Retrofitting existing buildings to reduce electrical energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission in Nigerian food and beverage industries

Abstract

Food and Beverage industry is one of the fastest growing manufacturing industries in Nigeria with its attendant carbon emission. In this paper, retrofitting (one of the demand side management (DSM) techniques) is adopted as a strategy to reducing energy consumption and the associated greenhouse gas emission of three selected food and beverages industries in Nigeria. This is achieved by carrying out a walk through energy audit on the selected industries with the aim of reducing their carbon footprint by reducing the electrical energy consumption pattern. Retrofitting exercise involves identification of energy-inefficient electrical equipment within the industry and thereafter replacing them with available identical device but with better energy efficiency. The investment cost for adopting energy efficient technology and its corresponding payback period are estimated. Recommendations for policy documents were proposed based on the study. The energy audit reveals that electric motor, lighting points (lamps) and computer system constitute electrical load that are inefficiently operated within the selected industries. Applying DSM by retrofitting on these components of electrical load reduces the overall electrical energy consumption of the industry by 17%, 20% and 14% for industries A, B and C, respectively. An estimated reduction in CO 2 emission of 159,471.2 kg, 139,598.7 kg and 186,696.4 kg is achieved for industries A, B and C, respectively, using the DSM. This paper is useful as it provides scientific information on the need to retrofit inefficient devices in Nigeria industries.