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What you need to know and how we can help.  It’s no secret that the world is facing a waste crisis. How to reduce it, pay for it, its impact on our public and planet’s health, and where it ends up are just some of the concerns we’re grappling with.  The good news is, Total Utilities can help you identify, monitor, and reduce your waste. Here’s why engaging us as your waste management consultant is so important.  Waste is costly for our planet and business Our growing waste problem is not only costly to the environment but expensive for businesses. New Zealand faces rising transport and disposal costs, changes to national policy and levies, and uncertainty around where to export our recycling when we don’t have the facilities to handle it here.    The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), our government’s primary climate change response, plays a leading role in how we collectively manage waste and reach our internationally established targets. Our 2030 target, which is New Zealand’s first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement, is as follows: “our net emissions will be 30 per cent below 2005 (or 11 per cent below 1990) gross emissions for the period 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2030.” Waste is a specified activity under the ETS, so those in the waste sector must participate in the scheme. This means disposal facility operators must report their emissions to the government. They need to pay for permits to emit carbon and can offset their emissions. Land disposal facilities have options: they can either decarbonise their activities, face mounting costs, or offset their emissions by supporting climate action projects like forestry and conservation.   The most cost-effective and sustainable path for landfill facilities is to find ways to reduce their emissions. The government incentivises these facilities to find and deliver innovation and efficiencies by becoming eligible to apply for a Unique Emissions Factor. You can read about this here. Waste levy increases Growing pressure to address climate change, the uncertainty surrounding recycling commodity returns and stricter separation and hygiene standards are all factors behind the government’s decision to raise waste levies.  The levy increase will be phased in over four years, the first of which happened in July 2021. Levies will increase to a maximum of $60 per tonne by 2024. These increases are designed to encourage more recycling and to divert waste from landfills. The costs apply regardless of which waste supplier you choose.  Based on the average industry wage, the cost increase would equate to an additional $22 per 4.5m³ front-end load pick up. We’re investigating with each supplier how this cost will be passed on.  The big issue: Spoiled or contaminated recycling In a 2018 Stuff article, Green Party MP, Eugenie Sage, who was the Associate Environment Minister at the time said, “The co-mingling of waste like glass, paper and plastic was what led China to stop accepting it.”  One solution is to improve the quality of our waste by changing our behaviour – getting better at sorting and separating our waste at the source. Countries no longer taking some recyclables creates greater uncertainty  Now that the Chinese market doesn’t accept specific categories of recyclables, costs have grown significantly. The Chinese government also signalled to reduce its annual cardboard recycling quota by six million tonnes (10% of global demand). This means the cardboard price will drop further – it’s a market characterised by extreme pricing uncertainty. China’s ban had a massive ripple effect on where millions of tonnes of waste ended up. Indonesia bore the substantial brunt of this.   In late 2019, the Indonesian government was looking to pass urgent legislation which would allow them to legally return spoiled recycling back to the port of origin, not the last port of call.  Indonesia has now closed its market to recycling and has indicated it would only re-open if spoiled waste could be sent back to the country of origin. How the tightening of global spoilage standards will affect us. Stricter global spoilage standards will affect the ongoing rates for recycling in New Zealand. The market has not priced all these factors in yet. Under the current uncertain climate, suppliers are unable to fix pricing for recycling. How Total Utilities can help you navigate the costs and changes. By working closely with our specialist waste consulting partners, suppliers, and customers, you can achieve reduced waste charges and levies, improved monitoring and reporting of your waste systems, and ultimately send less waste to landfill. This is a win for your bottom line and the environment.  Navigating the waste environment alone is complicated – it takes a deep understanding of the political, environmental, and global trends and policies. We expect that what happens to our waste will continue to be complex for many years to come.  Total Utilities has a finger on the pulse of policy, pricing and procurement. We can effectively interpret the changes and identify smart ways for you to contribute towards a more efficient, greener, cleaner planet.  That’s good for everyone.

