Your Utility Company Wants to Save You Money

Not too long ago, a customer of Hope Air Systems received a rebate check from the local utility company for $120,000. In addition, the customer is projected to spend $60,000 less each year for electricity costs on their two new air compressors. That’s a savings that will continue as long as they operate those machines. This is no fluke. It’s something we do frequently.

Another customer of Hope Air Systems received a rebate check from the local utility company for $60,000; and is expected to spend $27,000 less each year for electricity going forward. In both cases, the need for new equipment was vital. There were requirements for more cooling capacity, there was a need for an increase in performance – but, the bonus came when the need to reduce overall electric costs translated into rebates and on-going reductions in the electric bill.

Local Utility Rebates
Many of our local utilities offer prescriptive incentives for compressors as a set amount per horsepower or CFM for compressed air systems from 15 to 75 horsepower. This type of rebate makes the return on investment (ROI) very easy. At Hope Air Systems we have a lot of experience performing the first round of review to determine if there are energy savings opportunities to pursue. When we find that the situation is positive, we can assist in the process of getting the utility company to respond.

The process is as follows: 1) Have an initial energy analysis report with written recommendations prepared to submit to the power company for comments. 2) If monitoring or an audit is required, the power company will pay up to 50 percent of that cost. 3) Prepare the application with help from your vendor (Hope Air Systems) and the power company. 4) Install energy conservation compressor with a two-year or better ROI. That was easy.

We are here to help, so be sure and contact Brian Sanborn at 508-351-1840 or bsanborn@hopeair.com. Brian has a lot of experience with rebates and would welcome your call. Good luck.

Piping Installation Choices Can Contribute to Savings

Many plants have piping for their compressed air systems that has evolved over the years and has not necessarily been planned to supply flow and pressure to each process properly. By comparison, if your electrical system was expanded is a similar, haphazard manner, you might find you were constantly battling a lot of small electrical fires. Let’s try to avoid that.

Here are some of the areas you can check to see if your air distribution system is in good health:

• Do you have more than an 8 PSI pressure drop between the compressor and the furthest point or critical area in your plant? If so, you need to investigate your pipe sizing and configuration.
• Does your compressor cycle load and unload in less than one minute? If so, you may need additional tank storage capacity and/or a remote pressure transducer.
• Do you have an area that complains of low pressure when a process is started? If so, you may need a remote tank to serve this process and protect the rest of the system.
• Is there rust and scale in your piping causing equipment operation or hand tool issues? Is so, you may need to clean or replace with copper/coated aluminum piping to eliminate the problem in this area along with a final filter.

If you are able to change your piping and reduce pressure by 10 PSI, you will save five percent in energy over the course of the year, which could be thousands of dollars. Along with this, you will be providing better quality air to your plant and allowing your equipment to run more consistently. Here is information on air compressor piping that you may find useful in evaluating your situation.