Sunday, October 13, 2024

Energy Industrial Engineering

Industrial engineers have to step up the efforts in Energy Industrial Engineering. Energy is part of IE definition.



Tata Steel is actively engaged in energy saving - Energy Industrial Engineering.


Energy Industrial Engineering
SAINT-GOBAIN - ENERGY SAVINGS PLAN

10/06/2022


The plan  is based on two pillars:

Continuous optimization of its production processes and the use of its buildings, to limit energy consumption and CO2 emissions,
Designing and commercializing solutions that combine both performance and sustainability for energy-efficient building renovation and light construction.


Doubling our actions for continuous improvement of our production processes  by:

improvements to production tools (e.g. work on furnace insulation; installation of more energy-efficient and/or variable-speed motors; improved metering and visualization of energy consumption, energy management system; reduction of equipment idling) and production processes (e.g. recovery of waste energy for heating or energy production),

solutions to reduce the use of natural resources, through the reuse or recycling of raw materials: the use of recycled glass - cullet - for the production of flat glass or glass wool also has the advantage of emitting less energy during melting than sand,

the development of lighter materials and products, which require less energy and fewer raw materials to manufacture.

Additional energy savings thanks to the investment of €100 million per year to reduce CO2 emissions

Saint-Gobain is earmarking a targeted investment and research and development budget of around €100 million per year until 2030 to reduce CO2 emissions and save energy, especially in the European plants.

Shifting the energy mix towards low-carbon and renewable sources
Throughout the world, the Group is accelerating the switch to green energy sources, with very concrete results in Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Spain and the United-States. In the latter, for example, the Group doubled in 2021 its share of renewable electricity in its global electricity consumption to nearly 40%.

Mobilizing all Group employees
In addition to these initiatives, the Group is mobilizing all its employees worldwide to save energy, with numerous initiatives in offices, sales outlets, logistics centers, research centers and on sustainable mobility:

Renovation of our current buildings,
Systematic installation of LEDs, presence detectors, time-based controls, daylighting,
Limiting the use of heating and air-conditioning, lowering the temperature in offices (-1.5°C at Group headquarters),
Deployment of photovoltaic solutions, in particular on plant roofs and parking lot shelters,
Reduction of business travel and development of soft mobility and carpooling.











Saint-Gobain Benchmarking Result - Energy IE Project in  gypsum board dryer process



Saint-Gobain’s  Gypsum business applies World Class Manufacturing (WCM) techniques to identify, prioritize, and implement projects in the environmental, technical reliability, safety, focused improvement, and people development fields.  Saint-Gobain stacks opportunities up against the performance of all major consumers of gas and electricity to compare them against theoretical minimums and worldwide best practices within the company. From there they can identify how they specifically improve certain processes. The project in Moundsville, West Virginia, was initiated when one of these comparisons showed more than $500,000 of excess electricity being spent on the gypsum board dryer process. Saint-Gobain knew there was a significant cost-savings to be achieved through improving the process.

HOW THEY DID IT
After a brief audit, the team saw a potential opportunity to assess the five fans serving the gypsum board dryers. These fans were already equipped with Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) to modulate the speed of the fan motors in response to differing demand conditions so if adjustments needed to be made, the team believed they could be executed quickly.

The facility was given a budget of $10,000 and 12 months to complete the work. They started by installing five thermocouples (one for each of the five fan zones) to check for drastic changes in process conditions. They purchased the thermocouples for $5,000 and five new temperature transmitters for $1,500. All installation and wiring were done in house at no additional cost and was completed by March. The working hypothesis for the test was that significant energy savings could be achieved by lowering the fan speeds without impacting the quality of the ultimate product.

SOLUTION
Once the equipment was installed, the team needed to show all of the operators how testing different fan speeds would affect the running of the equipment. Many had been operating it the same way since the plant was commissioned. To achieve these, the team held individual trainings with each operator showing them that the board quality would remain constant with no changes to operational procedure if the fans were adjusted by using specific techniques that would still allow for the test outcomes.

By the end of April, the facility had completed two trials with each operator (eight trials in total) showing that no adverse effect was present on any of their products.

At the beginning of the project, the team put the goal at 2% reduction in electrical consumption in the dryer, but by the end of the testing, they were able to exceed this. The ultimate total reduction was 3%.

With this now known, the fan speeds were reduced by up to 30% with no effect on product quality. The total electrical savings was $68,000 per year.

EXPANDING COMPANY-WIDE
Once this project was completed, the results were shared to the North American Gypsum Energy Champions, a group that works to replicate best practices for sustainability across the gypsum business, and then they were shared with all of Saint-Gobain’s North America Sustainability Champions which sees what can be done company-wide.



EcoStruxure Resource Advisor, cloud-based enterprise software that provides one view into energy and sustainability data and savings opportunities




To track consumption and spend, the company now uses EcoStruxure Resource Advisor, cloud-based enterprise software that provides one view into energy and sustainability data and savings opportunities

• Within its factories, Saint-Gobain relies on Schneider Electric's edge control and connected devices that help gather the energy data necessary to optimise and actively manage consumption.


