The Czech Energy Scouts had to wait a long time for this day – until finally the award ceremony in Prague could take place. 28 scouts from 13 companies participated in the qualification and presented their projects on June 25 in the premises of the German-Czech Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DTIHK) – maintaining corona-related precautions like face masks and hygiene rules.
Preol, a. s., a producer of biofuels from rapeseed won the first prize. In his project, Energy Scout Jan Bílek focused on the use of waste heat from condensate, a by-product from the production process, for heating and hot water generation in the administration building. For this purpose, he proposed the replacement of an outdated steam exchanger and designed a new, more efficient construction for the condensate pipes. The savings in electricity amount to over 400 MWh per year and the CO2 saving potential is up to 150 t per year. The payback period is approximately 1.3 years. In another sub-project, the Energy Scout analyzed the potential for capturing and storing CO2 from combustion products of the company-owned combined heat and power unit. He wanted to find out what climate neutrality by 2050, envisaged in the European Green Deal, could mean for his company. According to the current status, this CCS (carbon capture and storage) measure would cost around €100 per ton of CO2. The jury chose this visionary project as the best of the year 2020 in the Czech Republic.
The second place was shared by the Energy Scouts from Penny Market s.r.o. and the team from Schaeffler Production CZ s.r.o. The team from Penny plans to use camera sensor technology and a warning app for employees to reduce the waste of fresh food in the fruit, vegetable, and bakery sections. The technology enables early detection and removal of spoiled goods and can therefore help to reduce the need to reorder, transport and cultivate fresh food. This results in considerable savings in water, fuel, cooling and CO2. Schaeffler’s Energy Scouts will regulate their heating more efficiently by using a WiFi control system, which they tested in a building. The effect of the project is not only a reduction in heating costs but also an increase in the awareness of colleagues regarding energy consumption.
Bosch Diesel s.r.o. was awarded third place for a project that includes measures in three areas: lighting, use of heat pumps to utilize waste heat from production facilities, and use of rainwater for cooling.
The quality of the projects submitted made it a difficult decision for the jury. Jury member Lukáš Minařík from the Czech Ministry of the Environment expressly thanked all Energy Scouts for their commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of their companies. The German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce valued the third year of Energy Scouts as a great success and plans to continue the qualification.
