Six secrets that energy auditors won’t tell you about saving your energy cost
Scaling back your energy expenses will improve your bottom line and result in winning your competition and leading your industry. Hiring expensive energy auditing services will identify the opportunities for improvement. Energy auditors will find out improvements areas in your lighting systems, HVAC, and assembly line instrumentality are inspected and evaluated. Some businesses keep internal teams to conduct the assessment. Both methods are relatively expensive and leave small and medium enterprises in limbo. With technological innovations in IoT & AI/ML, organizations don’t need professionals to help solve this complex problem.
But, if your company doesn’t have any strategy to reduce this significant source of cost, it’s time to have one. Here are six secrets that your energy auditors won’t tell you to save your considerable energy cost:
- Concentrate on Energy Effectiveness
Determine how the energy is consumed throughout the day by tracking the energy consumed in 5 mins intervals. Thanks to smart meters, these will feed you the data in real-time. Validate the consumption throughout the day to ensure the pattern is suitable for the building, machinery, or outlets in question. Understanding the consumption pattern in detail will open up a huge opportunity to transform the way you operate.
Electrical rates are not flat in most places. With the staggering tariff, it is vital to understand that your peak period load are used during cheaper tariff rates. It is essential to understand the peak load of your organization to do this fundamental change. Unless we measure the consumption pattern, we can’t arrive at any logical conclusion. It allows businesses to strategically change their operating hours to use the energy and reduce the significant cost associated effectively.
2. Getting Staffs on your side
Staffs in any business control the most energy usage. Without getting staff’s support, we can’t implement any energy conservation program. Changing staff’s mindset is not an easy task. Putting “Switch off appliances when not in use” is not helping anymore. The worker knows that neither they get any reward for doing it nor get punished for not taking action. The manager or supervisor can’t be monitoring this in a complex factory environment. By implementing an energy consumption tracker in line with the staff on duty, we can solve this complex problem at hand. Now businesses can reward good behavior or discipline improper actions. It will bring the staff on our side for sure and you will see the results in your reduced energy bills.
3. Evaluate Compressed Air Systems for Leaks
Leaks can be a significant source of wasted energy, and correcting them can help you realize substantial immediate savings. Statistics show that leaks can lead to a 20 to 30 percent loss of a compressor’s output. They can also diminish the effectiveness of your equipment.
There are various ways to determine if you have leaks in your system, like undertaking an air leak survey. Ultrasonic detection equipment is available for finding more minor leaks as well. But the easiest way to monitor leaks is by tracking their consumption over time and enable notification alerts.
Common causes for leaks include missing seals or welds, loose tubes and hoses, and worn materials. Depending on the cause, rectifying leaks may be as simple as tightening up fittings or replacing minor parts.
4. Upgrade your Equipment
Running your equipment in stable working conditions is vital to becoming more energy efficient. Retro-commissioning systematically looks for equipment in your facility operating below optimal standards. Retro-fitting involves replacing outdated or inefficient equipment.
But do not just associate this with significant pieces of equipment in your facility. Realistically, a new HVAC system may be out of the question. However, savings from upgrading aging equipment to include ceiling fans, motors, and computers can add up in the long run. Implement a schedule for evaluating and maintaining all your equipment — not just the main ones.
5. Work on your Process Heating
Process heating is fundamental to make most consumer and industrial goods, and it can be responsible for more than one-third of a facility’s energy usage. Manufacturers can save energy within this area by installing waste heat recovery systems, leveraging alternative fuels with higher combustion efficiency, installing automatic blowdown control systems, affirming proper furnace installation, and controlling exhaust gases.
6. Install motion sensor energy-efficient lighting
Manufacturing facilities need to be well-lit, so it’s critical that energy-efficient lighting is installed correctly. Industrial compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can help businesses use less energy.
The cost of motion sensor lights is drastically reduced over the years. Implementing these lights in remote areas where people go less frequently is one of the easiest ways to reduce energy consumption. For instance, it will be handy to use such solutions in places where vending machines are kept.
To conclude
Implementing smart meters is the easiest way to collect the data, but creating insights into this massive amount of data can’t be done unless AI/ML are effectively used. Take control of your energy auditing through B2B SaaS platforms like ienergytics. Implement these strategies and more today and save double-digit percentage cost saves.
