Improving electrical energy utilization in some selected Nigerian food and beverage industries

This paper presents electrical energy conservation strategy in Nigerian food and beverage industries with the view of devising means to reduce their energy consumption. This was accomplished by studying the electrical energy consumption trends in the industry using a walk-through energy audit of four food and beverages industries. Based on data obtained, different electrical energy saving measures that can be employed in this sector are identified and recommendations to minimize electrical energy consumption without affecting productivity and quality are formulated. Some of the findings reveal that a bulk of electrical energy in the industry is wasted due to utilization of low efficient electric motors. It was found that replacing standard motors with super-efficient motors will save 215,930.85 kWh, 163,231.34 kWh, 292,436.82 kWh and 37,567.17 kWh of energy per annum for industries A, B, C and D respectively which cumulate into corresponding savings in the bill by $31,094.04, $23,505.31, $42,110.90 and $5409.67 per annum. A total of 133,680 kWh, 161,160 kWh, 120,474 kWh and 5637 kWh of energy per annum respectively, can be saved on lighting by replacing existing lighting fixture with LED and Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL). This results in an annual savings of $19,249.92, $23,207.04, $17,348.26 and $811.73 respectively for the industries.