#plasticsmanufacturing

Are You Sure Your Di Ethylene Glycol (DEG) is Safe and Effective? 

Low-quality DEG can hide hidden dangers like harmful contaminants and health risks. Don't let impurities compromise your products or safety! 

Our Di Ethylene Glycol (DEG) is a top-notch, colorless, and odorless compound perfect for textiles, plastics, antifreeze, and more. Ensure your applications are safe and efficient with DEG you can trust. 

Choose quality, choose reliability—choose our premium DEG for superior performance.

Conducting your own energy audit, or site survey, to assess your energy use is a smart way to get an overview of your facility’s energy consumption. Only by an in-depth understanding of how, when, where and why you use energy can you improve your plant’s energy practices. The goal? Walk around your site as if you were an energy manager, on the hunt for some rapid no-cost or low- cost improvements that can be made to save money. Don’t be intimidated by how qualified you are for the job—you’ll be surprised by how much you may identify as wasteful when you are observing your facility through the lens of energy efficiency.

The first step of a site survey is the walk-around. In fact, it’s a good idea to do several walk-arounds of your site at various times for a complete picture of the plant’s processes and behavioral habits of your staff. Using the checklist that follows, observe what happens mid-shift, at lunchtime, at night, and over the weekend. Checking energy use at various times gives you a better sense of the overall energy pattern and a clearer take on when energy gets wasted most. 

Energy use checklist

These questions, adapted from Reduced Energy Consumption In Plastics Engineering European Best Practice Guide and Tangram Technology’s Energy Efficiency in Plastics Processing, will guide you in conducting your survey:

Which areas have the largest electrical load? Typically the largest machines have the largest motors and create the largest load.

Do all the machines have sufficient heat insulation, and is it in good condition?

Are there lines that are shut down but still have ancillary equipment running?

Are there any good reasons for machines to be kept idling to be ready for the next production run?

Why are the motors the size they are? Would a smaller motor be more efficient?

Are cooling water pumps and chillers set at the most efficient temperature?

Is your plant in an area with cold winters? Could you use ambient exterior air during winter months to help cool process chill water?

Could variable speed drives be used instead of fixed speed, especially where the airflow from fans is being throttled back with dampers?

Where can you hear steam and compressed air leaks? Anytime you hear a hissing noise it is costing you a lot of wasted energy.

Is the compressed air system still running even when there is no production? Is it sited in the most suitable place and set to the appropriate pressure?

Is compressed air being used for expensive applications where other cheaper methods, such as cleaning and drying, can be used?

Are vacuum pumps sited in the most suitable place, such as near the major user, to avoid losses?

Is the lighting dirty? Broken? Dim? Difficult to access?

What are the best maintenance measures that can be adopted to reduce energy use? Are ‘accepted’ practices wasting energy? Can they be easily modified?

Are there clear instructions for all machines and products to ensure best practices are implemented?

Do staff members routinely exhibit energy wasting behaviors (i.e., leaving lights on when leaving spaces, propping doors open, etc.?)

Turn the energy audit into energy savings Of course, the most important step in this process isn’t conducting this survey—it’s taking action as a result of your findings. Use the survey to estimate the excess energy usage of the site, identify operating practices that cost money, and indicate improvements that can be made. Involve key members of the staff, both to identify problems and opportunities and to ensure they feel part of the process. Holding a brainstorming session to determine how to prioritize the most critical energy-saving projects can be a dynamic way of ensuring staff buy-in.

Benchmarking is becoming an increasingly popular way to ensure energy compliance and motivate facilities to improve their efficiency. Last year, for example, the District of Columbia published final regulations to implement a new requirement that all large private buildings benchmark their energy and water performance annually. And New York City’s Local Law 84, instituted in 2009, requires benchmarking for all buildings over 50,000 sq.ft.  One of the key goals of the new regulations is to expand the benefits of benchmarking by making buildings’ energy ratings information publicly available to potential buyers and tenants.

Benchmarking is rooted in common sense. As the axiom goes, you can’t control what you don’t measure. It’s a low-cost way to compare the energy performance of a building with a database of similar buildings. This comparison identifies underperforming buildings as well as superior performance and provides owners a tool for tracking and comparing energy consumption on an ongoing basis. Having a context and framework for your energy use can be a powerful gateway experience to revving up your energy management program, or at least tightening up any energy slack. A recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency indicated that, on average, buildings that are benchmarked consistently use 2.4% less energy than those that aren’t, presumably because people are more aware of energy performance. 

Establish your baseline

What goes for buildings holds true for processing plants too. For plastics manufacturing facilities in particular, benchmarking can help assess efforts to reduce energy and water use as well as effluent discharges. The first step is to establish a baseline measurement of resource consumption and waste output. This enables you to determine a ratio for improvements made over time. You will be analyzing the specific energy consumption (SEC) from the total energy used and tonnage processed. Technically, SEC is normally expressed as kilowatt-hours per kilogram (kWh/kg). 

