Bel-Ray Addresses Kyoto

Bel-Ray® Company Pty Ltd is moving with the times into the 21st Century. What is the one thing that everyone is talking about in the 21st Century? CO2 (Carbon emissions)…which may lead you to ask, what will the world climate look like for our kids and future generations? Worldwide, we currently use 3.01 CMO (Cubic Mile of Oil) per year, have a 46 CMO proven supply and 52 CMO awaiting discovery that’s enough oil for another 59 years.

The worrying factors are:

• One litre of crude oil when burnt will produce 3.15 kilograms of CO2
• 429 litres of petrol will release one tonne of CO2
• 360.75 litres of Diesel will release one tonne of CO2
• 3.15 barrels of crude oil will release one tonne of CO2

The other worrying factor is that the average household will produce 14,000 kilograms of CO2 per year. That means you would have to plant 16,000 trees to make your current household carbon neutral.

What are we going to do about this?

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Some 183 countries including Austra­lia are now signed and ratified to the Kyoto Protocol. The aim is to reduce the overall CO2 emissions, and part of this framework is a system of Carbon credits. In practice this means that Non-Annex I economies have no GHG emission restrictions, but have financial incentives to develop GHG emission reduction projects to receive Carbon Credits that can then be sold to Annex I buyers, encouraging sustainable development. 

In addition, the flexible mechanisms allow Annex I nations with efficient, low GHG-emitting industries and high prevailing environ­mental standards to purchase carbon credits on the world market instead of reducing green-house gas emissions do­mestically. Annex I entities typically will want to acquire carbon credits as cheaply as possible, while Non-Annex I entities want to maximize the value of carbon credits generated from their domestic Greenhouse Gas Projects. Industrialized countries worldwide are putting more and more pressure on industrial, mining, and power generation companies to reduce their carbon footprint. They’re also giving them more incentive to pursue these reductions by introducing a system where companies can obtain carbon credits in many and varied ways.

What does all this have to do with Bel-Ray you ask?

It has a lot to do with Bel-Ray: it fits our overall market­ing strategies and the way in which we pursue new busi­ness. Bel-Ray prides itself on proven value, reduced lu­bricant consumption, and extending component life. We use these special attributes to market our products and service to our customers, who incidentally, in the current world economic climate, are looking for ways to reduce their overall operating cost, while at the same time looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. 

How can Bel-Ray help their customers in reducing their operating cost while also reducing their carbon footprint?

Example 1: We have proven data with draglines where Bel-Ray has reduced the overall lubricant consumption by as much as 50% in some cases. On average that’s a 5,000 kilogram reduction in lubricant usage or around $ 45,000.00 AUD a year in savings. It’s also worth 15,750 carbon credits. You would have to plant 14,318 trees to get that many carbon credits or purchase the credits from other countries.

Example 2: Bel-Ray® Synthetic Gear Oil 680 running in motor­ized wheel ends in a mining fleet of 20 trucks. Normally these oils are changed every 3,000 hours. Bel-Ray combined with an oil filtration program will run 20,000 hours. That’s 6.6 times longer across a truck fleet: a savings of $ 201,600.00 on oil cost alone and equates to 18,711 carbon credits. You would have to plant 17,010 trees to get the same amount of carbon credits. Add in the extended component life by maintaining ISO clean­liness code of 16/14, and you will get 2.5 times component life extensions.

That’s a huge overall savings. Isn’t that what your customers are looking for?

There are many more examples of how Bel-Ray can reduce operating costs while reducing customers’ carbon footprints. Pressure to reduce our dependence on carbon base fuel and lubricants is not going to go away; we need to adapt to the changing landscape.

Bel-Ray is grabbing this challenge with both hands and we have a longstanding commitment to maintaining the highest quality lubricants possible and we do so by consistently focusing on meeting customer needs and protecting the environment.

Through correct and sustainable management of lubricants and lu­bricant applications Bel-Ray are the market leaders, setting new stan­dards and new innovative ideas.