7th Annual IEA’s Global Conference on Energy Efficiency - Video

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq3B4tlFPCQ
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10 June 2022

7th Annual IEA’s Global Conference on Energy Efficiency 

Global energy and climate leaders meeting at the IEA’s Global Conference on Energy Efficiency have agreed on actions to accelerate improvements in energy efficiency that can reduce energy bills, ease dependence on imported fuels and speed up reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.




Industrial Engineering - IIE Definition - Emphasis on Energy

"Industrial engineering is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems."

Energy was identified as an important resource to be specifically highlighted in the definition so that it gets adequate attention of industrial engineers. Despite the addition of the term to the definition, no focused efforts were done by IE profession and discipline to come out with any standard IE approach for increasing the energy efficiency. There is a lot of energy efficiency work being undertaken by specialists in this field but IE departments in companies have not reported their embracing this activity and providing the benefit to their organizations.

John Preston, ( Corporate Industrial Engineer, Dura Automotive Systems in Rochester Hills, Mich. and president of IIE’s Greater Detroit Chapter ) authored a paper on energy efficiency studies, "Energizing continuous improvement," and it was published in Industrial Engineer (IIE Magazine), July 2011.

The ideas presented in the paper could give a starting point for IEs to look at their work in the field of energy industrial engineering.
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It is common for management to think that energy costs are fixed. Managers surmise that their operations will incur similar utility charges each month regardless of any actions taken to reduce expenses.

Energy cost analysis

But energy bills are visible and clear. They are simple measures. They show how much energy the facility used, and when it was  incurred. They can be compared to other monthly figures such as total direct labor hours or sales. Facilities or units that do not manage their energy costs will have similar monthly utility usage over time, even with variation in monthly sales or labor hours. The facilities that lack correlation between these figures are more than likely those with the most opportunities to reduce utility and other major expenses. Hence, industrial engineers can locate units that offer scope for energy efficiency improvement.

This data is readily available. Accounting  departments typically store well-organized utility bills for four or five years. Accounting department also can assist by providing sales, labor hours or other figures to be used for comparison. It takes little time to create trend charts of these records.

Once the data is collected simple linear regression is to used in the analysis.  Most of the projects identified in operations that previously had no energy management program have payback periods of less than one year. In operations with significant opportunities, excellent projects exist that will have payback periods of less than a month. Most importantly, the resulting utility bills with decreased costs quickly demonstrate the benefit of these projects.

Getting started - More Concrete Steps

The first step is identifying the facility that has the most opportunity. Collect each facility’s utility bills for the last 12 months. Using simple linear regression, compare the monthly electricity bills to monthly sales or another common measure, such as labor hours. The facility with the lowest R² probably has the most opportunity to reduce energy costs. The closer R² is to one  (1 ), the more likely the plant’s monthly sales are related to electricity costs and can be predicted by the model. As R² gets closer to zero (say up to 0.5), it’s less likely that sales correlate to energy costs, meaning the model cannot predict future outcomes.

Next is conducting an analysis of the chosen site to determine if the targeted facility effectively manages its energy costs. Investigate if and how the facility tracks its energy costs and usage over time. Note who in the organization has the data and how it is used. Ask the maintenance or engineering manager if they know which equipment or building uses the most energy and when the energy is used. Ask them if projects have been completed or planned to be completed that reduce energy costs. If there is little evidence of measurement, analysis or improvement, it is likely that there are significant opportunities to reduce energy costs.

Energy Audit

The targeted facility needs to have an energy audit performed. The energy audit will show what is using the most energy and when it is used. The energy audit of the targeted facility needs to be performed by an individual or group who have experience in that facility’s industry. Industrial engineers can take the services of  certified energy managers who  will have the capabilities and equipment to perform the needed analysis. The audit needs to yield quantitative data that provide direction toward the most wasteful forms of energy use within the facility. The analysis will provide hard evidence and improvement ideas to eliminate the wastes.

Using the results of the energy audit and its recommendations, develop and implement a project that reduces energy waste without much investment. Popular quick payback projects include installing high-efficiency lighting, developing shutdown procedures and investing in auto-off controls. These kinds of projects carry little risk. They are inexpensive and significantly reduce electricity bills. After the project is completed, develop a presentation that documents the project’s success.

Shutdown procedures

A good initial project could focus on shutdown procedures. One factory that left on its equipment when production was not running developed basic shutdown procedures. These procedures included who was responsible for turning off equipment, how to turn off the equipment and what equipment was to be left on. The changes reduced the factory’s electricity bill by 12 percent, which saved the company approximately $60,000 per year.

