CLICK IMAGE TO GO TO VIDEO
“By understanding our rhythm of energy use, we made changes that brought the power bill for the month to under $1000. We know it would be ten times that otherwise”.
Greg Gates, Managing Director of Sirron Group Holdings, shares his energy efficiency journey with the NSW Energy and Resources Knowledge Hub at one of their business breakfast series.
The NSW Energy and Resources Knowledge Hub connects industry, research organisations and government to drive collaboration and innovation in the energy and resources sector.
For context, our Norris Industries division has been making commercial glass and dishwashers since 1954. We sell about 2,000 machines a year and we operate out at Caves Beach.
Due to the nature of our manufacturing business, we’re heavy power consumers for the size of the business that we are. There are businesses going broke today as a result of their ever-increasing energy costs.
In the video, Greg outlines the journey to 99 kilowatts of solar panel power on the roof and other energy-saving initiatives, such as machine testing on tank water, turning cardboard from old boxes into matts of packing fill and dropping the use of bubblewrap as a packing material.
Daily, we look to see where else we can recycle, reuse or repurpose.
Greg also talks about aligning with a tech partner out of Brisbane called Innotech, who build management control systems for buildings and how we were keen to see what difference it could make in our business.
From day one, in the first 2 hours, we became able to measure what we use, what we generate, when we generate and use it, what we put into the grid, and what we take from the grid.
By understanding our rhythm of energy use, we made changes that brought the power bill for the month to under $1000. We know it would be ten times that otherwise.
It’s also been interesting for us that the second we put this system on, we got visibility of blind spots in our processes. Park the cost savings, it flowed immediately into how we operate and make our products. Low cost of goods is not something we can deliver as a business, but innovating in systems and products – for sure! This is the space we’re in.
We share our ideas and network with others who lead in the sustainability arena to do better every day.
Learn more about the NSW Energy and Resource s Knowledge Hub: www.energyinnovation.net.au