Carbon Trust Helps Manufacturing Slash Costs With Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator

Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by Ross in Food Production, Heavy Industry, Manufacturing, United Kingdom

Capitalising on the tsunami of companies now looking to maximise their profits by cutting energy costs, the Carbon Trust is now investing an extra £15 million in funding to help manufacturers become more energy efficient.

The new scheme, called the Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator, is designed to spark a ‘low carbon industrial revolution’ by helping manufacturers find new energy efficient processes by which to create their products with.

Diverse manufacturers such as Britvic, Highland Spring, Tarmac and Tesco have joined trade bodies such as the Food and Drink Federation and Dairy UK in backing the new programme.

The programme is expected to reduce energy costs for manufacturers by more than half a billion pounds and to cut carbon emissions by more than three million tonnes. It will also increase the capacity of these manufacturers to respond effectively to the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme which comes into effect in April 2010.

The programme complements the Carbon Trust’s Big Business Refit, which offers interest-free loans for energy saving projects. Once the high-impact, low-cost, fast return on investment options such as energy efficient lighting have been visited, making manufacturing processes more efficient is one of the next most impactful steps.

Through the Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator, the Carbon Trust aims to transform the traditional sector-specific processes that underpin British manufacturing. In partnership with industry leaders, the organisation will identify and demonstrate new, lower-carbon solutions that can be replicated widely across each sector. Dr Mark Williamson, Carbon Trust Director of Innovations, said:

More than a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions come from industry and we’ve got to find new opportunities to reduce them. The way to make truly substantial cuts is to get to the very heart of manufacturing. By rethinking the way manufacturers operate from the ground up we plan to spearhead a low carbon industrial revolution that will not only reduce emissions but will also increase demand for innovation, generate jobs and cut costs.

Image by OregonDOT @ Flickr