Up to $50,000 is available to implement materials efficiency projects.
About
The Smarter Resources, Smarter Business program invests $14 million over five years to help a variety of industry sectors use their resources more efficiently.
The program has three categories:
- Energy and materials to help small to medium sized business be more competitive and productive.
- Energy efficient office buildings to help commercial office building owners reduce energy use and costs while increasing tenant appeal and asset value.
- Recycling to help business realise the potential financial value of waste.
Smarter Resources Smarter Business – Energy and Materials Program
The Smarter Resources Smarter Business – Energy and Materials Program provides funding and support for small to medium sized businesses to improve their energy and materials efficiency and boost productivity through:
Some examples of the types of activities that can be funded include:
Materials efficiency:
- Process efficiencies and improvements including:
- Internal reuse of product material, processing material, or packaging material.
- Product or services redesign.
Energy efficiency:
- Energy efficiency improvements to compressed air systems.
- More efficient use of process heat and steam, such as reuse of ‘waste heat’, improved insulation to reduce process heat loss, and improvements to steam return systems.
- Best practice lighting efficiency upgrades (only in non-retail applications).
Funding
Capital funding grants of up to $50,000 are available to implement materials efficiency projects or up to $25,000 for energy efficiency projects.
Expert Assistance
Writing a good quality grant application is a critical element in the application process. An application needs to be well thought through, written concisely, have clear objectives and purpose, and show clear links to the objectives of the grant guidelines.
The grant application must answer all questions, provide all required information and respond to the merit criteria. It should also reflect your organisation’s business strategy.
Writing a good application takes time and effort, and requires particular writing skills.
Bulletpoint are expert grant consultants and can assist with all aspects of grant preparation.
Timing
Capital Funding Round 3 closed on 2 May 2014.
Round 3 Recipients
Sustainability Victoria congratulates all the Victorian businesses that were successful in applying for Capital Funding grants. Three rounds of grants over the past two years have provided $3.8 million in funding to over 140 projects, helping businesses implement measures to significantly reduce energy and materials to save thousands of dollars a year.
These businesses are expected to save a combined $4.74 million a year, or $23.7 million over five years.
| Business | Project | Funding |
| A.G. Brown Sawmill | Improve climate control systems of timber kilns which will reduce material waste and energy consumption, and will allow for production of a greater product range. | $50,000 |
| AFCOL Australia Ltd | Purchase of new cooking equipment that will significantly reduce wastage. | $50,000 |
| Airstep Australia | Installation of a system to pre-process materials used in production of foam underlay, making more efficient use of materials. | $30,223 |
| Ballantyne Foods | Installation of a system to recover and reuse cleaning chemicals used in sanitation of food processing equipment, saving materials, water, energy and trade waste charges. | $50,000 |
| Centre State Asphalting | Installation of an asphalt waste recycling unit, saving significant quantities of raw materials. | $50,000 |
| Dollar Sweets Company | Purchase of new confectionary production equipment that will reduce by half the material waste resulting from operating this equipment. | $50,000 |
| ABMT Textiles | Installation of alternative waste water treatment technology that will allow the dye house to recover and reuse more materials. The upgrade will also save water, energy, and trade waste charges. | $45,000 |
| Giorgio Dental Laboratories | Purchase of a 3D printer for producing dental prostheses, eliminating waste associated with traditional plaster moulds, improving accuracy and reducing production cost and time. | $48,910 |
| Showerline | Provision of new equipment that will save materials and improve productivity in the manufacturing of shower bases, providing the construction industry with alternative, less materials-intensive products. | $50,000 |
