Assessing savings

Vinyl compares favorably to other packaging materials. In 1992, a lifecycle assessment comparison of specific packages made from glass, paperboard, paper, and selected plastics concluded that vinyl was the material that has the lowest production energy and carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the lowest fossil fuel and raw material requirements of the plastics studied (169). Vinyl saves more than 34 million Btu per 1000 pounds manufactured compared to the highest energy-consuming plastic (170). 

Equations (9-59), (9-60), (9-61), and (9-62) may be used as they stand to assess expenditure on energy-conservation measures since a constant amount of energy is saved in each year subsequent to the capital outlay. However, the annual cash flows Acf corresponding to the energy savings remain constant only if there is no inflation or if the money values are corrected to their purchasing power at the time of the capital expenditure. 

Now that you have determined the likely savings in terms of annual process and waste-treatment operating costs associated with each option, consider the necessary investment required to implement each option. Investment can be assessed by looking at the payback period for each option that is, the time taken for a project to recover its financial outlay. A more detailed investment analysis may involve an assessment of the internal rate of return (IRR) and net present value (NPV) of the investment based on discounted cash flows. An analysis of investment risk allows you to rank the options identified. 

Survey questionnaires are completed by local staff. Each facility may interpret the questions differently if their intent is not clearly specified along with the question. You could include intent statements to clarify the questions, since you will have no basis for understanding differences between locations. You will not be able to easily check their accuracy. —Surveys to gather advance information on the facility, their organization, and general information on PSM and ESH management can save on-site time of your assessment team. 

In the United States various studies have assessed the potential for energy efficiency improvement in industi y. One study has assessed the technologies for various sectors and found potential economic energy savings of 7 to 13 percent over the busitiess-as-usual trends (Brown et al., 1998) between 1990 and 2010. Technologies like the ones described above (see Table 2) are important in achieving these potentials. 

The planning stage decides where the effort for energy economy should be concentrated and sets target figures for the amount of savings and the necessary implementation costs with payback periods. These assessments should be realistic and as accurate as possible. 

Research being carried out in Finland on the use of packaging derived fuels (PDF) is reported. Studies have assessed that refuse derived (RDF) and packaging derived fuels could save Europe 1 billion pounds sterling per year in non-renewable fossils fuels. Results are discussed of... 

An effective HE or cost-effectiveness analysis is designed to answer certain questions, such as Is the treatment effective What will it cost and How do the gains compare with the costs By combining answers to all of these questions, the technique helps decision makers weigh the factors, compare alternative treatments, and decide which treatments are most appropriate for specific situations. Typically, one chooses the option with the least cost per unit of measure gained the results are represented by the ratio of cost to effectiveness (C E). With this type of analysis, called a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), various disease end points that are affected by therapy (risk markers, disease severity, death) can be assessed by corresponding indexes of therapeutic outcome (mmHg blood pressure reduction, hospitalizations averted, life years saved, respectively). It is beyond the scope of this chapter to elaborate further on principles of cost-effectiveness analyses. A number of references are available for this purpose [11-13]. 

A systematic search of published literature identified 13 studies concerned with the value for money of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. The majority were cost analyses of the potential savings in providing health and social care which may accrue from the introduction of these drugs. However, the available clinical evidence is not sufficient to support the assumption that acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are equivalent to other interventions in terms of clinical effect or side effects (Birks and Melzer, 1999 NICE, 2001). Furthermore, research to assess potential cost savings implicitly assumes that... 

David Pimentel et al. Assessment of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Pesticide Use. In The Pesticide Question, 47-84. David Pimentel and Hugh Lehman, eds. New York Chapman and Hall, 1993. Source for India 4 pesticides savings and David Pimentel et al., Environmental and Economic Impacts of Reducing U.S. Agricultural Pesticide Use. Source for cosmetic perfection. 

In assessing the true cost benefits associated with a steam saving, the steam and power balance for the site utility system must be considered, together with the costs of fuel and power (or power credit in an export situation). In general, a surplus of steam resulting from a steam saving in a process demand can be exploited by... 

---