M-2A - Energy efficiency
Energy efficiency aims to reduce the amount of energy needed to produce goods and services across industries such as steel, cement, and chemicals. This is achieved by upgrading technologies, improving process designs, and reducing energy losses. Key strategies include enhancing insulation, upgrading machinery to more efficient models, recovering waste heat, and optimising energy use through automation and process control systems. Precision manufacturing and energy management systems also play a crucial role in reducing unnecessary energy consumption. By adopting these advanced technologies, industries can lower their overall energy demand, cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and improve competitiveness, all while maintaining or increasing production capacity.
Mitigation Potential¶
TBD.
Mitigation Options¶
Chapter 10 of (IPCC AR5 WG3 2014)1 and section 11.3.4 (IPCC AR6 WG3 2022)2 discuss a number of energy efficiency mitigation options for the industry sector which are indexed in the table below.
| Index | Title | Section(s) | Sub-sector(s) | TE(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M-2A.1 | Improved heat and energy recovery | AR5 10.4.1, 10.4.4, 10.4.8 | ||
| M-2A.2 | Improved fuel delivery for heating | AR5 10.4.1 | ||
| M-2A.3 | Improved efficiency of furnace or kilns | AR5 10.4.1 | ||
| M-2A.4 | Upgrading plants to best practice technology | AR5 10.4.2, 10.4.3, 10.4.5, 10.4.6, | ||
| M-2A.5 | Heat recovery and re-use through e.g. heat exchanger networks or heat pumps | AR6 11.3.4.1, AR5 10.4.6 | ||
| M-2A.6 | Process coupling and improvements | AR5 10.4.1, 10.4.4, Figure 10.2 | ||
| M-2A.7 | Insulation for cooling and heating | AR5 10.4.6, Figure 10.2 | ||
| M-2A.8 | Introduction of energy efficiency technologies in processing | AR5 10.4.8 | ||
| M-2A.9 | Drying / dewatering process improvements | AR5 10.4.4, 10.4.6 | ||
| M-2A.10 | Material recycling | AR5 10.4.4, 10.4.5, 10.4.8, Figure 10.2 | ||
| Smart Energy Management | AR6 11.3.4.2 | |||
The complete list of sub-sector specific mitigation options in AR5 is:
- Steel:
- Improved heat and energy recovery from process gasses, products and waste streams
- Improved fuel delivery through pulverized coal injection
- Improved furnace designs and process controls
- Reduced number of temperature cycles through better process coupling such as in Endless Strip production (ESP)
- Use of various energy efficiency technologies including coke dry quenching and top pressure recovery turbines
- Concrete:
- Improved energy efficiency of dry kilns
- Chemicals:
- Reduced energy intensity through upgrading steam cracking plants
- Upgrading plants to best practice technology
- Pulp and Paper:
- Use of additives in paper for drying
- Increase dew point of paper
- Improved heat recovery in drying paper - Laurijssen et al. (2010)
- Black liquor gasification (waste-to-energy method)
- Paper recycling
- Non-ferrous (aluminium/others)
- Upgrading to best practice technology in aluminium (multipolar electrolysis cells, inert anodes and carbothermic reactions)
- Recycling (including new technologies for separating alloys)
- Food processing
- Increased use of heat exchanger networks or heat pumps
- Mechanical dewatering instead of rotary drying
- Thermal and mechanical vapour recompression in evaporation further enhanced by use of reverse osmosis
- Better insulation for refrigeration
- Reduced ventilation in fridges and freezers
- Brush et al. (2011) provide a survey of best practice opportunities for energy efficiency in dairy operations.
- Mining
- Upgrade ore body concentration through resource characterization by geo-metallurgical data and methods (Bye, 2005, 2007, 2011; CRC ORE, 2011; Smith, 2012)
- Selective blast design
- Ore sorting and gangue rejection
- More crushing / less grinding in comminution
- Energy-efficient crushing technologies
- Optimized particle size feed for grinding mills
- Improved separation processes—mixers, agitators and froth flotation cells
- Improved drying and dewatering in mineral processing
- Improved materials movement
- Enhanced air ventilation and conditioning
- Energy demand management and waste heat recovery options
- Technology improvements for lighting, motors, pumps and fans and air compressor systems
- Recycling
- Upgrade ore body concentration through resource characterization by geo-metallurgical data and methods (Bye, 2005, 2007, 2011; CRC ORE, 2011; Smith, 2012)
Emissions¶
See TBD.
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IPCC AR5 WG3. 2014. Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change: Working Group III Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Edited by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Ottmar Edenhofer. Cambridge University Press. ↩
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IPCC AR6 WG3. 2022. Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Edited by Priyadarshi R. Shukla, Jim Skea, Raphael Slade, Alaa Al Khourdajie, Renée van Diemen, David McCollum, Minal Pathak, et al. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157926. ↩