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| Issue date:01/02/2010 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - Feb 2010 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
| by Michelle Phong |
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| So far as economic and/or environmental benefits are concerned, textile and apparel producers, like those in other industrial sectors, have come up with new initiatives to improve energy efficiency |
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| Applied Materials from the US recently erected an advanced solar R&D center in China to capture growths in the emerging market |
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At the global climate change conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark, late last year, officials from the world's governments promised to reduce carbon emissions. China, the European Union, Japan, the United States and more nations made their pledges. With these vows, it is likely that factories and households will find their energy bills more expensive as the governments will need to introduce energy-saving measures and develop reliable and eco-friendlier energy sources.
The price of electricity for non-residential use in China was raised RMB0.028 (or 2.8 fen) starting November 2009. Chinese textile enterprises showed concerns over rising energy costs. A Hunan-based textile enterprise, for instance, paid about RMB4 million per annum for electricity while its yearly sales of production were about RMB200 million. The unit cost of electricity in terms of production is substantial. The company worried that it would take a radical change in production to bring down the cost of electricity.
Another textile enterprise headquartered in Zhejiang province explained that it has been using energy-saving lighting fixtures and looking for less-energy-hungry machinery for production. Apart from these efforts, this company considered moving the factory to lower-cost provinces (e.g. lower electricity prices for industrial sectors) like Hubei.
Specially coated reflectors can increase the illuminance level when using an energy-saving tube, Benny Yu from Nanoflex told ATA Journal |
Energy consultants say there are ways to further enhance energy efficiency. Three major areas of energy consumption at a textile factory are air-conditioning (or fans / ventilation), illumination and machine operation.
"The easiest way to save energy starts with the optimization of lighting system at a factory, which gives a relatively short pay-back period," said Benny Yu, Business Development Manager of Nanoflex Limited under Hong Kong-based Inergi Group.
Textile factories work 24 hours a day with shifts in China and about a third of the total energy cost paid by a textile factory is spent on illumination. He explained that the lighting cost can be reduced by using energy-saving fluorescent tubes and de-lamping.
Costly operation impairs energy efficiency
In the case of luminaries, the costs of purchase and maintenance are less significant than the operation cost during the life span. The operation cost is the multiple of quantity of lamps, wattage per lamp, operation hours and electricity tariff.
The amount of electricity consumed (in watts) by a T5 tube is lower than that of a commonly used T8 tube, when they are turned on for the same period of time. However, the energy-saving T5 (unless they are high-output) can give a lower illuminance level than a T8. With specially coated reflectors that enhance light diffusion, a T5 can well light up an area while lowering the electricity consumption, according to Mr Yu.
In addition, a simulation report on light distribution in a given indoor area with existing luminaries allows users to gain the maximum benefit of necessary illumination with minimal lamps.
At a textile factory in Jiangmen city, Guangzhou province, there were about 6,000-7,000 tubes. Taking the advice from Nanoflex Limited, the factory removed unnecessary lamps by 33% and 50% in different areas of the factory, and installed reflectors to remaining tubes to boost illumination.
"As a consequence, the factory was able to reduce about a third of the illumination cost, or about 6-15% of the total energy bill. This is a piece of good news for the factory’s financial controller. It also means a considerable portion of carbon emissions waived," explained Mr Yu. It took about six months to cover the investment cost involved, which depends on hours of operation, he added.
Apart from illumination, textile factories can also save energy costs in the areas of ventilation and machine operations. Keeping the indoor at a temperature of at least 25°C, for example, can be a rule of thumb. Energy-efficient servo motors are also useful to enhance the energy management of the machines.
Newly commercialized green energy source from sugar cane
Looking at a larger picture, energy experts believe that it is important to explore more alternative energy sources other than coal and oil. Technologies to generate energy from radiation of the sun, biofuels, wind and more are constantly under development.
Byproduct of sugar cane has been turned into an evironmentally friendly energy fuel in pellet form
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A São Paulo-based company, Brazilian Pellet, planned to generate energy by turning bagasse, a byproduct of sugar cane production, into dense pellets, which can be burned as fuel. Production is expected to begin by the second half of this year in Brazil, the world’s largest producer of sugar cane.
Brazilian Pellet estimates that it will reach an annual pellet production of 520,000 tons by 2015 for users in the fields of textile, dairy and brewing in the country. The company also has a plan to export the pellets to European Union, where the authorities have called for a 20% of energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020.
With reference to the United Nations report on biofuels published in October 2009, traditional biomass use currently provides 13% of global final energy demand. Biofuels currently under use include bioethanol from wheat, sugar cane and corn, as well as biodiesel from palm oil, sunflower, wood, manure and etc. Biomass contributed about 1% of the total global electric power capacity of 4,300 GW in 2006.
However, there is a dilemma with the use of biofuels. The fact that biofuels are crops grown or wastes from the land has a number of environmental and social impacts that need to be assessed throughout the entire life-cycle.
Experts at the United Nations agreed it is more sound to promote energy from residues or wastes rather than energy crops (e.g. corns), and others are concerned that any imbalance of demand and supply might bring problems. Others say that the supply of biofuels is often finite and cannot be increased to lower costs when the available sources are used up. In addition, the supply of some renewable energy sources is intermittent.
The sun nurtures life, and generators
The UN report stated that turning solar radiation into useable energy can be more efficient, requiring lower land requirement and thereby less environmental impacts.
Based in Langfang city, Hubei province, ENN Solar Energy introduced a new generation of solar energy panels to China in March 2009.
ENN's high-efficiency thin film photovoltaic (PV) panels use a SunFab Thin Film Line represents the latest technology offered by Applied Materials, which is a US equipment supplier to the solar photovoltaic industry.
"By combining the high efficiency of tandem junction technology with ultra-
large 5.7m2 substrates, we're able to deliver modules that dramatically reduce installed cost per watt," said Dr Rick Wan, General Manager of ENN Solar. These panels are nearly four times larger than conventional modules on the market.
To further promote the use of solar energy, Applied Materials opened an advanced solar research and demonstration facility in Xi'an, China. This 400,000-square-feet solar technology center, the largest non-government solar energy research facility in the world, has a solar technology center for R&D and offers product demonstration. The company hopes that this new facility will help enhance the development of clean energy technology and contribute to decreasing the cost of solar.
At the moment, it takes years to gain back the return on investment of solar, making it a niche product for few. Solar for a manufacturing factory such as textiles is one of the energy sources, and the use of it iconizes a deed of caring for the society.
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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