Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ergy issues. However, solar energy would require high investment costs, given the
high demand for hot water. According to experts from the federal university
UFPE, a 100% generation of hot water (up to 60°C) by solar collectors for a big
laundry needs an initial investment of approximately 400,000 R$ (Costa, 2007).
Bearing in mind only the average annual fuel costs for wood, the minimum pay
off time corresponds to five years and four months. Consequently, the vast major-
ity of laundries are unable to apply this technology, even though rising fuel prices
have to be expected. A pay off after five years or even more is simply to long for
many laundries due to unsure future projections.
Nevertheless, one of the laundries shows high interest in solar power and cur-
rently plans to generate up to 50% of its demand on hot water by solar collectors.
Main objective of the owner is to present an 'ecologically correct' way of launder-
ing jeans in order to become certified after important worldwide accepted quality
(ISO 9000 series) and environmental (ISO 14000 series) management standards
(Costa 2007). With regard to the company's role in promoting low-cost wastewa-
ter treatment technology in the region, this company might be again motivating
other laundries to develop similar concepts. Furthermore, these improvements in
the field of energy efficiency might be a chance for all stakeholders to exit this
'devil's cycle' regarding the use of unsustainable and often illegal cut firewood
and offer a win-win situation for the benefit of the whole region. Textiles of high
quality, produced in an environmentally correct way, may have a higher market
potential and allow this regionally extremely important industry to continue, with-
out harming the environment.
9.5 Future of Jeans Laundering in Caruaru and Toritama
So far, several first steps to minimize the environmental impact have been devel-
oped. In particular the treatment of wastewater and solid waste residues has al-
ready received attention. But still there is need for further improvements, mainly
in the area of energy efficiency. To address these issues properly, the optimal so-
lution might be the establishment of an industrial area for jeans laundries outside
the centres of Caruaru and Toritama. This idea has already been under discussion
for several years and is lately receiving more attention. The main ideas include a
central utility providing steam, hot water and the treatment of produced wastewa-
ter.
Such an approach offers several advantages. Due to scale effects, solutions can
be more cost-efficient and thus allow the implementation of better technology in
the wastewater treatment station, as well as using renewable energies for the heat-
ing of water and steam. Competition between the involved companies could no
longer be used as excuse for not fulfilling environmental standards, since steam
and wastewater are provided centrally with the same costs for all, but rather set
further incentives to invest in more efficient devices. Clustering these activities in
an industrial area, would also allow small enterprises to work together and possi-
bly to join in cooperatives.
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