Energy consumption and energy saving potential in clothing industry

Turkish clothing industry, being one of the biggest apparel suppliers of the world, plays a major role in manufacturing sector of the country with the highest share in total exports. Therefore analysis of the clothing sector in terms of energy consumption which is an important component of its environmental impacts is of importance. Energy consumption of the plants in the entire knitted garment production chain was aimed to be investigated in this study. Average, specific and equipment-wise energy consumptions were analysed. Energy saving potential was revealed by walkthrough energy audits. Moreover, average and specific CO2 emissions were calculated. Specific energy consumption and CO2 emission for the production of one piece of knitted garment from dyed-finished fabric was found as between 0.78 and 1.44 MJ/piece and 0.09-0.17 kgCO2/piece, respectively. Equipment-wise energy use investigation of apparel production plants showed that the steam production, compressors and lighting equipments have considerable share in total energy consumption and cost. Average energy saving potential of 16.4% for apparel, 14.4% for embroidery and 11.6% for screen printing plants were indicated to be possible. Application of energy efficient lighting equipment was found to have the highest energy saving potential corresponding to 63% of the total projected savings.