Tag: energy reduction

Focusing to be a Good Corporate Steward

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

Every April, EXAIR takes the time to revisit our sustainability plan and the responsibility we have to be good stewards of our resources and to minimize our impact on the environment. It remains interesting how intertwined our internal processes are with the world around us, and we like to pay attention to this.

We realize that what we do as a company can directly impact others and our environment. We have reduced our consumption of resources, increased our recycling efforts and incorporated practices and standards into our product development, manufacturing and fulfillment processes that are beneficial to the environment. Our action plan significantly improves our operations, practices, facility and products. Here are some of the steps we’ve taken:

Compressed Air

  • Consumption reduced through a leak detection and mitigation program that saved one million cubic feet of compressed air per year.
  • Utilizing our own engineered compressed air nozzles throughout the plant minimizes compressed air use compared to commercial nozzles.

Metals

  • We recycle 100% of the metal scrap from our machining processes. The materials we recycle are aluminum, Type 303 and Type 316 stainless steel. 

Electrical Power

  • Our VSD (variable speed drive) air compressor reduced our electrical consumption by over 4,500 kWh in the past year compared to a conventional air compressor.
  • Consumption reduced through increased use of natural light, higher efficiency fluorescent fixtures and LED technology.
  • EXAIR continues to make improvements to the efficiency of our computers and computer servers which require fewer Kilowatt hours (KWH) per day.

Fossil Fuels

  • EXAIR delivers 91% of our invoices electronically which has eliminated those traditional postal service mailed copies.
  • We focus on local and regional vendors whenever possible, which reduces delivery distances and fuel.

       Paper/Cardboard

  • Electronic delivery of invoices allowed 67% reduction in printed pages.
  • Most shipments use recycled Kraft paper with a perfect “green score” of 360.
  • Recycled 100% of our cardboard and mixed paper products. Of the waste we place into our trash dumpsters – 80% is recycled and 20% is sent to the landfill.
  • Over the past year, EXAIR recycled 416 cubic yards of paper and cardboard.

Fresh Water

  • We use our very own Chip Trapper Systems in our manufacturing areas to extend the water-soluble coolant life from 6 weeks per changeover to 6 months per changeover. Keeping our coolant clean allows us to minimize the total amount of wastewater we recycle each year.
  • Our wastewater is 100% recycled

Natural Gas

  • Consumption reduced by installing programmable thermostats wherever possible to match heating/cooling cycles with facility usage patterns.

Through an expanded recycling program, we are able to 100% recycle our metal scrap, paper and cardboard, wastewater, wood and plastics.

The impact our products make is also notable:

  • EXAIR blow off products designed specifically to reduce compressed air consumption energy usage
  • A new tool developed as part of our coolant management system now available to customers
  • Packaging materials used by EXAIR are fully recyclable
  • Most EXAIR products themselves are largely or fully recyclable at the end of their useful lives
  • RoHS compliance on applicable products insures that, should these products end up in a landfill at the end of their useful lives, they will not contaminate the environment with unacceptable levels of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB, PBDE or cadmium.

We will remain focused on our impact and make improvements through new materials, products, processes and technologies when we have the opportunity for continued improvement.

Enjoy today, the day where we recognize how precious the planet is. Join EXAIR and some of the largest and most notable companies on earth by practicing some of these improvements and using EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® products.

Sincerely,
The EXAIR Team
www.EXAIR.com

EXAIR Products Qualify for Energy Rebates

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

The use of compressed air can be found in almost any industry and is often referred to as a “fourth utility” next to water, gas and electric. The generation of compressed air accounts for approximately 1/3 of all energy costs in an industrial facility, in many cases, it’s the largest energy user in an industrial plant. With an average cost of $ 0.25 per every 1,000 SCF used, compressed air can be expensive to produce so it is very important to use this utility as efficiently as possible.

Many utility companies recognize the benefit of using engineered products to reduce compressed air usage, like the ones manufactured by EXAIR, and offers rebate incentives for making a switch. Duke Energy, who supplies power to sections of North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Florida offers several “Smart $aver Rebates” that focus around the generation and use of compressed air. (State and Location Dependent)

Duke Energy’s Smart Saver Program

However the best place to look at your states available programs is the DSIRE database. DSIRE is the most comprehensive source of information on incentives and policies that support renewable energy and energy efficiency in the United States. Established in 1995, DSIRE is operated by the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center at N.C. State University. Follow the link above to read about the history of DSIRE, the partners on the project, and the research staff that maintains the policy and incentive data in DSIRE.

