Industrial Facilities' Compressed Air Usage

Jim Bolch, senior vice president Ingersoll Rand and president of the company’s Industrial Technologies Sector, recently discussed the benefits of performing compressed air audits as a means of identifying facility energy savings in the industrial sector. Bolch made his remarks as a member of a panel during the BlueGreen Alliances’ annual “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” conference held May 4-6 in Washington, DC.

“To many in industrial settings, compressed air is known as the fourth utility,” Bolch said. “Compressed air systems account for 20% of energy costs in many facilities so the ability to identify efficiencies through air audits provides an outstanding cost saving opportunity.”

The panel was organized by the Environmental Defense Fund and titled “How Much Energy Efficiency is Available in the Industrial Sector.” Joining Bolch in the discussion were Dick Munson of Recycled Energy Development and Craig Cheney, Senior Vice President at Project Performance Corporation and Program Manager for one of the Integrating Contractor Teams implementing the Department of Energy’s Save Energy Now LEADER program.

“We have performed audits in a variety of settings large and small and the results can prove to be truly substantial,” Bolch said. “There are definitely energy efficiencies available within the industrial sector, we just need to work together to help identify and realize these savings.”

The DOE Save Energy Now LEADER program was launched in December 2009. It is aimed at providing technical assistance and resources to companies that pledge significant improvements in industrial energy efficiency. Initially, 32 companies joined with DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Cathy Zoi to sign a voluntary pledge to reduce their industrial energy intensity by 25% over the next decade. These signatories are:
• 3M (St. Paul, MN)
• AT&T (Dallas, TX)
• BPM, Inc. (Peshtigo, WI)
• Bridgestone (McMinnville, TN)
• Briggs & Stratton (Wauwatosa, WI)
• Cummins, Inc. (Columbus, IN)
• Danfoss (Baltimore, MD)
• Didion Milling (Johnson Creek, WI)
• The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, MI)
• Flambeau River Papers (Park Falls, WI)
• Honeywell (Morristown, NJ)
• Ingersoll Rand/Trane (Piscataway, NJ)
• Intel (Santa Clara, CA)
• JR Simplot (Boise, ID)
• Manitowoc Grey Iron Foundry (Manitowoc, WI)
• Mohawk Industries (Dalton, GA)
• Neenah Foundry (Neenah, WI)
• Nissan North America (Smyrna, TN)
• Osram Sylvania (Danvers, MA)
• Owens Corning (Toledo, OH)
• PPG Industries (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Quad/Graphics, Inc. (Sussex, WI)
• Schneider Electric (Palatine, IL)
• Serious Materials (Sunnyvale, CA)
• Shaw Industries (Dalton, GA)
• Sherwin-Williams, Richmond (Richmond, KY)
• Spirax Sarco, Inc. (Blythewood, SC)
• Thilmany Papers (Kaukauna, WI)
• ThyssenKrupp Waupaca (Waupaca, WI)
• United Technologies Corp. (Hartford, CT)
• Verso Paper (Memphis, TN)
• Volvo Trucks, Inc. (Dublin, VA)


2 COMMENTS

  1. thanks for a great blog, you covered the basics really well, if it helps you can out more about Compressed air energy there’s some information at the bcas website, it’s short for British Compressed Air Association. Hope it helps.

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