R&M Is Your Primary Energy Saver

The loose base on this pump in a hospital Covid ward was at the core of significant ESG costs.

By Howard W. Penrose, PhD CMRP, President, MotorDoc LLC

A majority of publicly traded and private companies have focused on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) programs and strategies. Energy is a direct maintenance measurement and ties directly to corporate KPI and the addition of ESG efforts and carbon-neutral goals.

In 1992, the Energy Policy Act (EPACT) in the U.S. was part of a global effort in energy policies to reduce the rapid demand for energy through the introduction of energy efficiency and emissions limits. In the industrial arena, across the nine most energy-intensive industries identified by the Department of Energy (DOE), electric-motor-driven equipment was determined to be the largest common target for improvement.

It was quickly realized that reliability and maintenance, including corrective maintenance practices, were potentially more effective than simply implementing more efficient technologies. In fact, the DOE identified that converting from a reactive maintenance program to a planned maintenance program had a minimum impact on energy consumption of 14%. In practice, this reduction in direct costs is far higher, including some instances where energy reductions have surpassed 50%.

Throughout these efforts, program members would constantly find that reductions in energy and direct maintenance costs would easily justify physical-asset-management programs. These were always found to be real numbers and easily measurable. There is also the calculated social cost of GHG, which is determined by each administration and is currently represented as $51 per metric ton of CO₂.

In perspective, the currently valued national average carbon emissions impact, per the EIA, is 0.707 metric tons CO₂ per MWh. Certain Electrical Signature Analysis (ESA) devices have the ability to measure kilowatt losses by defect while also measuring overall kilowatt consumption by the motor or other electrical systems.

In the case of a chilled-water pump with a loose base, as measured by ESA, Vibration, and Motion Amplification, the direct loss for the base was 1.4 kW, not including other losses. This critical pump was evaluated during the summer of 2020 at a Chicago hospital and may have required movement of people from the associated Covid ward. With the machine running 24/7, and an assumed cost of $10/demand and $0.10/kWh, the following can be directly determined:

• 1.4 kW * 8760 hr./yr. = 12,264 kWh/yr. or 12.3 MWh/yr.

• Demand cost = 1.4 kW * $10 * 12 months = $168/yr.

• Usage cost = 12,264 kWh/yr. * $0.10 = $1,226/yr.

• Emissions = 12.3 MWh/yr. * 0.707 T/MWh = 8.7 tonnes CO₂/yr.

• Social Cost = 8.7 tonnes CO₂/yr. * $51 = $444/yr.

Bearing stresses, static eccentricity, and other conditions had much higher values and these conditions would have progressed, resulting in greater impact. EP

Howard W. Penrose, PhD CMRP, is president of MotorDoc LLC, Lombard, IL (motordoc.com). He chairs the wind-power standards and government relations participation for American Clean Power (ACP/AWEA), holds various IEEE standards positions, and is a past chair of SMRP. Reach him at info@motordoc.com.