come on board the Energy Efficiency National Partnership (EENP) since the programme was launched in 2010, and we commend them for their efforts in achieving high standards in energy efficiency. We encourage more companies to come forward and work with us to promote an energy efficient and sustainable Singapore.”

National Energy Efficiency Conference 2012
The second National Energy Efficiency Conference (NEEC) will take place from 18 to 20 September 2012. Its main objective is to provide thought leadership in energy efficiency, and bring together energy efficiency experts and industry energy professionals to share best practices and successful case studies. The focus for this year’s conference is “Energy Efficiency as a Business Opportunity” and participants can expect to learn about cost-effective energy efficiency practices, likely opportunities for energy efficiency, case studies of companies that have become more energy efficient, tools, technologies and policies.

Energy Efficiency Support Office
To assist companies in identifying and implementing energy efficiency initiatives, as well as adopting energy efficiency best practices, a one-stop online centre, the Energy Efficiency Support Office (EESO), will be launched. More information on the EESO will be announced when ready.

Improving Energy Efficiency for Households
Energy efficiency for the household sector will also improve when NEA tightens the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for household air-conditioners and refrigerators on 1 September 2013, to remove less efficient models from the market. Households can expect energy cost savings from purchasing and running the more efficient models over their lifecycles.  Please see Annex B for more information on MEPS.
Currently, for air-conditioners with variable speed compressors (commonly known as inverter air-conditioners), the Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS) applies only to cooling capacities of up to 10kW.  From 1 Sep 2013, MELS will be extended to inverter air-conditioner models with cooling capacities of up to 17.6kW .  MEPS will also be extended to large capacity inverter air-conditioners with cooling capacities of up to 17.6kW .

Members of the public can check for more information on the cost savings of using more energy efficient appliances through the E2 Singapore website (www.e2singapore.gov.sg) and the mobile application (apps) Lifecycle Cost Calculator.

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For more information, please contact
 
Call Centre: 1800-CALL NEA (1800-2255 632)
Email: Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg

Annex A

Natsteel’s Energy Efficiency Initiatives
The Total Operational Performance (TOP) programme at Natsteel trains employees and encourages them to generate ideas to reduce energy use and continuously improve performance. Since the inception of the programme, more than 1,000 employees have received over 15,000 man-hours of energy related training.

Energy saving projects implemented by NatSteel in recent years include:

- Scrap preheating using waste-off gas: Previously, hot gas generated from the electric arc furnace was cooled by a fume exhaust system, filtered and discharged into the atmosphere. By installing a single shaft waste heat recovery system, hot gas is now recovered for pre-heating of scrap metal before the scrap metal is melted in the furnace. It reduces the amount of energy required to charge the scrap metal to the required temperature of 1,600C. Annual energy savings of about 34.4 million kWh are being achieved.

- Hot charging from steel mill directly into rolling mill: Previously, after molten iron was cast into steel billets, the billets were cooled to room temperature before being reheated to 1150C for rolling process. Now, the hot charging system transfers steel billets via a conveyor channel into the reheat furnace for rolling process. Steel temperature is thereby maintained at about 600C which reduced the amount of fuel required for the reheating process. Annual energy savings of about 55 million kWh are being achieved.

- Sidewall oxygen lance and carbon injection system: The virtual lance burner system substitutes a portion of the electricity requirements of the electric arc furnace with combustion energy from diesel and coke. Annual energy savings of about 51.8 million kWh are being achieved.

Annex B

Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) For Househols Air-conditioners And Refrigerators

Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) were first introduced on 1 September 2011 for household air-conditioners and refrigerators as these appliances are among the biggest energy guzzlers in a typical household, accounting for about 55 per cent of energy consumption. Manufacturers and suppliers have responded by bringing in a wider variety of more energy efficient air-conditioner and refrigerator models. About 70 per cent of air-conditioner models and 90 per cent of refrigerator models sold in 2011 were 3- and 4-tick models. Even with tighter standards, consumers will still be able to choose from a wide variety of models and enjoy lower lifecycle costs.

A household that purchases a 3-tick instead of 2-tick 6 kW multi-split air-conditioner can recover the additional upfront cost in one year , and thereafter enjoy energy cost savings of about $400 per year. Upfront costs for refrigerators of different tick ratings are similar and purchasing a 3-tick instead of 2-tick 400L refrigerator would yield about $30 in annual energy cost savings.