Energy Conservation in Industry Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Definitions of the boundary, the product and the energy included differ from company to company, so a published figure may not mean what it appears to. Sector studies exist precisely to place everyone on the same basis.

Answer: B

It is the standard against which a replacement decision is judged, and the gap between it and the present plant is the ceiling on what any retrofit could deliver. The thermodynamic minimum is lower still and unreachable.

Answer: C

The threshold is set separately for each notified sector in units of oil equivalent, so a large cement works and a large textile mill are caught at different consumptions. Designation brings reporting and target obligations with it.

Answer: D

Correct answer: at the intervals the regulations prescribe

The audit obligation is periodic and stated in the rules, so it does not wait on a missed target or an inspector’s order. The purpose is to keep the plant’s own understanding of its consumption current, and an audit carried out only after a failure would come too late to prevent one.

Answer: A

The target is expressed per unit of output, so a plant that grows its production is not penalised and one that shrinks gains nothing. Targets differ between plants according to how far each already is from the sector's best.

Answer: B

Correct answer: the plants furthest from best practice must improve most

Targets are differentiated by how far each plant already stands from the sector’s best practice, so an efficient plant is asked for little and an inefficient one for a great deal. A uniform percentage would penalise the plant that had already invested and let the laggard continue, which is the opposite of what the scheme is for.

Answer: C

Correct answer: exceeds its target

Certificates are issued for the saving achieved beyond the target, one for each tonne of oil equivalent. A plant that merely meets its target has complied and earns nothing; one that falls short must buy certificates from those that have earned them, which is what creates the market.

Answer: D

Expressing every fuel and electricity in a common unit of oil equivalent lets a coal saving in one sector trade against an electricity saving in another. One such tonne is ten million kilocalories, about 11 630 kilowatt hours.

Answer: A

Correct answer: where they cost least

Every plant faces a different marginal cost of saving energy, and trading lets the sector’s total obligation be met by whoever can meet it most cheaply, the others paying them to do so. The physical reduction is the same as under a rigid per-plant rule, and the cost of achieving it is lower - which is the whole argument for a trading scheme.

Answer: B

Correct answer: a financial penalty

Failure to meet the target and failure to buy certificates covering the shortfall together attract a penalty proportional to the shortfall, so the scheme has a definite price of non-compliance. That price is what makes the certificate market work: a plant will buy certificates whenever they cost less than the penalty.