The Process is pretty easy! Visit https://www.dsireusa.org/ and type in your Zip Code!

https://www.dsireusa.org/

After you get your results, search some key words, Like “Industrial” “Energy” “Commercial” “Energy Efficiency” “Compressed air”

https://www.dsireusa.org/

Here you can see the two Programs that came up for 46077, you can then click the program name and it will take you a information page with the programs website and information!

Here at EXAIR, much of our focus is to improve the overall efficiency of industrial compressed air operating processes and point of use compressed air operated products. If you’d like to contact one of our application engineers, we can help recommend the proper engineered solution to not only save on your compressed air usage but also assist with possible energy rebates available in your area.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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Twitter: @EXAIR_JS

Money Seed Creative Commons Images from Pictures of Money, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Leaks and Why They Matter

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Leaks can be discussed quite frequently around industrial environments. These can be refrigerant leaks, water leaks, gas leaks, even information leaks. All of these leaks have one thing in common, they all cost the company money in the end. I often think about several classic cartoons when I hear about leaks being fixed as they are found. They can become a little overwhelming like the “Squirrel” from the movie Ice Age 2.

1 – Ice Age 2 – Scrat – Mission Impossible

When it comes down to it, not many leaks create good results, that is why I want to take a second and educate on the costs your facility may be seeing from compressed air leaks. The leaks within an industrial environment can often account for up to 30% of the total compressed air generated.

So let’s take a look at that, the cost of compressed air is derived from the kWh cost the facility pays to the utility company. Here in the Midwest the average cost is around $0.08 / kWh. The equation to convert this to cost per cubic foot of compressed air is shown below. This formula assumes that the compressor generates four standard cubic feet of compressed air per horsepower of compressor. Again this is an industry acceptable assumption.

The size of a leak will determine how much compressed air is wasted, most of these leaks are not even to the audible range for the human ear which leads them to be undetected for long periods of time. A leak that is equivalent to a 1/16″ diameter orifice can result in an annual loss of more than $836.50 USD. While the scale of this number when compared to the annual revenue of a company may be small, the fact remains that this single leak would more than likely not be the only one. This isn’t the only way leaks will cost money though.

Leaks can also generate false demand which can result in pressure drops on a system. When the pressure on a production line drops this could result in unscheduled shutdowns. Often, when a pressure drop is observed the quick answer is to increase the header pressure which causes even more energy to be utilized and even more compressed air will be pushed out of these leaks. That increase in system pressure comes at a price as well. When increasing a system pressure by 2 psi the compressor will consume an additional percent of total input power. This again will hit the bottom line and result in lower efficiency of operation for the facility.

If you hear that distinct hiss of compressed air leaks when you are walking through your facility, or even if you don’t hear the his and you know that a leak detection action plan is not being practiced and want to find out the best ways to get one in place, contact us. We are always willing to help you determine how to lower the leaks in your facility as well as reduce the system pressure required to keep your lines up and running by implementing engineered solutions at the point of use.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – Ice Age 2 – Mission Impossible Scrat – retrieve from YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-HniegbnFs

 

EXAIR’s Return on Investment For One Engineered Air Nozzle is Amazing!

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

Return on Investment (ROI) is a measure of the gain (preferably) or loss generated relative to the amount of money that was invested.  ROI is typically expressed as a percentage and is generally used for financial decisions, examining the profitability of a company, or comparing different investments.  It can also be used to evaluate a project or process improvement to decide whether spending money on a project makes sense.  The formula is shown below-

ROI
ROI Calculation
  • A negative ROI says the project would result in an overall loss of money
  • An ROI at zero is neither a loss or gain scenario
  • A positive ROI is a beneficial result, and the larger the value the greater the gain
1100group
Our catalog publishes most products’ performance and specification data for a compressed air supply pressure of 80psig.

Example – installing a Super Air Nozzles (14 SCFM compressed air consumption) in place of 1/4″ open pipe (33 SCFM of air consumption consumption) .  Using the Cost Savings Calculator on the EXAIR website, model 1100 nozzle will save $1,710 in energy costs. The model 1100 nozzle costs $42, assuming a $5 compression fitting and $45 in labor to install, the result is a Cost of Investment of $92.00. The ROI calculation for Year one is-

ROI2

ROI = 1,759% – a very large and positive value.  Payback time is only 13 working days!

If you have questions regarding ROI and need help in determining the gain and cost from invest values for a project that includes an EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Product, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

Send me an email
Find us on the Web 
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Twitter: @EXAIR_JS