by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | May 15, 2021 | Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, over 4,760 trillion Btu of steam energy represents 40% of the total energy used in industrial process applications. The efficiency of steam production by fuel ranges from 85.7% efficiency (natural gas) to 90.3% (coal) with...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | May 7, 2021 | Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
When it comes to a production operation, energy, process, reliability, and waste stream aren’t stand-alone elements. And they really don’t differ much from one another. In fact, the results associated with improving or ignoring each of these areas are...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Apr 22, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, The Sustainable Plant
When determining the approach for assessing a facility, there are several decisions to make, including selection of independent software tools and guides. The U.S. Department.of Energy (USDOE, energy.gov) has developed a number of taxpayer-supported tools that review...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Apr 17, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
Standard approaches to industrial and commercial surveys and audits have inherent problems. If it is an energy audit, the focus is strictly on energy savings. If the audit is on waste-stream or reliability and maintenance, the focus, typically, is on just those...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Apr 9, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
We frequently think of electric motors and driven equipment when the topic of energy efficiency comes up. On the other hand, the energy-transmission component, or coupling, also has an energy-efficiency rating that can be affected by things such as application and...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Apr 3, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
Compressed-air systems are an important part of most plant operations. That said, these systems have typically been the most inefficient utility in plants. Even in a well-maintained compressed-air system, to operate a one-horsepower air motor, you generally need seven...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor | Feb 27, 2021 | Safety Matters, The Sustainable Plant
While industrial facilities can have a very positive impact on the communities and economies where they are located, they can also create some risks for the people and ecosystems that are near them. In the past, I’ve written about the importance of creating...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor | Feb 6, 2021 | Asset Management, The Sustainable Plant
As noted in the first part of this short article series (Feb. 1, 2021, see link below), the idea of reducing cost and decreasing the environmental impact of a manufacturing or process plant by focusing on management of parasitic frictional losses is a very compelling...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor | Jan 30, 2021 | Asset Management, The Sustainable Plant
“Think Local, Act Global” is a phrase typically attributed to Patrick Geedes, an early 20th-century urban planner in Scotland. Geedes’ thinking seems quite applicable to the overall global climate-change challenge and, by extension, in today’s RAM...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor | Dec 12, 2020 | Cut the FLAB, The Sustainable Plant
Over the years, I’ve written extensively about what I call “managing FLAB” in the plant. FLAB is both an acronym and a play on words. As an acronym, it stands for fasteners, lubrication, alignment and balance, the foundational mechanical and electrical elements...