A simple calculation is:

Total energy used in 12 month–period = x (kWh)

Total tonnage produced in 12 month–period = y (tonnes)

Specific energy consumption (kWh/kg) = x/1,000y 

There are other generic performance ratios available that can calculate both the process and non-process consumption of energy and water use, as well as formulas devoted to lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The primary source for your calculations will be your utility bill. Once you establish an accurate baseline, you will be able to track your improvements by seeing a decrease in your ratios.  And for large pieces of equipment not covered under the generic ratios, you should be able to devise a similar ratio tailor-made to that particular piece of process equipment. To help you get started, here’s a checklist of some key benchmark indicators: 

Raw materials usage

Unit electrical energy use

Unit natural gas energy use

Reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy

Unit water use

From baseline to bottom-line

Performance data is a powerful motivator for self-improvement. Once you know where you stand in usage, you can prioritize your energy improvement projects. A recent Department of Energy study in California indicates "energy performance benchmarking prompted energy efficiency investment in over 60 percent of participants through improved energy management processes, building upgrades, and behavioral efficiency projects."

The process of comparing your manufacturing facility with other similar facilities can also trigger a bit of constructive competitiveness. As Ashok Kamal, cofounder of Bennu, a green social media–marketing firm says, “If you are not greening, you are not competing.” The Energy Star Portfolio Manager can be used to manage the energy and water use of any building.

Be warned however—it’s important to carefully ensure that you’re using valid and comparable data. In plastics processing, many processes have varying energy requirements. You may be hard-pressed to find precisely identical conditions in other locations, and many companies may be reluctant to share detailed information with their competitors. 

By Danielle Marquis

I recently attended my first Plastics News Executive Forum with our Vice President of National Accounts, Bob Meier. The event was held February 23rd-26th at the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, FL. Considering the Northeast was in the midst of a "polar vortex," Bob and I were happy to make the trip and meet some new friends!

This year's theme was "Innovative Business Strategies - Tools for Success," and the Forum is considered the plastics industry's premier C-level event. From the welcome reception onward, Bob and I were able to make some great contacts. This is a really friendly group! The welcome reception also featured a baby alligator, so that was a fun ice breaker.

We know from our work with other clients in the industry (who recommended we attend this event) that plastics manufacturers can significantly reduce overhead and increase production efficiency by becoming more energy efficient. Rob Comeau presented about "Realizing Greater Sustainable Net Profit" during the forum, and if you could see Bob and I during that session, our heads were nodding furiously. Energy efficiency is a great way to get greater throughput value at a lesser expense to drive future revenue.

I also found Melanie Hart's session to be really informative. She's pretty inspiring--Melanie is the first and youngest female president of a Japanese-owned manufacturing company in North America--and she had a lot of great insights. Her assertions that we needed to "hire more heads than hands" and continue to innovate to remain competitive and make re-shoring a reality just made a lot of sense.

Finally, it was great to learn more about the winners of the industry's "Best Places to Work" and "Processor of the Year." The winners of both were family-run businesses, led by relatively young owners. In light of the keynote presentation on "What You Need to Know About the Emerging Workforce," I found this interesting. Generation X and Y may get a bad rap for entitlement, but these families clearly taught worth ethic.

Albany, NY—February 18, 2014—SmartWatt Energy, a leader in turnkey energy efficiency solutions for commercial, industrial and institutional clients, will be sponsoring and exhibiting at the Plastics News Executive Forum at the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, FL on February 24-26, 2014.

SmartWatt’s Vice President of National Accounts and Marketing Director will be in attendance. Attendees are encouraged to visit the SmartWatt team at Booth 106 to discuss their energy challenges.

The 2014 Executive Forum’s theme is Innovative Business Strategies – Tools for Success. The agenda includes an energizing work ethic expert who will guide attendees through connecting with Generation Y, the design director at GE appliances will discuss reshoring and other experts who will discuss how to optimize existing workforces and give attendees the financial tools and know-how to move companies forward. Approximately 150 plastics industry executives are expected to attend.

ABOUT SMARTWATT ENERGY, INC.

SmartWatt Energy is a unique energy-efficiency firm. It provides turnkey solutions for utilities, commercial, industrial and institutional clients and also develops proprietary software that streamlines internal workflow processes and provides comprehensive program reporting. SmartWatt Energy’s three divisions use cutting-edge technologies, design and processes to take on and solve their client’s toughest sustainability challenges:

The Commercial, Industrial and Institutional Division works with end-use clients throughout the United States to design and install multi-measure energy-efficiency projects. Clients look to SmartWatt Energy to provide large-scale savings through turnkey energy auditing, engineering, project management and installation services.

The Utility Programs Division contracts directly with utilities to manage their commercial energy efficiency programs. SmartWatt Energy’s vertically integrated program delivery platform ensures utility program success and client satisfaction, because all elements of the utility program are handled by a talented, integrated, cross-functional team.

The Software Development Division creates customized, proprietary software applications to increase efficiencies and provide added value to utilities and national accounts clients.