New figures released today show Australia's biggest companies are increasingly focussed on energy efficiency, finding greater opportunities to save energy and reduce greenhouse emissions.
The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP launched the Continuing Opportunities report from the Australian Government's Energy Efficiency Opportunities (EEO) program at the Third Asia Pacific Partnership Energy Regulatory and Market Development Forum in Sydney this morning.
The report shows the second round of results from the program and finds that by the end of 2009 companies had identified opportunities to save a total of 113 petajoules (PJ).
This is a 68 per cent increase on the energy savings identified by December 2008, and is equivalent to 2.9 per cent of Australian energy end use.
Just over half of the identified energy savings have been or are in the process of being implemented. Adopted energy savings rose to a total of 61 PJ, a 48 percent increase on the previous year's results.
"The Government recognises the important role that energy efficiency can play in helping to reduce emissions and save costs. We also recognise that the biggest impediment to greater energy efficiency is the current lack of a price on carbon, " Minister Ferguson said.
"The opportunities companies are implementing under the Energy Efficiency Opportunities program are saving energy equivalent to that used by more than 1.1 million Australian households.
"This report included results from 199 of Australia's biggest corporations, with almost 40 companies identifying energy savings of over 20 per cent of their assessed energy use.
Chemicals and metals manufacturers identified the largest energy savings, with 32 PJ and 20 PJ of savings respectively.
"These results are a significant increase on the identification of opportunities from 2008.
"There are two main reasons for this - firstly companies are assessing an increased number of energy-intensive processes and secondly, they are using previous assessments to identify further opportunities to save energy.
"Nearly three quarters of the energy efficiency projects adopted by companies will pay for themselves in less than two years. Clearly this is delivering both environmental and commercial benefits.
"Starting today, my Department will host a series of workshops with companies to share lessons and help identify and implement even more energy savings."
By law, businesses using more than 0.5 PJ of energy per year are required to conduct a detailed assessment of their energy use, and to identify opportunities to cost-effectively improve their energy efficiency. Businesses participating in the EEO program account for 29 per cent of Australia's total energy use.
The Continuing Opportunities report builds on the Report from the Prime Minister's Task Group on Energy Efficiency that was released last month.
The Government has also committed to extending the EEO Program to electricity generators, which are currently exempt. The Government will be releasing a discussion paper on this extension before the end of the year.
More information on the program is available at www.energyefficiencyopportunities.gov.au.