Mr Magic Car Wash is a car wash and detailing service operating in Roma, Queensland. The Queensland Murray-Darling Committee (QMDC), through its Energy Efficiency Information Grant Project, was given the opportunity to observe and detail an energy efficient retrofit of the car washing operation after the business changed ownership.

Downs Aluminium Casting is a small, family owned and operated non-ferrous foundry located in Toowoomba, Queensland. The company produces aluminium castings for the construction, power and marine industries. In 2013 it installed a 27kW solar PV system. An audit shows other improvements – including by installing a variable speed drive to the dust extraction system - could improve the company’s energy efficiency. 

Dobbie Dico is a privately owned casting foundry in Perth specialising in manufacturing high quality ferrous and non-ferrous valves for the civil water industry, as well as castings for the rail and resource sectors. This case study shows how energy efficiency improvements and techniques such as sub-metering could bring improvements to the company’s energy management capacity. 

When the Alto Hotel was built in 2006, sustainability features were built into the design. Today, the hotel achieves outstanding savings in energy, waste and water use. While these features added approximately $450,000 to the $5 million build, savings on electricity, water, gas and chemicals are estimated at $50,000 per annum, and creates a point of different for customers.

At the Footscray Community Arts Centre in Footscray, the site includes a heritage listed building and warehouse, and an outdoor amphitheatre and lawn. The site’s annual electricity spend it $27,000 (from an annual usage of 130,000 kWh) plus around $3000 in natural gas cost (from an annual usage of 200,000 MJ). An energy assessment identified this could be reduced by $11,000 per year (39% of annual spend) by implementing the suggested opportunities. 

ABC Castings is a privately owned non-ferrous casting foundry located in Sydney’s Riverwood. It supplies castings to niche markets in mining and rail. Energy assessments showed savings of over 50% could be made by retrofitting existing lighting with light emitting diodes (LEDs) or induction fittings. Not only would this save on energy, but the change would reduce waste, and provide better directional lighting for focused jobs. Installing skylights was also shown to save up to 30% on lighting costs. 

Major’s SUPA IGA has served its community for more than 100 years.  The owners have implemented numerous energy efficiency measures including airlocking the store entrance - creating a thermal barrier, by installing a second door, reduces air exchange between external and internal areas of the store, and cuts the heating, cooling and refrigeration load. Upgrading the heating and cooling system - installing variable speed drives to the heat pump and upgrading the cooling tower to a compressed condenser with high efficiency fans to reduce energy input to energy output requirements and increas

Caernarvon Orchard in Orange, New South Wales, produces and packs 4500 tonnes of apples and 800 tonnes of cherries per annum. About 5% of its annual electricity spend is on lighting (around $3400 pa). An energy audit found that replacing high bay lighting fixtures with light emitting diodes (LEDs) would save $2120 a year (from a one off investment of $5600). Savings would also come from using electronic lighting ballasts, and replacing fluorescent tubes.

Located in Goondiwindi, Queensland Chesterfield Australia is an Agricultural and Construction Equipment company. The Goondiwindi site has both workshop and a retail spaces requiring specific lighting. During the Financial Years 2012/13, the facility consumed 119,984 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity, emitting 103 tonnes of carbon. An energy audit identified potential energy efficiency cost savings of approximately $6605 a year using light emitting diodes (LEDs) upgrades, with a payback period of just 2.2 years.

After an audit helped the owners of Berwicks Office Technology reduce energy costs in its 900 sqm building in Brisbane’s West End. Upgrading to a new digital metering system helped Berwicks to track spikes in energy use, while upgrading lighting made the parking garage safer and more energy efficient. It also led the company to replace its 200 fluorescent tubes with light emitting diodes (LEDs), resulting in a better visual experience for customers and staff, as well as reducing its electricity needs by around 30,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) a year.