As the southernmost commercial deep-water port in New Zealand, South Port NZ worked with Total Utilities to implement Centrica Business Solutions’ Panoramic Power™ technology – avoiding costly upgrade projects and increasing available storage capacity. 80% increase in container storage days compared to previous year10mins to collect data from 51 revenue meters across site$600k savings from avoided capital project expenses (USD) Increasing capacity of available on-site storage South Port NZ is a deep-water port on a 40-hectare Island located in Bluff, New Zealand, from where it provides a full range of marine services, cargo and container shipping, and on-site warehousing for domestic and international customers. In 2019, South Port NZ partnered with Total Utilities to better understand the actual power demand of the site, identify opportunities to increase existing storage capacity and deliver customised solutions to meet the needs of customers on the island. An initial supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) solution was proposed by a 3rd party vendor to address the needs, which came with a price tag of NZD$800,000. As a partner of Centrica Business Solutions, Total Utilities supplied and DECOM Electrical installed Panoramic Power wireless, device-level, energy monitoring sensors at the port. After a month of capturing the data and analysing it using Centrica Business Solutions’ complimentary energy management software, PowerRadar, South Port NZ deployed an additional 229 Panoramic Power sensors and over 30 communication bridges across the port with minimal interruption to operations. Within days, the on-site infrastructure team gained real-time, granular visibility into the energy consumption and operation of their critical assets across the site. The easy-to-install energy insights solution now transmits data securely via cellular connectivity – monitoring more assets than the initial proposed SCADA solution, at a fraction of the cost. “PowerRadar provides real-time data on demand versus capacity which allows us to maximize our electrical PowerRadar provides real-time data on demand versus capacity which allows us to maximise our electrical infrastructure while minimising risk. Being a small team looking after the engineering infrastructure of a 40-hectare island, takes a lot of our time. Having something like this that provides us with real-time, easy data, provides efficiencies saving us a lot of time.”Jason Paul, Project Engineer, South Port NZ Prior to installing Panoramic Power, the infrastructure team had been unable to determine the maximum number of refrigeration storage units that could be brought online safely at any given time. As such, only eighty electrical plugs were available at any time – one per refrigeration storage unit – within two substations dedicated to handling refrigeration reefers for port customers. With real-time visibility of the measured load across the electrical substations in PowerRadar, the infrastructure team realised that the electrical capacity for these substations was being underutilised – adding more plugs to these substations doubled the reefer capacity to 160 without any major or costly upgrades. Streamlining resources for managing assets One of the hurdles of the day-to-day operations at the port was the amount of time spent in collecting data from submeters to invoice port customers. Typically, it would take one of the port’s personnel three days every six months to capture the readings from all 51 revenue meters around the port, regardless of the weather conditions. Using PowerRadar, it now takes them only 10 minutes to collect the meter information before it is passed to their finance team for invoicing customers. With the monitoring of the sewer pump stations at the port using PowerRadar, the infrastructure team now receives real-time alerts on the status of the motors operated at those stations. This has enabled the reallocation of limited resources to other critical assets at the port. One of the benefits of such reallocation was the detection of surface water ingress at the pump stations by the infrastructure team, having compared the measured power draw of the pumps to available rain data. It is now possible for the infrastructure team to track the amount of surface water ingress at each station on days with rainfall and implement any corrective measures. Effective planning for infrastructure projects When trying to identify which assets at the port should be prioritised for capital upgrade projects, the infrastructure team relied on the energy consumption data in PowerRadar. This enabled the team, particularly in the design phase, to plan future expansions as well as ongoing maintenance of the existing electrical infrastructure at the port. An energy audit was completed for one of the large electrical substations being monitored at the port. The findings resulted in the approval of a large capital project for implementing changes to the substation, and switch board running the Cold Stores and an expected payback within one year. To ensure the reliability of the substations to handle loads within the port’s electrical network, especially during periods of storing a large number of refrigerator containers, the infrastructure team uses the real-time energy dashboard within PowerRadar to track the maximum power demand from the combined substations. If the power draw approaches 1 MW, the team can begin to consider bringing backup generators online or other ways of taking some load off the power grid at the port. By choosing to implement Panoramic Power across the site, South Port NZ reduced their capital expenditure by US$600,000 and achieved an increase of 80% in container storage days compared to the previous year. In addition, South Port NZ is now able to report on their carbon footprint annually, provide automatic reports on monthly energy use to port users and streamline efforts in identifying areas of high energy usage for investigating ways to lower the peak demand at the port. Total-Utilities-with-Centrica-South-Port-NZ-Case-Study-ƒDownload PDF Business and media enquiries can be made to Total Utilities.