| Heslop Contract Casters | Implementation of an innovative new die-casting process for producing magnesium alloy capsules that would significantly reduce the materials used. | $50,000 |
| Rhodes Orchards | Installation of a netting system to protect fruit from birds and bats, saving produce and improving the quality of apples. | $27,710 |
| Big Fellas Cherries | Installation of a netting system to reduce hail damage, saving produce and improving the quality of cherries. | $50,000 |
| Moraitis Tomatoes | Installation of equipment to better control greenhouse temperature and humidity, significantly increasing yield. | $50,000 |
| Oakmoor Orchards | Introduction of an evaporative cooling system to reduce crop damage from heat stress, leading to substantial savings of produce and improving the quality of apples. | $40,000 |
| Plaster Profiles/Regency Plaster | Installation of improved systems that will eliminate waste and new equipment that will allow reuse of any residual plaster waste. | $50,000 |
| La Madre Bakery | Purchase of a dough cutting machine to reduce waste, and software to improve demand planning and therefore reduce over-production and associated waste. | $14,950 |
| Mister Cabinets | Installation of new equipment that will allow for more efficient cutting of boards used in kitchen cabinets, reducing waste. | $47,300 |
| Vincent Painting Contractors | New sand blasting facility with the capacity to capture and reuse blast material. | $50,000 |
| Edible Forest Gardens | Introduction of an improved system for managing weeds – including a steam weeder and pasteurisation cabinet – that will result in material savings and reduced stock losses. | $10,855 |
| Corryong Licensed Supermarket | Improvements to refrigeration efficiency – including installation of a heat pump to use heat from refrigeration units to heat hot water, controls to optimise temperature settings, and the installation of variable speed drives. | $14,609 |
| Ace Wire Works | Installation of LED lighting and daylight sensors. | $25,000 |
| Canterbury Blinds and Windows | Installation of LED lighting. | $25,000 |
| Axima | Installation of LED lighting and motion and daylight sensors. | $25,000 |
| Barden Fabrications | Installation of LED and T5 fluorescent lighting and motion and daylight sensors. | $14,184 |
| Barry Smith Family Trust | Installation of a more energy efficient pump system. | $10,140 |
| Bryan John Dickson | Installation of heat exchange units to use heat from the milk cooling system to heat water for cleaning. | $9,500 |
| Alpine Toboggan Park | Installation of variable speed drives on pump motors driving the park’s water features. | $15,560 |
| Pureharvest | Installation of LED lighting and motion and daylight sensors, and timers. | $25,000 |
| CMTP | Installation of variable speed drives on dust extraction systems, offering potential for significant energy savings. | $18,737 |
| Common Equity Housing | Installation of a building management system to improve the efficiency of the heating, venting and air conditioning system, as well as an LED lighting upgrade. | $25,000 |
| Bell Tower Inn | Purchase of universal remote controllers for wall mounted split systems in hotel rooms, which restrict temperature selections within a specified band. | $4,450 |
| Deliver.com | Installation of LED lighting including re-design and daylight and motion sensors. | $25,000 |
| Epping Plaza Hotel | Upgrades to improve energy efficiency in the building’s heating, venting and air conditioning system, including centralised control of air conditioning, the capacity for economy cycles, and installation of variable speed drives. | $20,750 |
| Ernest Hillier | LED and induction lighting upgrade. | $25,000 |
| Flinders Banner | Improvements to refrigeration systems to save energy, reduce maintenance costs, and increase product shelf-life. | $25,000 |
| Glass Recovery Services | Installation of a voltage power optimiser to reduce site voltage and therefore energy use. | $25,000 |
| top Cote | Installation of LED lighting. | $25,000 |
| Hilustre Coatings | Modification of ovens to capture and reuse the hot air that currently escapes. | $22,753 |
| Hume Doors & Timber (VIC) | Installation of LED lighting. | $25,000 |
