Efficiency in industrial maintenance

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When we talk about energy efficiency usually we associate the concept to the installation of renewable energy support, replacement of old equipment by more modern ones with higher yields and lower consumption, implementation of energy management systems that allow control consumption and emissions, LED lighting etc.

 

Seldom we think that the mere work of those responsible for industrial maintaining a company can contribute, a lot, to reducing energy consumption while maintaining the same levels of production.

This is not to change equipment or make investments whose cost is usually high and return to medium or long-term, efficiency is applicable in day to day and it is necessary to lead a maintenance management of the installation through small actions involving in short, great results.

 

The secret is to have industrial maintenance with a holistic view, understanding that everything is not always the sum of the parts, understanding that a facility operates as a set of interconnected systems and energy gains and losses in each of the subsystems affect or benefit the rest. The result is exponential and from experience, can reach percentages of reduction in costs surprisingly high and comparable to any measure of replacement of obsolete equipment by more efficient ones, but with a substantially lower cost. We talked about a 25% reduction on average, a decent percentage to be analysed. It is, therefore, important that the owner and the responsible for running the business counts on some specialisation engineering in the field. In this sense it is necessary that engineering has knowledge and experience in facilities management and be able to implement efficiency in such management necessary to achieve the desired results. You must also provide the customer the option of buying your services through a flexible service model and focused on results.

 

Today, it is possible to outsource services with that approach that soon begin to be paid with the result obtained leaving a significant positive difference in several ways: cost reduction in management, workload industrial maintenance costs, energy costs, necessary equipment replacement. In addition, if you have the right support, other more intangible benefits are obtained, but no less important, such as unloading concerns knowing that someone external, impartial and focused on results, ensures the proper functioning of the systems, supporting our internal staff.

La eficiencia en el mantenimiento industrial

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Cuando hablamos de eficiencia energética solemos asociar el concepto a la instalación de energías renovables de apoyo, la sustitución de equipos antiguos por otros modernos con rendimientos más altos y consumos más reducidos, implementación de sistemas de gestión energética que permitan controlar consumos y emisiones, iluminación led etc.

 

Pocas veces pensamos en que la mera labor de los responsables de mantenimiento industrial de una empresa pueda contribuir, y mucho, a la reducción de consumos energéticos manteniendo los mismos niveles de producción.

 

No se trata de cambiar equipos, ni de hacer inversiones cuyo coste suele ser alto y el retorno a medio o largo plazo, la eficiencia es aplicable en el día a día y es necesaria para llevar una gestión de mantenimiento industrial de la instalación, a través de pequeñas acciones que supongan en suma, grandes resultados.

 

El secreto es llevar el mantenimiento con una visión holística, entendiendo que el todo no siempre es la suma de las partes, entendiendo que una instalación funciona como un conjunto de sistemas interconectados y que las pérdidas y ganancias energéticas en cada uno de los subsistemas afectan o benefician al resto. El resultado es exponencial y por experiencia, puede llegar a alcanzar porcentajes de reducción en costes sorprendentemente elevados y equiparables a cualquier medida de sustitución de equipos obsoletos por eficientes, pero con un coste sustancialmente inferior. Hablamos de un 25% de reducción de media, un porcentaje digno de ser analizado. Para ello es importante que el empresario y responsable de la explotación del negocio cuente con alguna ingeniería especializada en la materia. En este sentido es necesario que la ingeniería tenga conocimiento y experiencia en la gestión de instalaciones y sea capaz de aplicar la eficiencia en dicha gestión, necesaria para conseguir los resultados deseados. Además debe de proporcionar al cliente la opción de contratarle mediante un modelo de servicio flexible y enfocado a resultados.

 

Hoy día, ya se pueden subcontratar servicios con ese enfoque, que en poco tiempo empiezan a pagarse con el resultado que se obtiene dejando un diferencial positivo importante por varias vías: reducción de costes en la gestión, de carga de trabajo de mantenimiento industrial, de costes energéticos, de necesidad de sustitución de equipos. Además de ello, si se cuenta con el apoyo adecuado, se obtienen otros beneficios más intangibles, pero no por ello menos importantes como son la descarga de preocupaciones al saber que alguien externo, imparcial y enfocado a resultados, vela por el buen funcionamiento de los sistemas, apoyando a nuestro personal interno.

Pautas para ahorrar energía estas navidades

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Durante las fiestas navideñas uno de los elementos más consumidores de energía, a la vista de todos, es la iluminación de la casa.

En las viviendas unifamiliares se tiene a utilizar adornos luminosos, que a menudo utilizan tecnología halógena, altamente consumidora. Lo mejor es ir progresivamente sustituyéndolo por tecnología led, que preferiblemente incorpore captación solar para funcionar, de manera que estemos anulando el consumo de electricidad por completo. Igualmente sucede en los edificios de viviendas con zonas comunitarias ajardinadas. En los pisos, sin embargo, solamente podemos usar luminarias decorativas led para ahorrar energía.

Por otro lado, el elemento de mayor consumo durante los meses fríos dentro de un hogar en pocas ocasiones se concentra en la iluminación. Hay que poner el foco en los elementos destinados a climatizar la vivienda, calentar el agua, etc como son el aire acondicionado, el termo, la calefacción central etc. En ese sentido, es recomendable regular las temperaturas, ya que el mayor consumo se produce cuando hay grandes saltos a la hora de regularlas y los sistemas tienen que trabajar el doble para alcanzar la temperatura deseada en un momento dado.

