Carbon Tax

New Carbon Tax

The recent budget saw the introduction of a Carbon Tax in Ireland. This is further incentive for companies to strive to reduce energy consumption. Business will generally pay the tax on it's purchases of fossil fuels for heating etc.

There are still many opportunities for organisations to reduce energy consumption by better energy management and a continuous improvement process. If in doubt about how to do this, then it is advisable to get advice.

Tax Incentive for Energy Efficient Equipment Purchases

Accelerated Capital Allowance schemes

Accelerated Capital Allowance schemes have been in place for over a year now for investment in energy efficient equipment. Following the recent budget, the ACA scheme has been expanded to include three additional capital equipment categories. These are as follows:

• Refrigeration and cooling systems
  
• Electro-mechanical systems
  
• Catering and hospitality equipment.
  

The scheme provides an excellent opportunity for businesses that are interested in energy efficiency projects to improve the payback to the organisation of such projects.

Our experience has shown that refrigeration and cooling systems frequently provide good opportunities for reduced energy costs based on better control and more efficient equipment. The ACA expansion will improve the business case for such projects.

 

Arkman Facilities Management Service

Facilities Management expertise at Arkman

More and more companies are recognising the need to maximise the return from their physical assets. Every enterprise (small, medium or large) has a physical asset infrastructure that is vital to it's service. This infrastructure ranges from office facilities to institutional to manufacturing facilities. All require resources of some sort to operate and the output of these resources needs to be optimised. Arkman Engineers has the range of experience and knowledge to help get the most cost effective return from the physical asset infrastructure.

This will be achieved by utilising the range of tools available to us and tailoring a programme to the individual customer. Tools available include:

• Monitoring and Targeting.
  
• Process Analysis.
  
• Maintenance Audits.
  
• Leak detection.
  
• Energy Assessment.
  

The benefits that are typically realised include:

• Reduced costs.
  

Improved safety, reliability and performance.

Facilities Management can deliver business benefits.

Facilities Management is the process of optimising the physical asset infrastructure (such as buildings and equipment) that most organisations require in order to provide their product or service. There are many specific areas where Facilities  Management can deliver real benefits to a business. Some of the key areas are noted below:

• Safety/ Environment.
• Equipmnet and infrastructure performance.
• Cost.

We will expand on these points further.

Free Energy Assessment

Free Energy Assessment for SMEs

In association with SEI, SMEs can avail of a free Energy Assessment. The assessment will be undertaken by experienced energy professionals at Arkman. The assessment will be funded by SEI so there is no direct cost to the company assessed. In order to avail of the assessment, an SME should contact Arkman. There is a requirement to provide some energy consumption data on the organisation and fill out a simple form on the SEI website.

Please contact Arkman for full details. Click the link below or phone 053 9480259.

Arkman website

Simple Things still important in Energy Costs

In our capacity as Energy Assessors, we have visited many different businesses over the past year. One theme that is consistent across business sectors is that effective Energy Management still depends fundamentally on a few simple basic principles. We have made a list below of a few simple questions that a business can ask itself in order to get an idea of how effective their Energy Management approach is.

Energy management: start here.

Ask the following questions:

1. Would we like to reduce our energy costs?
   
2. Do we look at all our energy related bills routinely?
   
3. Do we have access to an individual who understands the bills?
   
4. Question 2 can be reduced to an even simpler question; does someone in the organisation really understand what a kilowatt-hour is?
   
5. Do we know where our energy is being used?
   
6. Does someone in the organisation understand the relationship between the use of the energy and the bill? This really boils down to understanding, in a substantial way, the effect on the bill of using a particular energy consumer that is part of the organisation's operation.
   

If the answer to all the above is YES, then the next question is-WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?

Articles | Why Do Steam Traps Fail? | ReliabilityWeb.com: A Culture of Reliability

Articles Why Do Steam Traps Fail? ReliabilityWeb.com: A Culture of Reliability

This article gives a good insight into a common problem.

Good maintenance reduces running costs.

Business is always looking for ways to cut running costs. Often this search is concentrated on looking for out of the ordinary methods and technologies. Our experience is that simpler changes are more accessible, effective and sustainable. Good maintenance is not a glamorous activity but can be relied on to reduce costs. This is particularly true where maintenance activities are part of a routine.

Sometimes it can be difficult for businesses to apply the appropriate time and skills to this activity. We often find that some of the knowledge required for effective maintenance is not available. So what is necessary for effective maintenance? The following are some tips for effective maintenance.

• Make sure you have access to at least one individual who understands the operation of your equipment. There are a lot of myths about much of the equipment in common usage in buildings and manufacturing facilities. This knowledge can be acquired by appropriate training or can be contracted in.
  
• Keep all documentation related to your equipment to hand and in good condition. Make sure commissioning data is on file. This will make it easier to resolve problems that arise.
  
• Put appropriate maintenance routines in place for all your equipment. This should be carefully formulated so that interventions are cost effective and relevant to the equipment in place.
  

If your organisation does not have all of the above, then a development programme should be put in place or the necessary skills can be outsourced.

Smart Economy

Whenever I hear reference to a Smart Economy my inclination is always to think that we already have one (how can you not have one when we have all the necessary institutions and infrastructure-maybe with some room for improvement- in place).


I think what this is really about is Smart Governance and Smart Public Service. I think the weakness is in making sure that opportunities for economic development are understood and appreciated early by state institutions and helped through the system by a streamlined process. As someone who has spent most of my working career in industry (as an engineer) it seems to me that we have frequently not been good at recognising, encouraging and converting opportunities for sustainable economic development. My experience is that the reason for this relates to a lack of appreciation for the value of honest economic endeavour and too much interest in the “appearance of progress”, “self praise” and self-interest.

I think the problem (innovation effectiveness) is a process one! If we did a “lean manufacturing” type analysis of the process in this country, then I’m sure that we could improve it’s effectiveness. Why is it that “process efficiency” only applies to industry?

Some Ways for Business to Reduce Costs

Arkman Engineers can provide the tools necessary for the specific analysis of problems and issues that face businesses and manufacturing industry, particularly SME's. We will provide appropriate analysis for a reasonable cost. This is usually analysis that businesses find difficult to do themselves.





We can help in the following areas:





Manufacturing Productivity.


Maintenance.


Energy Management.


Safety systems and processes.

We have tried re-engineering-now lets try engineering!

As an engineer, I always find it interesting to see how frequently engineering and scientific terminology is hijacked for use in business jargon. It suggests to me that when it comes to applying analytical methods to business processes, better results could be obtained by Business Process Engineering.



Productivity is certainly of interest to manufacturing and other organisations. An engineering approach to the search for efficiency and optimisation may be very useful and revealing. Apply an approach that is based on good engineering practice and see how a process (manufacturing, retail, commercial, institutional) benefits. An engineer with a good knowledge of business processes will be more than capable of applying an engineering approach to most organisations.