Efficient Plant Nov./Dec. 2022 - 4

column | editorial
Grab Low S
Hanging
Energy
Fruit
Gary L. Parr
Editorial Director
USTAINABILITY WAS A focus
topic at the 2022 Emerson Exchange.
It is, obviously, not a new thing, but
the desire to make dramatic improvements in
that area is intensifying. For some time, many
of us could ignore the impact of climate change
because we didn't have to deal with large
events such as hurricanes and forest fires.
That has changed. In the past two or three
years, everyone in the country has had to
deal with unusual weather patterns, intensifying
hurricanes, forest fires that seem to be
ever-present, the Mississippi River being at its
lowest level ever, water issues in the Southwest
due to lack of snow, and on and on.
Couple all of this with a pandemic,
supply-chain failures and workforce issues,
and sustainability starts to look like not only
a good thing to do for the planet, but a good
thing to do for business. It also puts a surprising
amount of money on the bottom line.
Where to start? The easiest place is energy
consumption. At a sustainability press event
at Emerson Exchange, the company's Chief
Sustainability Officer, Mike Train, showed a
diagram that made me stop in my tracks. That
diagram shows that, in the process of creating
energy we can use, 67% of what we start with
is lost, i.e., only 33% of energy from all sources
reaches us for use.
I think it's safe to carry that a step further
and assume that the same proportions occur
with the 33% of energy we have available. If that
assumption holds, we're only using a third of the
energy we buy to do actual work and/or provide
a comfortable work environment. The rest is lost
to inefficiency or poor practices. To those who
claim they don't waste that much, say you waste/
lose 50% of what you buy. That's still a big chunk.
There's plenty of advice available from all
sorts of organizations for how to cut manufacturing
energy costs. One that shows up on just
about every list of " x things you can do to reduce
energy waste " is basic maintenance of rotating
equipment, i.e., proper and consistent lubrication
and accurate alignment. Another is to repair
compressed-air leaks. The obvious one is to
simply turn off lights and power down unused
equipment (Yes, that's your mother's voice in
your head.).
Oak Ridge National Laboratory has an online
tool that might be worth a look.
Visualizing Energy Reporting Information
and Financial Implications (VERIFI) uses an
open-source framework with a utility dashboard.
It allows energy coordinators and plant managers
to monitor and improve their understanding
of energy- and water-use patterns, including
the amount of carbon emitted from industrial
processes. Learn more at ornl.gov/news/verifiing-and-tracking-carbons-big-footprint.
If
you need sustainability help from someAccording
to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 67% of energy available at the source is lost in
the process of delivering it to customers.
one who is living your life, contact the folks at
Emerson (emerson.com) and I'm sure they'll be
happy to provide some assistance. Whether you
do it yourself or get help, cutting energy costs is
low-hanging fruit in the sustainability effort and
it's worth grabbing. EP
gparr@efficientplantmag.com
4 | EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM
NOV/DEC 2022

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Efficient Plant Nov./Dec. 2022

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