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[October 2002]
UK Ceramic Industry Urged to Cut Energy Bills
Action Energy - the government-backed initiative providing free, practical and impartial help and advice on implementing energy efficiency measures - is calling for the UK ceramic industry to act now to reduce energy bills, with winter being the time that energy costs tend to soar.
Action Energy says that £12 billion worth of energy every year is wasted in the UK. Some of this money, which equates to 30% of the UK's energy consumption, could be saved if organisations focussed on their own energy use. Action Energy adds that it has already helped thousands of organisations to reduce their energy bills by up to 20% using a wide range of energy efficiency techniques, many of which involve little or no cost. The services available to the UK ceramic industry include events, guides and publications.
Some of the simple tips include:
• Do you have variable speed drives on circulation pumps and kiln fans?
• Are the air flows in your kilns balanced?
• Do you recover heat?
• Have you optimised your heat soak times against product quality rather than traditional values?
• Do you need your cooling water to be this cold?
• Do you know what your compressed air use is? Have you carried out a leakage survey?
• Is your insulation in good order and in all the right places?
Further information and advice is available on the web site - www.actionenergy.org.uk - and via the helpline on: 0800 585794.
ENDS