| Conti Orchards | Installation of a fast operating roller door on the cool room to improve energy efficiency, and upgrading the carbon dioxide scrubber system that is used to control the environment in storage chambers. | $25,000 |
| JC Quality Foods | Installation of insulation on roller doors to storage area, and an upgrade of the air conditioning system to improve energy efficiency. | $25,000 |
| Kellock Lodge Alexandra | Installation of motion sensors on lighting. | $4,550 |
| Kincrome Australia | LED and T5 fluorescent lighting upgrade including motion sensors. | $25,000 |
| Licola Wilderness Village | Installation of an energy efficient oven and a variable speed drive on water supply pumps. Energy efficiency improvements to diesel generators, including upgraded monitoring and control system. | $25,000 |
| Lower Plenty Hotel | Upgrade of air conditioning system to more energy efficient units with economy cycles and digital controls. | $25,000 |
| Lyndale Trading | Installation of a more energy efficient heating system and upgrade of ventilation fans and control systems in chicken sheds. | $25,000 |
| Montague Cold Storage | Installation of variable speed drives for evaporator fans in the freezer storage room. | $25,000 |
| Norman Disney & Young | Installation of a chilled water thermal storage tank that will improve the energy efficiency of the chilled water system used for air conditioning. | $15,744 |
| P Aker Flower Bulbs | Replacement of existing cooling system with more energy-efficient ‘slurry ice’ system. | $25,000 |
| Perroplas Australia | Installation of variable speed drives on injection moulding machines.
| $25,000 |
| Princes Linen Services | Installation of a variable speed drive on the boiler, as well as a system to use exhaust heat to pre-heat boiler feed water. | $25,000 |
| R Radford and Son | Application of thermally efficient roof coating and installation of variable speed drives in refrigeration motors, and a system to capture and reuse waste heat. | $25,000 |
| South Pacific Sea Baths | Retrofit of pool and spa motors and pumps with variable speed drives. | $10,872 |
| San Carlo Homes for the Aged Ltd | Installation of LED lighting upgrade and daylight and motion sensors. | $19,261 |
| Shepparton Retirement Villages | Installation of LED lighting upgrade and daylight and motion sensors. | $25,000 |
| Sims Supermarket | Replacement of fans on refrigeration systems with more energy efficient models, and installation of ‘night blinds’ on refrigerated cases. | $13,622 |
| Stefano’s Mildura Brewery | Energy efficiency improvements to steam and refrigeration systems, these will also improve operating flexibility and product quality. | $25,000 |
| Tahbilk Winery & Vineyard | Installation of variable speed drives and pressure transducers to allow the cooling water pumps to operate at variable speeds, and a variable speed driver for the cooling tower fan. | $7,750 |
| Textor Technologies | Installation of energy efficient lights and daylight sensors, including re-design of lighting system. | $25,000 |
| Coldon Homes | Installation of LED lighting upgrade and daylight and motion sensors. | $25,000 |
| The Game Meats Company of Australia | Installation of a system to reclaim heat from refrigeration systems and use it to preheat boiler feed water. | $25,000 |
| Austco Polar Cold Storage | A new evaporative condenser will lead to more efficient chiller plant operation, and a variable speed drive will be installed on the condenser unit. | $25,000 |
| Zagame Boronia Club Hotel | Application of thermally efficient roof coating and window tinting to reduce use of heating and air conditioning. | $17,495 |
| Proud Chic Mega Meats | Refrigeration plant upgrade and installation of measures such as ‘night blinds’ and electronically commutated fans to increase efficiency of cool rooms and refrigeration. | $25,000 |
| Tim Lenehan | Variable speed drive installed on vacuum pump for milk harvesting. | $6,490 |
| Vawdrey Manufacturing | Installation of a variable output compressor for the compressed air system. | $25,000 |
| Replacement of atmospheric boiler with a new condensing boiler that is expected to lead to significant gas savings. | $25,000 |
| Watergardens Hotel | Upgrade of refrigeration plant, to reduce energy used for air conditioning. | $25,000 |
| Wingara Wine Group | Replacement of agitators in holding tanks with more energy efficient alternatives, improving energy efficiency as well as the quality of wine. | $25,000 |