Menu

Search

  |   Business

Menu

  |   Business

Search

Unlocking Energy Efficiency in Industrial Companies

Energy efficiency is a hot topic for industrial companies. Greater efficiency enables businesses to reduce emissions and cut electricity bills simultaneously. Energy efficiency involves using technology to achieve the same productivity outcomes with less energy.

Currently, around 70 percent of the electricity used by the industry powers electric motors. However, over 60 percent of these motors are over 10 years old and based on older technology that is less efficient than modern high-efficiency motors.

There is enormous potential for industrial operators to save electricity by improving the efficiency of their electric motors. For example, upgrading to the latest technology can reduce energy use in a motor-driven system by 20-30 percent.

What is the opportunity for energy efficiency in the industry?

Governments around the world set minimum standards for motor efficiency. For example, the European Union requires all new motors to meet International Energy efficiency (IE) class 3 or 4, depending on their size. NEMA standards in the US and other countries use a similar approach.

Minimum standards work well for new motors, but they do not address the energy-saving potential in the existing installed base. Around 350 million motors are already in operation worldwide. Unless motors experience a sudden outage or reach the end of their life, operators often focus on maintenance to minimize capital expenditure (CAPEX). They forget that an inefficient older motor continuously draws energy and creates unnecessary operational expenditure (OPEX).

Over its life, a typical motor uses electricity worth more than 14 times its purchase price - and in some cases, even more. However, every motor-driven system is different, and the potential efficiency gains vary widely. A typical industrial site may have hundreds or thousands of motors, some operating constantly and others intermittently.

Boosting energy efficiency depends on identifying low-efficiency systems that offer the best return on investment. This requires in-depth data gathering and analysis.

Applying energy-efficient solutions in the industry

Industrial operators in the metal, cement, minerals, chemical processing, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) sectors all face the challenge of choosing suitable efficient electric powertrains for their applications. Identifying motors that are due for an upgrade is also challenging, as they may be operating hundreds of motor-driven systems at a single facility.

Fortunately, energy efficiency audits represent an existing solution.

What is an energy efficiency audit?

Energy efficiency audits can help industrial companies pinpoint areas for decarbonization. Until recently, these required an energy efficiency expert to visit the site and manually gather data before analyzing it to identify opportunities and provide costed options to improve energy efficiency. This manual data gathering makes the approach costly and cumbersome, often only applied to selected motors.

Identifying energy savings across large fleets of motors

Fortunately, recent developments in digital technology enable affordable continuous energy efficiency audits at scale. Today, it is possible to gather digital data from entire fleets of motors without the need for an energy efficiency expert to visit the site and manually log data for a single audit snapshot.

Instead, the expert can review data remotely, covering much larger data sets and many more motors, making better use of their time. As a result, they can conduct digital energy audits or appraisals on fleets of hundreds of motors, giving the operational manager a broader view of potential energy savings and the cost of achieving them, with a comprehensive picture of their return on investment.

By using digital energy efficiency audits, industrial companies can make informed decisions on the best-value actions.

What energy-efficient technology solutions can we apply?

There are usually several options for improving the efficiency of an underperforming motor, including:

  • Adding a variable speed drive (VSD) so that the motor runs at the exact speed required for its task.
  • Upgrading a drivetrain (motor and VSD) to the latest high-efficiency technology.
  • Adjusting the operating parameters or schedules to ensure the motor only runs at its point of peak efficiency.

Renewable energy sources

Another way to decarbonize an industrial site is to sign up with a supplier of clean electricity generated from renewables or other zero-carbon sources. However, this alone is not enough, as there is significant demand for low-carbon electricity contracts. This approach must be paired with efficiency improvements.

Accessing government initiatives and incentives

While political leaders have set ambitious decarbonization goals, governments also recognize that cutting emissions requires investment. Incentives are available for companies that can achieve energy savings and reduce CO2 emissions. Incentives might take the form of rebates for participating in demand response schemes, where businesses provide surplus energy or reduce consumption in response to utility company requests. Additionally, some utilities apply a surcharge when customers draw more power than agreed, providing a disincentive for overconsumption.

The future of industrial energy efficiency

Increasing energy efficiency is beneficial for businesses and the planet. By using less electricity, facilities can reduce associated emissions and move closer to Net Zero while cutting one of the top operating expenses. With access to straightforward, cost-effective digital energy efficiency audits, now is the ideal time for industrial businesses to invest in their electrical efficiency.

Learn more about data-driven energy efficiency appraisals in this white paper: "The future is energy-efficient, the future is data-driven."

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.

  • Market Data
Close

Welcome to EconoTimes

Sign up for daily updates for the most important
stories unfolding in the global economy.