Build and sustain the momentum from the success of your first project. The momentum can be used to  replicate the project at other facilities within the organization. If the first project was well-documented, it will not take significant effort to convince other facilities of the project’s worth.
Automatic Shutoff Controls

A good follow-up to shutdown procedures would be to analyze the efficacy of automatic shutoff controls. In one example, a large automotive factory left its stamping presses running continuously, even when production was not scheduled. The project led to the purchase of 86 programmable logic controllers, which were installed on the presses. These devices automatically shut down equipment after the machines have been idle for a period of time. The devices cost the company about $20,000, but they saved the business at least $260,000 per year in electricity. This project reduced the factory’s electrical usage by 5 percent.

Lighting Upgrade

A lighting upgrade is a more expensive project that also can yield positive results. One factory used inefficient metal halide high-intensity discharge (HID) fixtures and bulbs to light its floor space. The factory removed the HID fixtures and replaced them with high-efficiency T8 fluorescent lamps. The cost to purchase and install the new fixtures was about $55,000 after rebates. The project saved the company roughly $90,000 per year in electricity and bulbs.

Roadblocks to success

Energy cost reduction have not received high priority in many organizations. So Industrial engineers have to take some precautions in proposing projects.

Ensure the direction from the energy audit. The energy audit needs to provide clear direction. The audit has to document the source of and solutions to the facility’s energy waste. The audit needs to include interval trend data on the largest users of energy. Interval trend data will provide clear evidence of the energy use and waste. Without interval trend data, the results of the audit will not offer the quantitative proof necessary to request capital funding for improvements.

Ensure capable resources. In these situations, the opportunities to reduce costs need to be well-documented and escalated to decision makers so that for quick ROI projects, upper management sanctions seeking  resources external to the facility.
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John Preston provided a beginner's guide for energy industrial engineering. Make a regression between utility bills and sales. Employ and conduct an energy audit. Take up some low cost projects like shutdown procedures, automatic shutoff systems and lighting improvement. Then develop further expertise in energy efficiency improvement,
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2022

Indianapolis-based Energy Systems Network has launched  'a first-of-its-kind statewide program' in partnership with the Emerging Manufacturing Collaboration Center. Energy INsights aims to help manufacturers use artificial intelligence and data science to reduce energy costs.
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Energy Efficiency of Manufacturing Processes and Systems

Konstantinos Salonitis
MDPI, 09-Nov-2020 - Technology & Engineering - 224 pages
This Special Issue addresses the important issue of the energy efficiency of both manufacturing processes and systems. Manufacturing is responsible for one-third of global energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Thus, improving the energy efficiency of production has been the focus of research in recent years. Energy efficiency has begun to be considered as one of the key decision-making attributes for manufacturing. This book includes recent studies on methods for the measurement of energy efficiency, tools and techniques for the analysis and development of improvements with regards to energy consumption, modeling and simulation of energy efficiency, and the integration of green and lean manufacturing. This book presents a breadth of relevant information, material, and knowledge to support research, policy-making, practices, and experience transferability to address the issues of energy efficiency.


Analysis of Energy Efficiency of Industrial Processes

Vladimir S. Stepanov
Springer Science & Business Media, 06-Dec-2012

Related Blog Posts by Me in This Blog


Energy Efficiency Conference - ECEEE

Energy Efficiency and Productivity - International Events and Examples

Industrial Engineering in Electical Engineering

Cost Reduction Opportunities in Power Plants and Distribution Systems

Economic Analysis - Clean Energy Investment Proposals

Energy Productivity - Efficiency Improvement

Energy Industrial Engineering

National Energy Conservation Day



Energy Industrial Engineering Consultants



Hemant Diddee
 
Energy & Productivity Optimisation with non-invasive IOT, Embedded Dataloggers, Simulation, AI, Energy Auditor

HETA Datain
Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Productivity and Energy Optimisation of Industry and Institutions using non-invasive IOT, Embedded Datalogger, Cloud Computing, Real Time Monitoring and Alerts, Simulation, and Off-site data analysis using Artificial Intelligence by Energy Auditors

Related Web Pages

Electrical Systems / Energy Management
Why are so few organizations investing in systematic energy productivity planning?
Energy Expert Peter Garforth explores the "We tried that 20 years ago and it didn't work..." syndrome.
By Peter Garforth
Apr 05, 2010

Industrial energy efficiency 1993 study
Science and Engineering Solutions for Energy Efficiency
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/ees/itp/documents/ITPEnergyAppsdisplay.pdf


Related blog posts by me

Energy Productivity - Efficiency Improvement
http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2012/09/energy-productivity-improvement.html

Energy Use Efficiency - IE for Energy Resource
http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2012/04/energy-use-efficiency-ie-for-energy.html

Energy Efficiency - An International Movement - Are IEs Participating?
http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2012/02/energy-efficiency-international.html

NATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION DAY - INDIA - 14 DECEMBER
http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2012/02/national-energy-conservation-day-india.html


Ud 13.10.2024,  28.7.2024,  30.8.2021,  25.8.2022,  8.7.2022,    27.2.2022,  4.9.2021
26.11.2014
Pub  January 2012

2 comments:

  1. The impact of electrical efficiency on the environment cannot be overstated. It's inspiring to see businesses and individuals alike taking steps to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint.

    ReplyDelete