Durr, a leading mechanical and plant engineering company's paintshop with the EcoQPower system, reduces carbon emissions by 19.2% over its entire life cycle, the company noted in a press release.
This is mainly due to an energy consumption reduction of about 21 percent in the utilisation phase, making it the first paint shop to comply with EU Taxonomy requirements.
Paint shops consume the most energy throughout the entire vehicle manufacturing process since applying paint and drying car bodies are very energy-intensive. Consequently, modern paint shops’ carbon footprints are still significant despite technical progress. “The EU wants to be climate neutral by 2050. We had this target in mind when we adopted a new strategy on the path to a carbon-neutral paint shop from an energy perspective. Instead of continuously increasing the energy efficiency of individual elements such as paint booths and ovens, as we did before, we developed the EcoQPower system, which considers all paint shop energy sources and network components, as well as energy flows,” explained Jens Oliver Reiner, Senior Vice President Sales in the Paint and Final Assembly division at Dürr.
The new concept analyses energy sources and energy sinks in operation, considering various operating states and historic climate data. Based on this analysis, the EcoQPower energy network systematically recovers energy in one place, which can then be reused elsewhere.
Dürr partnered with the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics to prove that the first paint shop optimized with EcoQPower being built for a German vehicle manufacturer emits fewer greenhouse gases than a paint shop without the energy network system. The scientists analyzed the effects on the carbon footprint by simulating and calculating the values for two identical, all-electric factories in the same location and with the same performance data – one with and one without an EcoQPower system.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics’ study found that the EcoQPower system reduces the carbon footprint by 19.2 percent over this entire period. Since 91 percent of emissions are produced in the utilisation phase, EcoQPower enables paint shop operators to run a more climate-friendly business.
The investment also pays off in terms of sustainability, with Dürr’s energy consumption analysis confirming that EcoQPower reduces utilisation phase energy consumption by 20.6 percent, making the optimised paint shop about 21 percent more energy efficient than a modern standard system.
As a result, operators can reduce their energy costs by seven figures over the assumed utilization period of 15 years and 110,000 painted car bodies per year.