Why cloud is crucial for a sustainable business, and how to choose the best option. The Covid-19 outbreak has reinforced two lessons for businesses – the importance of cloud-based services and the need to ensure their model is sustainable. Cloud platforms have really come into their own, providing accessibility for remote workers and customers, while providing the ultimate scalability for businesses facing an uncertain future. But in a world where both the economy and environment are facing unprecedented challenges, it is more vital than ever for business owners and CFOs to make informed business decisions. Choosing the right cloud option can be daunting, and a truly sustainable business needs a clear understanding of the financial and business case drivers to help make the right decisions. Review the business model Changes are happening at a rapid pace in today’s business environment, with many companies looking at downsizing and improving their remote working capabilities. Even beyond the extremes of a pandemic, acquisitions, new ventures, upturns and downturns all provide daily challenges for senior managers. Over the last few years, the focus of major decision-makers has moved away from in-house tech infrastructure and experts and towards more flexible and agile cloud models and platforms like Microsoft Azure that best fit their way of working. Before making any investment in IT infrastructure or platforms, ask whether they can adapt if your business needs change in the future. Nothing illustrates how quickly the business environment can change as the infographic below. The infographic shows the vast drop in consumption of electricity since Covid-19 hit New Zealand. Many businesses were unable to operate from their normal offices and stores. While most have adapted to working from home, the shutdown had a huge impact on commercial electricity consumption. While major industry consumes a third of all our energy, the wider commercial sectors consume a further quarter of New Zealand’s electricity demand. It is this quarter that we can reasonably assume to have almost completely evaporated when the lights went off. Although the future is opening up and consumption is starting to rebound, businesses are now focused on new ways of consuming energy or delivering services. Many CFOs and CIOs are trying to figure out this new way of working and how it affects their own businesses. The days of the road warrior salesperson may be coming to an end. How we engage with, incentivise and add value to our clients will look very different, as some may prefer a call from the office or a virtual meeting to a corporate lunch. Customers too will be feeling the impact, with online engagement becoming the predominant form of communication, and Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Hangouts becoming an integrated part of working culture. In addition, Covid-19 has caused a large shift in the global economy and supply chain. Secure production and supply are increasingly of greater importance than the cheapest or most efficient options, which has led to a greater focus on in-house production, multiple suppliers or regional stockpiling. The result of all this is we can no longer trust the stability of the surrounding environment. While we may see some return to the old ways of working, some business processes will never be the same again. Business managers therefore need to be prepared to constantly review business models and consider whether their technology needs are still being met by their current system. This will help ensure their business remains sustainable in a world that can change drastically in what seems like a second. Plan for the rebound Businesses are now furiously planning ahead for the future. Many will need to start scaling up or down to stay on track with fluctuating demand. Working through the challenges including staffing, supply chain logistics, stock management and managing demand will impact most businesses, not to mention the increasing expectation they will reduce their environmental footprint. Kiwifruit producer Zespri is a classic example of how to approach this kind of situation. In 2010, it was dealing with the PSA Virus, which caused entire crops of kiwifruit to fail. The popular gold kiwifruit was the most affected variety, spurring Zespri scientists to research a resistant strain. They knew the situation could have gone either way – with the opportunity to double production if the new strain was successful or ultimately halve if the research failed. Zespri was concerned about having enough computing power to cover existing demand while preparing for both the best- and worst-case scenarios. With support from Total Utilities to assess its existing IT costs and consumption, Zespri was given a list of options that projected the business outcomes and costs for each. It could either continue managing and maintaining its own data centre, outsource its data to another local vendor, or switch to the public cloud so it could replicate the same platforms around the world. Zespri chose the latter, moving its infrastructure and associated platforms onto the Microsoft Azure Cloud. This decision helped Zespri cover a multitude of potential problems by removing the financial risk of investing in its own tech infrastructure, allowing rapid expansion of a global supply chain and delivering detailed cost control mechanisms. Providing Zespri with financial operations toolsets allowed it to efficiently manage costs and consumption, which was repaid as Zespri’s research gamble paid off and the business grew in scale. Measures such as “cost per tray