As part of Clarus ’ ongoing work to reduce our carbon emissions, we’re looking at everything we can do to eliminate, and where that’s currently not possible, to minimise our emissions. We have several initiatives underway that will reduce our emissions intensity over the next 2-3 years which will make significant inroads to reducing our carbon footprint. One of these initiatives is the Gas Transmission team’s acquisition of a ZEVAC Compressor in early 2023.
What is a Zero Emissions Vacuum Compressor?
EVAC stands for Zero Emissions Vacuum Compressor and this new technology is already helping Clarus reduce its methane emissions, which has everyone pretty excited.
ZEVAC is an air powered vacuum that captures gas, compresses it and then sends it back into the pipeline. The purpose of the ZEVAC is to avoid venting gas into the atmosphere and will be used regularly to capture small releases of gas that are recycled it back into the system, which starts to add up to a lot of carbon savings.
David Innes, Clarus’ Chief Engineer said, “We expect the ZEVAC to save up to 35 tonnes of carbon emissions each year within our planned maintenance work. We are also exploring other opportunities to realise significant potential emissions savings from our pipeline projects from year to year.
“Clarus already owns a smaller ZEVAC compressor that we have been using in our Clarus gas distribution business since mid 2022. However, this new ZEVAC unit is capable of dealing with much higher pressures and gas volumes experienced in the Transmission system,” David added.
On the job training
Terry Allen, Clarus Pipeline Specialist and others in the team spent a few days in April training up on how to use the ZEVAC with help from Australasian sales agent, Tremco Pipelines.
“Initially I was a little dubious that the ZEVAC machine would work, said Terry. “I thought it would take a lot more time to complete jobs. But when I saw the ZEVAC in action, I realised that it’s a really good, and efficient system which will help reduce our carbon footprint everyday.
“I am recording the job information on pipe lengths, sizes and pressures so that Engineering can calculate the emissions saved and add these up across the year,” Terry said.
Our commitment to reducing emissions
As a member of the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) of New Zealand, Clarus Group, who owns Clarus is committed to reducing our carbon emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030. Each year we measure our greenhouse gas emissions to understand not only what they are, but also which parts of our business we can tackle to provide the biggest reduction contribution for New Zealand.