  • Ajustar la temperatura entre 17 y 18 grados aunque no estemos dentro de la vivienda.
  • Ajustar la temperatura entre 21 y 22 grados cuando estemos dentro del a vivienda.
  • Regular la temperatura del termostato del calentador a 50 grados en aire acondicionado
  • Cerrar las rejillas de las habitaciones donde no necesites calefactar
  • Cada grado baja un 5-8% consumo por cada grado que lo bajes
  • Con termostatos programables para el termo ahorran, no necesitas todo el volumen de agua caliente agua las 24h.
  • Tener en cuenta la simultaneidad de consumos para evitar los picos.

Guidelines to save energy this Christmas

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During Christmas holidays, one of the most energy-consuming elements, for everyone, is the lighting of the house.

It is usual to use bright ornaments at home, which often use halogen technology, high drain. The best option is to progressively replacing it by LED technology, which preferably incorporates solar collector to run, so we are eliminating electricity consumption completely. The same happens in residential buildings with landscaped communal areas. However, in apartments we can only use LED decorative lights to save energy.

On the other hand, the most energy-consuming element during the cold months inside a home rarely focuses on lighting. Put the focus on the elements designed to heat the house, water heating, etc. such as air conditioning, the heat, central heating, etc. In that sense, it is advisable to regulate temperatures as the highest consumption occurs when there are large jumps and systems have to work twice as hard to reach the desired temperature at a given time.

  • Set the temperature between 17 and 18 degrees although we are not inside the house.
  • Set the temperature between 21 and 22 degrees when we are inside the house.
  • Set the temperature of the heater thermostat to 50 degrees in air conditioning
  • Close grids of rooms which don’t need to be heated
  • Each degree reduces consumption by 5-8%
  • With programmable thermostats to save heat, you do not need the entire volume of hot water 24h.
  • Take into account the simultaneity of consumption to avoid peak.

Save on the wrong side is to spend more for the same

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In a previous post, we talked about the cost overruns in which we could incur trying to lower the price hiring our energy with a trading company. In this post, we would like to focus on raising consumer’s awareness about the importance to make the right decision when he renews, extends or replaces any system or subsystem or any element which contributes to the consumption of an installation.

SMEs struggle every day against all types of external and internal problems, subsisting in increasingly competitive and aggressive environments, where often the only element of concise comparison is the price. As energy costs have increased exponentially in recent years and is expected to continue to do so despite the steady trend of recent months, it has become one more element to consider. It is necessary that purchasing decisions take into account efficiency criteria when implementing corrective measures as well to obey technical needs, as extensions motivated by an expected production growth. If the businessman only wants to give priority to the “cost” of different offers during the purchase process over the energy consumption of those once implemented he will be mistaken, considering that when turning on the switch of what he has installed, he will have to pay the kWh consumption arising. Neither the installer responsible for the execution, nor the engineer who has designed the project, nor the manufacturer of the equipment that has sold him, will pay for him the increase in the invoice. Everyone has a different role and selection criteria should note that the above is met, but none of them will hold what we consume or pay afterwards per unit of production since only an adviser with engineering and technical advice capabilities can do this.

Applying efficiency criteria in any purchasing decision we will obtain clear advantages:

  • Ensure the return on investment by reducing consumption in the case of renovations or improvement of facilities.
  • We will have a clear forecast of energy consumption that allows us to compare between different alternatives.
  • We will reduce maintenance costs since usually selected equipment based on efficiency criteria includes the entire set of items to install: equipment, design, control elements, etc. Increasing energy efficiency means increasing productivity.
  • For every € invested we will recover a part in every kWh consumed. Therefore it is essential to apply efficiency criteria in investment over one year.

Energy efficiency is not a theoretical concept as many believe, it starts from the time when we have to undertake daily costs to upgrade facilities that use are deteriorating. The sooner we understand it, the sooner we will save energy.

Buy at a fixed price or indexed

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Recently the electrical trading companies are betting on offer an indexed price, as there is a growing demand for this type of offer. It is not surprising since traditionally indexed price has always been a way to hire the most economical electrical energy.

Why is that?

To understand we can make a comparison with the banking sector. The fixed rate offered by a bank when hiring a mortgage includes detours costs and the risk of fluctuations involving loss to who sells. Indeed, a fixed price is a risk for whom provides it, such risk, let’s call it warranty, is included in the price we finally pay as an additional cost, as well for the fixed interest in the banking sector or the rate of fixed prices in the energy sector. When buying indexed price, we assume that risk. Therefore it is conceivable that it will be cheaper in the medium term. Given that contracts are signed for one year, the risk is negligible.

There is no free lunch

However, the indexed price is interesting whenever we do not charge commission high costs, also called operating costs or fee. The reasonable cost for SMEs is between 3 and 4 € / MWh hired (estimated consumption from consumer or trading company reading). Naturally this is always subject to consumption. Usually, the greater the consumption, the better trading offer.

We don’t need to understand the energy market. Let’s search a good adviser to tell us and ensure that we are paying the right price and, specially that we are optimised over our competitors.