Building an energy-secure future means more than developing clean renewables and ways to store power from intermittent sources like wind and sun. A huge part of the challenge in improving our electricity infrastructure is eliminating the vast amounts of energy it currently wastes.

And that’s where some interesting new opportunities are opening up in the smart-grid space: in energy recycling technologies designed for specialised niche markets. Primary Energy Recycling, for example, has focused on the steel industry, while VYCON has established a solid presence in the shipyard operations space.

How much energy is currently lost as waste? As Martin Pollock, director of Siemens Metering Services, has noted, a full 65 per cent of the input energy used to generate electricity in the UK is lost somewhere along the way, whether as waste heat, transmission losses or other inefficiencies. In 2009, for example, 921 terawatt-hours of energy flowed into Britain’s electricity grid, but only 322 terawatt-hours flowed out in the form of productive power for industry, transport, consumer uses and other purposes. And the situation’s not much better in the US.

In homes and businesses, we can reduce waste energy by replacing inefficient incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents, or by upgrading to Energy Star-rated appliances and electronics. Industry, though, offers other unique opportunities for eliminating energy losses, and a few companies have made great strides by offering technologies with very specific applications.

Canadian-incorporated and Illinois-based Primary Energy Recycling, for example, has partnered with ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer, in a joint venture that makes use of waste heat from blast furnaces. The heat is used to dry coal, which is then pulverised and burned as fuel, reducing the steel-maker’s demand for coke, natural gas and fuel oil. Primary Energy also operates a combined-heat-and-power plant for a US Steel facility in Indiana.

The California startup Kinetic Traction Systems, on the other hand, focuses on flywheel technology that can capture and regenerate lost energy in railways and subways. The flywheel systems, previously marketed under the Pentadyne brand name, are already being used by the Long Island Rail Road and London’s Underground.

Another California firm, VYCON, has targeted its flywheel energy storage offering at shipyard crane operators and elevator systems, as well as other markets. Its REGEN system captures and stores the braking energy from diesel-powered cranes as they lower cargo onto ships and loading docks. In doing so, it also helps to reduce fuel costs and carbon dioxide emissions.

Such examples illustrate the varied opportunities already opening up in the smart-grid market, and point to even more, yet-untapped niches ahead. For technology companies that can identify a specialised market that needs to cut energy costs — and, sooner or later, that will be every market — now is the time to plant a flag in the area they can serve best.

• No Related Post