Fall 2007 Issue

More than sixty academicians, scientists, industry experts and senior professionals participated in the ICA China’s Annual Technology Forum and 2006 Technology Proposal Call Awarding Ceremony, which was held in Beijing on 20 September 2007, to discuss the reasonable use of copper to bring a better quality of life to people in China.

Three winning projects will be supported by ICA China throughout the whole process. Meanwhile, a new round of 2007 ICA China Technology Proposal Call began, with an expansion from Mainland China to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea.
 
Media specializing in coverage of general, business, and trade on energy efficiency, building construction, appliances and technology were invited to the event, and press interviews were carried out with ICA management, members, winners and authorities. To date, a significant number of in-depth media clippings have been published and collected, with six original articles and many reprints. The tone of the articles is positive and highlights ICA’s key messages and endorsement by other authorized third parties. The public relations value of these clippings is estimated at $80,000, to date.

Using ICA-funded science and advocacy, the Scandinavian CDA and ECI have each obtained regulatory agreement on significant issues impacting the industry’s ability to sell competitively into the building construction sector.

The new draft of the Environmental Program of the city of Stockholm no longer contains guidelines restricting the use of copper products. In 2002, Stockholm published recommendations against the use of copper for external architectural applications, except for prestigious buildings, and for its use in water distribution.

After five years of targeted, science-based advocacy – partly based on ICA-funded models for bioavailability and roof runoff – the Scandinavian CDA has been able to secure the removal of these restrictive practices. While these markets are not large in tonnage terms, Swedish environmental policy often is mirrored into that of the EU. It was, therefore, very important to be successful here.

At the September Member State review of ECI’s copper Voluntary Risk Assessment, agreement was reached on the risk characterization chapters for water and sediment. In completing these reviews, Member States want to recognize remaining uncertainty by introducing safety, or assessment, factors. These result in lower quality standards (safe limit values) that put pressure on the emission levels from the industry’s products.

After a long and detailed review, the Member States agreed that the quality and breadth of the copper dossier was such that no assessment factor was necessary. This is the first time, ever, that any metal risk assessment has achieved such a result.

In an excellent example of best practice sharing within the ICA Network, in August 2007, Procobre Mexico utilized a case for gas installations (developed by Procobre Chile) in two workshops for CRE (Regulatory Energy Commission), AMPEGAS (Mexican Association in gas LP) and AMGN (Mexican Association of Natural Gas) in Mexico City.

More than 100 inspectors for gas installations attended the International Congress of Gas LP organized in Queretaro City. Results of these workshops were: a) the current review of national gas safety standards, and b) the evaluation to include the certification of gas installations for housings starting in 2008.

Procobre Chile and Conmetal held several meetings in Argentina with the country’s primary gas distributors, IRAM (Standardization and Certification) and ENERGAS (Federal Regulatory Organization of Gas). They all agreed to collaborate towards the use of copper tube for gas installations, and a process for approval in IRAM is in progress.

Conmetal agreed to participate as a stakeholder in the promotion of copper tubes for hydraulic and gas facilities in Colombia. Also, Nacobre and IUSA were invited and they are evaluating the possibility of participation.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has adopted new energy conservation standards for liquid-immersed and medium-voltage, dry-type distribution transformers.

According to David Brender, national program manager for electrical applications for the Copper Development Association Inc., the new, minimum standards greatly will contribute to increased usage of copper in these transformers, despite the current relative material cost of copper.

The DoE action applies to liquid-immersed and medium-voltage, dry-type distribution transformers manufactured for sale in the United States, or imported to the United States, on or after 01 January, 2010. This affects the estimated manufacture of more than 1.3 million liquid-immersed and 300,000 dry-type units per year, and appears to require almost all units to utilize copper-wound-primary coils. CDA is assessing the potential impact on copper consumption; however, preliminary estimates suggest an increase in demand approaching 10,000 tonnes annually.
 
CDA and its partner organizations have been working for several years with the DoE to effect the new standards. According to Brender, “This is a major achievement for the copper industry. Although the standards embrace both aluminum- and copper-wound transformers, space considerations and reliability make copper the clear winner for years to come.”
 
The DoE estimates that life-cycle energy cost-savings to those investing in compliant transformers substantially outweighs any incremental cost of the units (including the current, relatively high cost of copper). For liquid-immersed transformers, an increase in first costs of 6–12 percent is accompanied by a decrease in operating costs of 15–23 percent, corresponding to a similar drop in electrical losses. For medium-voltage, dry-type transformers, an increase in first costs of 3–13 percent is accompanied by a decrease in losses and operating costs of 9–26 percent.

DoE estimates the standards will save approximately 2.74 quads of energy over 29 years (2010–2038). This is equivalent to all the energy consumed by 27 million American households in a single year. “A significant contribution to the ‘green’ power of copper,” Brender says.

By 2038, DoE expects the energy savings resulting from the new standards to eliminate the need for approximately six new 400-megawatt combined-cycle gas turbine power plants. The total energy savings from the standard will result in cumulative greenhouse gas emission reductions of approximately 238 million tons of carbon dioxide from a variety of generation sources. This is an amount equal to what would be saved by removing 80 percent of all light vehicles from U.S. roads for one year.