of kiwifruit shipped” have become an important way of tracking success. Zespri has used subscription cloud services as an effective way to manage, analyse and contain its costs ever since. Not only does that mean Zespri is able to adapt its model to any scenario, not having a data centre on site reduces both energy consumption and space. The business is therefore more sustainable in every sense of the word – something consumers around the world increasingly expect. Microsoft itself has committed to removing all carbon it has ever emitted directly or by energy consumption from the environment by 2050, reinforced by its pledge to support New Zealand’s sustainability goals through its new datacentre investment. As every organisation on the planet is challenged to review its impact on the environment, choosing greener IT options is a great way to minimise your footprint. As the adage goes, the only certainty in life is change. While an upfront investment during downturns can be daunting, the best way for any business to safeguard its sustainability long-term is to invest in an IT system that doesn’t become obsolete, that meets modern expectations around environmental impacts and which allows workers the greatest accessibility in an era when many of us are now working remotely. And that means embracing the cloud. Ensure resilience A resilient network and good technical support are essential to every modern business. There is an expectation for email, purchasing or sales automation to be working around the clock. Software updates, testing or hardware failures are no longer an excuse for disrupted services, which can instantly see customers go elsewhere. Just five years ago, businesses were put off moving their platforms and operations to the cloud because they weren’t sure about achieving the level of compliance and technical competence they needed to operate the systems. Every business we consulted felt the skills to manage cloud migration were a barrier to digitising their operations, and that only in-house experts could provide the support needed. That figure is now just 40 per cent. Trust in the cloud and cloud providers to manage their businesses and tailor their services to their needs has skyrocketed. Likewise, secure and reliable connections are more available than ever. While some thought the demand put on the internet during this period of working from home wouldn’t hold up, the Covid-19 lockdown has proven how resilient the internet can be. It is a credit to our network providers, whether fibre, copper or mobile data-based, that these services have remained largely in place as millions of people have suddenly put tremendous demand on capacity. This shows that network availability is no longer a constraint holding back businesses from placing their operations and services in the cloud. Those organisations using public cloud services are also better placed to combat the predatory players who sought to take advantage of the situation via scams and cyber-attacks, with regular security upgrades not available to those using an outdated server in the back office. No longer can you place your trust in simply ‘doing it yourself’. Instead, managed cloud-based services can prove more secure and reliable. Security and connectivity is complex to establish and even more challenging to maintain, especially when scarce, skilled resources are in high demand. Establish good financial governance Whichever cloud service you use, make sure to choose a partner or platform that can provide real-time analysis and reporting so you can see exactly how it’s working for your business and change your plan if you need to. Governance, cost control and resource efficiency have always been top priorities for businesses. Now more than ever, businesses are focused on getting the best value for money from their technological solutions while growing a sustainable business. One thing cloud-based platforms do very well, thanks to their sheer accessibility and ease of use, is enable workers to use a huge range of resources and implement their own changes and updates. However, if unconstrained, this can result in wastage and bill-shock. While governance and budget setting have provided the framework for cost control and planning for decades, moving to the cloud requires a new level of collaboration between Finance and IT. Ensuring these two teams remain communicative through the cloud integration process is vital to ensuring it runs smoothly and efficiently, that the right functionality is baked in from the beginning and there are no budget surprises.  As well as close co-operation, the key to ensuring total visibility and that cloud services are providing the best value, is using a monitoring service to provide real-time data on how cloud is being consumed across the business. The best services can illustrate exactly how resources are being used – either energy or data – and enable CFOs and other decision-makers to rapidly change to new plans that are better for the environment and the bottom line. Clear and regular reporting is essential and takes a great deal of time and effort out of maintaining good governance. Cloud is the future of many businesses and in a time of so much change and uncertainty, it is important to know your business has a model it can rely on to save costs and make governance far less onerous. To know that your business is making most of out your cloud service, make sure you have reporting in place so you can accurately reflect usage in real time, limit your expenses and energy consumption and create a business model that’s truly sustainable for many years to come.