A case of pot versus kettle?
1 Aug 2008
While process engineers often accuse finance managers of blocking much-needed investment in energy-saving drive technologies, this may often be a case of the pot calling the kettle black — a recent survey of finance managers and engineering managers suggests
In the survey of preferred options for cutting their energy bills, presented by ABB's general manager, drives and motors, Steve Ruddell, over half (52%) of finance managers put 'Change your energy supplier' as the top option, followed by 35% who would 'Negotiate a better deal with existing supplier'. Well down the rankings was the option to 'Install variable speed drives', which was prioritised by only 10% of respondents.
The surprise, though, was that the survey of engineering managers provided a strikingly similar profile of responses, with, again, only 10% going for the VSD option, and almost 70% preferring to get on the phone to either change, or haggle with, their energy suppliers.
This is despite the fact that VSDs frequently save over 50% of the energy used by standard drives and in some cases by as much as 90% — a scale of benefits that process operators are unlikely to be able to wring out of their energy suppliers, especially in today's market.
"While you can forgive the accountants [their views] it is very disappointing to see engineering giving the same replies to these questions," said Ruddell, who accepted that the problem might be that price negotiation is a line of lesser resistance, compared with the task of gaining approval for, and managing, new investment.
"Despite the clear benefits, the message about VSDs is not getting through,' admitted the ABB manager, who believes another problem is that many managers believe that savings from VSDs "look too good to be true, like the ads in the back of the newspaper."
Motors are used in a wide variety of applications, dominated by pumps (32% of industrial motor energy consumption) and fans (22% of industrial motor energy consumption), two application types capable of achieving large energy savings under variable speed control.
Ruddell went on to cite how one operator recently installed drives on two pumps, replacing two fixed-speed starters. The motors were rated at 30kW but once under drive control, the energy used was only 6.7kW. Electricity costs, originally £18,000 annually, were reduced by 75% or £13,600. As the drives only cost £9,000 to purchase, payback was achieved in just seven and a half months.
In the survey of preferred options for cutting their energy bills, presented by ABB's general manager, drives and motors, Steve Ruddell, over half (52%) of finance managers put 'Change your energy supplier' as the top option, followed by 35% who would 'Negotiate a better deal with existing supplier'. Well down the rankings was the option to 'Install variable speed drives', which was prioritised by only 10% of respondents.
The surprise, though, was that the survey of engineering managers provided a strikingly similar profile of responses, with, again, only 10% going for the VSD option, and almost 70% preferring to get on the phone to either change, or haggle with, their energy suppliers.
This is despite the fact that VSDs frequently save over 50% of the energy used by standard drives and in some cases by as much as 90% — a scale of benefits that process operators are unlikely to be able to wring out of their energy suppliers, especially in today's market.
"While you can forgive the accountants [their views] it is very disappointing to see engineering giving the same replies to these questions," said Ruddell, who accepted that the problem might be that price negotiation is a line of lesser resistance, compared with the task of gaining approval for, and managing, new investment.
"Despite the clear benefits, the message about VSDs is not getting through,' admitted the ABB manager, who believes another problem is that many managers believe that savings from VSDs "look too good to be true, like the ads in the back of the newspaper."
Motors are used in a wide variety of applications, dominated by pumps (32% of industrial motor energy consumption) and fans (22% of industrial motor energy consumption), two application types capable of achieving large energy savings under variable speed control.
Ruddell went on to cite how one operator recently installed drives on two pumps, replacing two fixed-speed starters. The motors were rated at 30kW but once under drive control, the energy used was only 6.7kW. Electricity costs, originally £18,000 annually, were reduced by 75% or £13,600. As the drives only cost £9,000 to purchase, payback was achieved in just seven and a half months.
