What is the Skill Set?
This Skill Set uses mathematics and process data to identify the energy intensive steps of a production process and to recommend energy improvements.
The Skill Set applies the first law of thermodynamics (the law of conservation of energy) and includes the selection of mass and/or energy balancing for the process being examined. This will lead to identification of parts of the process which have the greatest resource loss/lowest resource use efficiency and so provides the basis for eliminating or reducing this loss and improving energy efficiency.
The unit of competency in the Recommend energy improvements Skill Set is:
- MSS017002 Determine process loss through mass or energy balancing.
Level and scope
Recommending energy efficiency improvements for a process or organisation includes:
- Acquiring data
- Applying the techniques of mass balancing, energy balancing and combined mass and energy balancing to calculate resource/energy loss
- Selecting the boundaries for the calculation
- Selecting mass or energy balancing or both as appropriate to the type of process being examined
- Identifying the parts of the process which are least energy efficient
- Making recommendations on ways to improve energy efficiency in the short and long term
- Negotiating and communicating with stakeholders to gain formal approval for the recommendations.
A typical application for this Skill Set is for the calculation of data which is not able to be directly measured.
MSS017002 Determine process loss through mass or energy balancing is a high level technical unit involving analysing mass (material) and energy (usually heat or motive force) flows through a process to determine overall mass and energy efficiency, the losses which occur through the process and how much loss occurs in each part of the process.
A key part of this unit is selecting the right boundaries for the calculation. The same type of calculation could be done over the whole plant and then repeated over increasingly smaller parts, focussing in on the part with the greatest energy consumption or waste.
The unit does not require the recommendations to be implemented as there are too many variables out of the control of the learner, such as obtaining the capital required, possible competing projects and the long timeline required.
Target group
The Skill Set applies to organisations where a high volume of materials or large amounts of energy are used in a production process, logistics or transport. It can apply to an entire process, part of a large process or all/part of a value chain.
The Skill Set is targeted at people such as senior technicians, senior technologist managers and engineers who need to calculate the energy usage and/or energy loss for steps within a production process, and to recommend improvements. They may work as individuals or as part of a team.
The Skill Set requires that the learner has detailed high level technical knowledge of the process. Learners will general have existing qualifications such as an Advanced Diploma or Diploma in sustainability or a relevant technical field, a Bachelor degree and/or extensive vocational practice.
Relationship to other Skill Sets
The Recommend energy improvements Skill Set may feed into the Reduce sustainability risk Skill Set if the major sustainability risk for the organisation is high use of energy.
