Environmental Management Program - Reducing electric and fuel use, waste management

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SuzieKSB

:nope: :nope: :nope:
Got no idea for EMP..
anybody with ideas for reducing electricity usage..fuel usage and waste management?
help please..
 

Wes Bucey

Prophet of Profit
Have you established a baseline for your current usage and amount of waste material produced?

Do you have any benchmarks from government, utilities, or other organizations which can tell you how your organization compares to others?

Have you talked to the executives at the utilities and suppliers of your electricity, fuel, water, to see what tips they can provide for being more efficient?

Sometimes (often) the answer is right on your own doorstep.
 
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db

I have seen companies switch to different lighting for energy savings. Some lighting companies will structure the cost based on savings. Also, some have reduced their air compressor pressures. Others have installed automatic sensors that will shut off lights when no one is in the room. Although, be careful. I had a client who installed motion detectors. I was giving a test following an internal auditor class, and there wasn't enough movement, so the lights shut off even though there was a room full of people. :eek:
 
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IEGeek - 2006

I am not sure how it works where you are so bear with me.

I have contacted (in the past) our local energy providers and they always seem to have incentive systems for energy reduction. PG & E has a system called "Savings by Design" where they evaluate your current facility, then recommend changes, then review your changes and give you a nice big fat check (for us in a 107,000 sq. ft facility it was $33,200) The city of Anaheim has "Incentive" which they essentially do the same thing. (for us again in a 215,000 sq ft facility we maxed out the incentive at $45,000)

For interim savings right away, switch to new fluorescent lighting, add occupancy sensors to offices, hallways and restrooms (surprising how much this saves) instruct people to turn off workstations at night, try swamp coolers vs. AC or try BigAss Fans (that is the company name, great website too)

As for tracking changes, ask your energy provider to give you the last full years Kwh used, total cost of Kwh (or have your AP person complete with a lot of research, it is on the bill) then that is your benchmark, then say you spent $790,000 on 1.2 million Kwh total, now you can set a reduction level.

This is actually pretty simple to do if you can afford to give it some time and effort.

Just some thoughts....
 
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tarheels4 - 2007

Nice job IEGeek.
Also consider power factor. I don't know much about electricity but I think it is a measure of efficiency. Some companies monitor this with measuring devices installed by the utility. The closer to 1.0 the more efficient you are. I have been told that a power factor of 0.85 or better is good. One way to improve power factor is to add capacitors. Or to not start all of your equipment at the same time.
 
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IEGeek - 2006

You can also switch to VSD motors on equipment, that saved us 13% of our total energy bill in one year. Not bad considering we had only set a benckmark of saving 10% the first year.
 
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Totumfrog

I agree you need to know where to are at to know where you are going. Consider the same type of things you would consider in your home. High effeciency lighing (we use the T-8). Caulk around windows. Central air instead of multiple window units. Seals around doors and dock doors. Recycling aluminum cans and paper (FYI.....recycling paper saved us $17,000 per year in waste disposal costs). Regularly changing filters on heat and air units. Motion detectors on lights, toilets and wash stations. EMS is also about recycling / reclaiming oils, solvents, proper use of MSDS. Also look into having your machine oils tested instead of automatically changed every 6 months per se. That saved us over $6,000 last year in oil, disposal and downtime.
 
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tarheels4 - 2007

For natural gas use monitoring, facilities that use gas for heating only, take heat degree day in to account when comparing use from year to year. An example of this is attached in a spread sheet.
 

Attachments

  • Gas Usage.xls
    35 KB · Views: 641

Randy

Super Moderator
Hey guys as an auditor that just made a recommendation against registration to ISO 14001 I wouldn't buy off on any of the targets and numbers you y'all have given. Not 1 of you provided any information on how "environmental" performance was being improved, how pollution was being prevented or how you were complying with applicable legislative requirements. You were saving money and KW hours. I have yet to see where a $ or a KW has directly impacted the environment.

Now if you can show where the reduction in KW hours relates to "x" tons of coal (or other natural resource) not being used to generate electricity, or to the reduction of "x" tons of emissions, ash and so forth, then your numbers would have real meaning.

I couldn't care less how much money you save, but I am interested in what you are doing for the environment. What you do has to reflect that.
 
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