Energy Efficiency In Manufacturing Industry

25^st November, 2023.

In this post, we will see how to save energy in an industry.

Let us consider this as a reality that every individual desires to save power consumption wherever he is. Be it simply your home or if you are a business owner, energy efficiency always helps in bringing down the extra burn in your pocket. Instead of wasting money in unwanted power consumption, you can use this money for other needs and work. If you compare domestic and industrial applications, industries are the ones which bear the brunt of financial losses more due to energy consumption. Also, if you look the other way around, not just money but it also helps in reducing carbon footprints and contributes to a clean environment and a more sustainable future. So, it is necessary for industry owners to understand the importance of energy efficiency and how it can help them in numerous ways. In this post, we will see how to save energy in an industry.

·       Factory energy saving ideas:

There are numerous steps for saving power of an industry. Let us have a look at some of them below:

1.     Replace old devices with new ones:

Suppose you have an old motor running in a plant. As the life of an electrical or electronic device starts to increase, it also causes a decrease in it’s running efficiency. This means that a motor in this case will take more power to do it’s work. For example, if it needs to run a load, it will draw more current for generating the required torque. Eventually, if you are not replacing your old devices after some years of operation, you are unnecessarily wasting energy bills by using them. So, it is advisable to change them after some years of operation.

2.     Regular maintenance and upgrades:

Suppose you are running a scooter for many years and have not serviced it for a long time. In that case, the scooter will start to give low mileage by burning more fuel or in worst cases, even the engine can burn out. So, as servicing your vehicle is required, maintenance of equipment and processes at regular intervals is also necessary. What it does is it helps in identifying bugs or failures, and will help the owner in resolving it. Otherwise, a non-maintained device will consume more power for it’s operation due to some faults. Also, if there is any upgradation in process, then it needs to be attended. In industrial automation systems, there are various updates coming in technologies or processes. Mostly, they focus on saving energy by changing it’s operation cycles in a more efficient way. So, regular maintenance and upgrades of system are necessary to reduce energy consumption.

3.     Employing energy management systems in plant:

This is a simpler way for identifying grave areas of concern. If you are using an automation system, then it must be programmed in such a way that a particular device shares it’s energy data like voltage, current, frequency, running hours, torque etc. When an operator maintains this record, he can know where is the issue and what action to take. Also, apart from this, many separate energy management systems are available in the market which monitors data and helps in alerting the operators.

4.     Increasing employee engagement:

No work is possible without human intervention. And in this case too, simple general knowledge and continuous updates to personnel help in energy saving techniques. Employees must be engaged and communicated to turn off equipment when not in use. Other energy saving practices too must be conveyed to them. Eventually, they must understand that if they are not doing this, then the owner will suffer losses and eventually he will not be able to pay properly. This means that they are burning hands themselves. So, frequent employee engagement and their active participation helps a lot in energy efficiency.

5.     Conduct an energy audit:

Regularly conducting energy audits is a very good step in this case. The owner gets to study energy usage patterns, equipment efficiency, plant efficiency and identifying problematic areas. If any problem is found, it must be highlighted and attended. After all, gaining valuable insights by an experienced auditor helps the owner to maintain business operation.

6.     Implement smart manufacturing:

As industrial automation is advancing, the owner must grab hands on it and use it. Implementing techniques like variable frequency drives, IoT, data analysis, sensors, controls, complex networking etc. help in giving real time information to the owner and that too quickly. You get to know every minute details of a process and identify the problems, which helps in attending them.

7.     Use renewable energy:

Just like using solar heaters in your buildings help to save energy by reducing power or fuel consumption, investing more in renewable energy sources helps the business to sustain more. They are the cleanest and most efficient sources of energy. Natural elements always support the nature and also, there is no fear of power cuts or low running fuels. Also, many governments nowadays are giving subsidies to industries using these sources. So, it is always an added advantage.

8.     Waste heat recovery:

As the name implies, this process involves capturing the waste heat energy, either hot or cold, and using it for some process instead of dumping in the environment. The most popular examples are economizers, waste heat boilers, heat recovery steam generators, absorption chiller, steam thermocompression etc. They help in using the heat for doing some process, otherwise that process would have used another extra energy for consumption. This is one of the best and advanced techniques for saving energy.

I have covered some general and most commonly used techniques to save energy. I have also not attempted to cover all the methods, as it can vary from case to case and there is no end to it. Once you are familiar with energy efficiency, you can easily tackle all types of problems in it.

Thank you for reading the post. I hope you liked it and will find a new way in this type of technology.