The Energy Efficiency Declaration was launched by the Energy Chamber at the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference in January 2018. It began with 11 signatories from the upstream, downstream and energy services sectors. To date, 65 companies have signed the declaration. The signatories to the Declaration committed to increasing the levels of energy efficiency and conservation in the following areas:
• Facilities: by examining the integration of energy efficient technology, programmes and policies into existing operations;
• Natural gas utilisation, electricity generation and electricity consumption: by exploring and deploying opportunities to optimise the use of natural resources, raising the awareness of employees, contractors and partners, and where applicable, examining the use of renewable and sustainable sources of energy;
• Transportation: through further collaboration in aviation, land and marine transportation logistics, and where appliable, the use of energy efficient technology.
The Energy Chamber conducted a survey among signatories to understand their actions and steps taken toward becoming more energy efficient.
According to those surveyed, 95% of the companies indicated that they have attempted to reduce the use of natural resources and electricity in their operations and over 70% of respondents report that they have examined the possibility of including renewable energy sources in their operations.
The companies indicated a wide array of measures including management of cooling systems and switching to smart/energy efficient lighting. Some companies have also indicated shifting away from using natural gas-powered machines to electric machines.
Over 80% of respondents also either had an existing energy efficiency plan in their company or were in the process of developing a plan.
Most respondents reported that energy efficiency was assigned to one or more staff members as a KPI. However, less than half of respondents reported that they had actually conducted a baseline energy audit of any of their facilities. This suggests that firstly, energy efficiency is in a nascent stage among many of the respondents and that there are significant opportunities for energy savings with the responding companies.
Of those companies who did carry out energy audits, there were a variety of audits conducted, including ASHRE audits, ISO 50001 and the Energy Use Index.
80% of the respondents who conducted an energy audit reported that they acted on the audit findings – this covered a wide range of activities from training programmes to improvements in lighting systems, management of steam and cooling management. As most companies who conducted audits went on to implement at least some activities, this highlights the importance of conducting initial energy audits.
The majority of respondents have provided training for their staff in energy efficiency, with a wide range of different programmes covering the full range from internal awareness training through to degree programmes. Training has been delivered through a variety of channels – internally, from an inhouse expert being the most common, but also online training and training through local universities being conducted.
In terms of raising awareness, the major focus has been on staff members and partners, with less of a focus on contractors. When we look at the operators alone, we see similar numbers here, with only 43% of the responding operators saying they have discussed energy efficiency with suppliers. This would seem to be a major missed opportunity for spreading the message and driving greater uptake of energy efficiency measures through the supply chain.
Over 70% of respondents report that they have examined the possibility of including renewable energy sources in their operations.
However, most respondents (over 70%) reported that it would be difficult or very difficult to introduce renewable energy (RE) into their operations. Interestingly, most respondents did not cite the legislative or regulatory barriers that are often cited as barriers to RE introduction in Trinidad, but rather the comparative costs and issues like space restrictions, which is a particular issue for solar.
One recommendation that we could perhaps make here is that while individual companies might have space constraints there may be opportunities for clusters of companies to access the necessary land or rooftop spaces if space was pooled. Many of the onshore oil companies, in particular, have large landholdings that are not currently well utilised.
While almost all of the respondents reported that they had introduced measures to reduce electricity consumption in their operations, less than half have reported that they had introduced measures to reduce GHG emissions in their road transport fleet.
This would seem like a major potential opportunity area, especially given the fact that (a) we are now relying on imported liquid fuels (for which we need scarce forex) for most of our road transport and (b) one of the country’s major commitments under the Paris Accord is to reduce GHG from the transport sector by 30% by 2030. The tradition of subsidies in the transport sector might mean that companies are still not thinking about this as a cost area that could be reduced through deliberate actions.
For those respondents who had introduced measures to reduce their emissions from road transport, the measures included both switches in procurement to EVs, hybrids or CNG, conversions of existing fleet to CNG or other measures such as journey management programmes and carpooling. For those companies with marine operations, approximately 40% had undertaken some steps to reduce emissions with a variety of different measures, including switching to methanol as an alternative fuel source, installing more efficient generators and using mooring buoys to reduce diesel consumption.
While many of our members have expressed an interest in energy efficiency, the area remains in a nascent stage for most member companies. Even amongst those companies who signed the declaration to pursue energy efficiency, only a minority have formally adopted energy efficiency plans. It has often been the larger operator companies who have formalised systems and who have taken deliberate measures, based on audit findings.
On a more positive note, we have seen that the vast majority of respondents have placed a focus on reducing electricity use, even if no formal plan exists. In these tough times, there is an obvious benefit to be had from reducing electricity costs, even with our extremely low subsidised electricity. We would expect an even stronger focus and much more deliberate action if the government increased electricity prices, for all but the most vulnerable households, as we have advocated.
There would also seem to be a major opportunity area in road transport and a potential to significantly reduce costs and GHG emissions through improved fleet management and journey planning. Given the fact that we now rely on imported liquid transport fuels, this should be a major national priority.
It is also positive that the majority of respondents have at least considered the introduction of RE into their operations, showing that there is a clear interest even if action is lagging at the moment. While government policy and regulatory changes could overcome some of the difficulties associated with introducing renewables, there is also a potential role for industry collaboration. One example would be the space constraint issues identified by some companies for the introduction of solar.
The results of this first survey of members who signed the declaration show that there is a lot of work still to be done. I am a “glass half full” person and what the results of this survey show me is that there is a lot of low-hanging fruit just waiting to be picked. Certainly, 2020 is not a year to ignore any low-hanging fruit!
I hope that by next year when we report again, we will see many more companies reporting that they have put formal plans in place and have conducted energy efficiency audits. On that note, it would be remiss of me to not mention that it would be great to see some immediate action from the government on the long-outstanding issue of the 150% tax allowance for energy efficiency audits which was introduced a decade ago but remain inaccessible due to simple administrative barriers.