German technology can play a major role in Chinese efforts to make the environment cleaner and to increase the energy efficiency of the textile industry, according to the German VDMA Textile Machinery Association.

The Association has organised a guided tour at ITMA Asia + CITME that is now taking place in Shanghai, with representatives from Chinese authorities and associations and the German General Consul in Shanghai Dr Wolfgang Röhr taking part.

VDMA believes that savings potentials are enormous. Thomas Waldmann, Managing Director of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association, explained: “Adjusting to volatile energy prices as well as stricter environmental standards provide a challenge for many textile producers. The German exhibitors here in Shanghai provide profound technological answers on how to cut costs by increasing efficiency.”

Energy-efficient processes

Dr Röhr commented: “Facing the global challenges climate change is imposing, it is of utmost importance to find a way to decouple economic growth and energy demand. The use of energy efficient technology is one of the most promising measures to approach this goal.”

VDMA experts examined the energy saving effects over the entire production chain of three textile products: a cotton T-Shirt, a functional T-Shirt, and a textile billboard.

Major results of this in-depth analysis of German Technology are summarised in a brochure titled German Technology: Higher Energy Efficiency - Higher Profits. The analysis is comparing German technology of model year 2013 with German technology available one decade ago. This energy efficiency campaign of VDMA and its members is embedded in the sustainability initiative Blue Competence. 

Powering plants

Cotton T-shirts are part of the basic garment. German technology reduced 28% of energy consumption for the production of jersey fabric during the past 10 years.

The saving effects applied to the production of one T-shirt per year for each of the 7 billion inhabitants of the earth suggest that if the worldwide production of cotton T-shirts was made completely on German state-of-the-art technology, the output of two coal power stations in Beijing with a total gross power of 1000 megawatt could be saved every year.

Functional T-shirt

The production of functional T-shirts for sports and leisure clearly shows the progress that was made, VDMA reports.

German technology of model year 2013 consumes 30% less energy than the predecessor machines and components 10 years ago.

Translated to 125 million functional T-shirts, which are produced per year worldwide, the overall energy saved for the process steps from yarn manufacturing over warp-knitting up to finishing sum up to 23.5 billion watt hours per year. This is the same energy necessary to power 200 million notebooks during one working day.

German technology

About 115 German exhibitors are on hand at ITMA Asia + CITME 2014, occupying more than 7,400 square metres of space.

Measured by square meters, Germany is the biggest foreign exhibiting nation at the major fair for the Asian market. All renowned German manufacturers are present.

The German exhibitors cover almost all different machinery chapters with a strong focus on spinning, finishing, knitting and warp knitting, nonwovens as well as weaving technology.

www.machines-for-textiles.com