Colormaker Industries saves 500 tonnes of greenhouse gas

Colormaker Industries, the manufacturer of PERMASET inks, has announced that on Tuesday, 17 January 2023, the company passed the milestone of 500 tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHGs) saved through the electricity produced from its 100 kW solar array.

The array was first powered up in September 2019 and proved to be a jumping-off point for the Colormaker business, which has since followed up with three EVs (electric vehicles) for deliveries and staff transport, an electric forklift, a more energy-efficient air compressor, a small battery to soak up some of the surplus electricity, and has more improvements planned for the future.

The solar array was initially designed to produce twice as much electricity as the business needed. However,  Colormaker was conscious of the need to reduce usage and purchased the new compressor, resulting in an overall electricity usage drop of 20%.

“Having such a huge energy surplus has been a great enabler for Colormaker”, said David Stuart, Colormaker's Managing Director.

“Notwithstanding the very real effects of La Niña, we now produce 2.2 times as much electricity as we use. If the sun comes out and stays out, we might get that up to 2.4. Even so, for every single kWh that we’ve purchased over the past 12 months, we put 4.44 kWh into the grid. Since the battery went in, we’ve also been able to bring our demand down to 1/7th of what it was when we first installed solar, taking the further strain off the grid,” continued Stuart.

“Our current projects on-site are working towards eliminating buying any electricity during the evening peak and to improving self-sufficiency; the first battery is moving us rapidly in that direction. Against a historical self-sufficiency average of 65% (we could still only supply 65% of our electricity needs), for NOV/DEC, we achieved a record 83.5% and expect that to be bettered in January. Once we install our big battery, we’re confident that we’ll get above 90%, possibly even 95%.”

“Looking beyond our own site, the use of one electric vehicle looks set to have saved 4 - 5 tonnes of GHGs p.a. from vehicle emissions vs a traditional ICE vehicle. To close out 2022, we acquired two more EVs but are looking forward to the delivery of our Australian-made big battery and Aussie-made prototype delivery van - with a much bigger range and payload capacity, we see this vehicle as being a game changer,” concluded Stuart.

The company is aiming to be carbon neutral by the end of 2024.