The energy sector is responsible for about 33% of all energy usage in the United States. Manufacturing companies alone spend $200 billion annually on powering their facilities, sadly, 30% of that energy is wasted.
According to a report, the energy efficiency of the United States in 2013 was capped at 42% which means 58% of all energy that was generated in that year went to waste.
You can check Collected.Reviews for the energy efficiency of other countries.Some manufacturers have decided to opt for a cheap energy provider.
Here are 6 ways manufacturers can reduce industrial energy costs.
1. Develop an Energy Management Team:
The major reason energy and cost-saving initiatives are not successful is that the responsibility of managing undertaking does not fall on anyone. Hire an energy management team to help you manage your energy use, to motivate this team, give them incentives when they can help you save more energy.
2. Conduct an Energy Audit:
This can be done by using an energy audit guidebook or by consulting the service of facility experts. Nevertheless, facilities should seek the help of an energy specialist for their energy audits. An energy audit is useful because it quantifies the amount of energy each department uses and also recommends energy upgrades for the best return on investment.
3. Strategically Schedule Machinery Use:
From the information gathered through the energy audit, consider which machinery consumes the most energy. Schedule the machines to be operated outside of peak hours. Overhauling machines, or change them if there is a need, to help you save energy costs.
4. Schedule Shutdown and Start-up:
During the weekend or off-shift period when all pieces of machinery are poweredoff, schedule shutdown of the production floor. This will reduce the industrial energy cost substantially. A large spike in the facility’s energy demand can be caused by powering up all machinery at once.From the information gathered through the energy audit, consider which machinery consumes the most energy and use them when there is less load to carry.
5. Optimize Air Compressors:
Industrial air compressors are responsible for a large amount of energy consumption and waste. This is because, excluding the fact that some of them are not maintained properly, others are designed poorly. Yearly, air compressors are responsible for up to 3.2 billion dollars in wasted energy costs in the United States alone.
6. Conduct an HVAC System Audit:
HVAC systems maintain air quality and make the production floor comfortable. They consume 52% of a building’s total energy and there are a lot of factors that affect how an HVAC system works. Some of such factors are system design, method of operation, maintenance, etc. You can make yourHVAC system more efficient in three ways – installing a programmable thermostat, repair and insulation of duct, and demand-controlled ventilation system.
Reducing energy costs is very important because energy is expensive and if not properly managed, a lot of money that manufacturers would have used for other things like advertising will be spent producing more energy. When an industry is energy-efficient, running the business will become less expensive.