Energy

couple of things here... replace fossil fuel with clean energy???

The hypocrisy of electric cars that are power by fossil fuel from the power plants....

On a different route.... For the most part, in factory’s, one needs to update the equipment $$$$

corporate would say no….

- as an example, change out to high efficient electric motors.

- here's a big one, steam traps that work poorly or failed that costs money

from my most recent experience… for a prepared foods maker that made deli foods…. gather around for story time,

As a corporate project engineer where I work primarily on CAPEX projects and I work pretty close with maintenance.

One day I walked into maintenance to ask them where’s a good place to tap into for steam for (2) CoP tanks I was installing. The lead maintenance guy told me… but he sound off… ie pissed.

so I asked him what’s up?

I’ll leave out the sailor talk and get to the point… making deli meats, one of the process equipment is what we call a massager. This massager deli a mix of meats, spices, binders, coloring and mixing it under vacuum. The vacuum removes all the trapped air in the mix with its pumped to the extrudes to make logs that eventually gets cut up into deli slices or portions. ^{(I’m having trouble where picture don’t insert on my iPad.)}

There's (6) massagers each with their own vacuum pump, and the maintenance guy told me, that the vacuum pumps began to fail for the last (2) years where rebuilding them just isn’t cutting it. And corporate has been rejecting his request for new pumps.

and the final (2) isn’t hitting the mark. This pumps work with there’s 88% to 92% vacuum is acceptable… when vacuum drops below 88% you begin to have voids.

i asked how he wrote up the plant expense request… and he basically wrote it that he needs new vacuum pumps with the data of what the pumps were pulling vacuum.

I’ll told them I’ll right it up for you, and maybe, I can squeeze (2) pumps in CapEx, while the plant put the remaining (4) on the plant expense budget.

what I did was, I took the data of the vacuum from each massager, and graphed it over time.

Then I took the data of rework of the product of the same about of time. Now the labs had the cost for the rework, so I could give corporate the cost of rework due to poor vacuum. The graph look something like this… only with out the actual numbers…

now this vacuum pumps cost $30,000 each… times 6 = $180,000. And that is small compared to over all costs, but to the bean counters, its a huge difference.

In (3) months, the new pumps were paid for.

I had move on to a different facility. And the maintenance guy sent me a text with a picture of the company's presidential award for he said he received it because of that project I helped him with.

That was pretty cool.

So the moral of that story,... to get energy saving, show the actual cost of where you are, and what things can be.

I have been retired many years,but back in the 80's a single 1inch malfunctioning steam trap blowing out the roof cost around $50,000 per year.

An even sneakier and harder to detect are compressed air leaks.Compressed air is more expensive to produce than even steam.It is also harder to sell to management because they cannot see it or hear it,unless it is very large.

Air leaks are like walking around with a big hole in your pocket.

Air leaks can be detected in many ways,using ultrasonic sensors or thermal imaging.

Quantifying the leak is more expensive.

Before you can calculate cost of anything,you must measure it,requiring flow meters.Good ones are not cheap,but will allow an analysis of usage before and after repairs.

A single one on the main supply is better than nothing but individual branches is better,but even one can help illustrate the effectiveness of leak repair.

There are non-intrusive meters that enable accurate bi directional flow measurement without breaking a line or interfering with processes.

No excuse for not using them,except myopic bean counters .

Thanks for the details.

also the design of the steam lines, if there aren’t enough traps to take care of the condensate from the impingement points. You have losses there delivering less effective hot water BTU’s instead of higher BTU’s in steam.

air leaks… in many plants they have Victaulic fitting, and when air compressor wears where they’d have oil pass through and on to the victaulic gasket, the gasket breaks down.

The good thing about Victaulic fittings are they are easy to replace,and they can be ordered with special seals for just about any gas or liquid environment.

Yea, installation is also quicker… just have to remember that for liquid, you’ll need to add blocking on the elbows and such.. which makes it not so quick…

everything has their pros and cons…

That is a excellent perspective that it should not be off-topic... along with good advice....

I agree, and gave him another GA.

You and the original poster are correct that the thermal energy losses from converting fossil fuels into "desired" energy forms do not have to be replaced. However, conversion losses will always happen unless the alternative energy source comes in exactly the desired form. For instance, a home relying on passive solar heating and cooling requires careful planning, and a strategic location to utilize this uncontrollable resource. Still, when passive solar energy can be sufficient, the least amount of wasted energy happens. In contrast, converting solar energy into mechanical energy for transportation and other momentum-changing machines involves energy being lost for one reason or another.

We certainly should improve our energy usage. No one energy source will be ideal for all applications.

On another note, the graphic posted has nothing to do with identifying energy conversion losses.

yes, all in agreement. Those conversion losses is normal in the form of heat.

As far as graphic posted has nothing to do with identifying energy conversion losses., if you inferring to my post... I did post a story time warning... and the savings was initially saving all around, including energy.

This is an ignorant, meaningless statement...Want proof, give an example where fossil fuel has been replaced with "clean energy" and it only required 1/3 of the energy....

Wind turbines are typically 20–40% efficient at converting wind into energy, but their efficiency can vary depending on the time of year and wind speed:

The efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, or the percentage of sunlight converted to electricity, ranges from 15% to 23% for residential systems.

Diesel engines have a theoretical efficiency of 55–60%, which is higher than gasoline engines, which are around 35% efficient. However, in practice, the efficiency of a diesel engine can vary depending on the type of engine and is usually between 30% and 50%:

How efficient are electrical transmission lines?

The overall losses between the power plant and consumers is then in the range between 8 and 15%...

Hydroelectric power is considered the most efficient source of electricity, converting over 90% of available energy into electricity. This is in comparison to fossil fuel plants, which are only about 50% efficient...

Typical nuclear power plants achieve efficiencies around 33-37%, comparable to fossil fueled power plants. Higher temperature and more modern designs like the Generation IV nuclear reactors could potentially reach above 45% efficiency.

I really miss the good old BC days...

I mean BT.... (Before Television)

It would be incorrect to attempt to justify these things on the basis of unpopularity or of novelty, when economics of operation (including those of mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions and of environmental remediation) should be the driver.

How much methane do 8billion people emit daily?They are putting burp meters on cows,so how long before they put flatulence meters on people,or implement a personal flatulence tax?They probably have not thought of it yet,but they will.

And what about all the other ungulates on the planet?I know we are not ungulates but we do produce cO2 not methane like cows,etc.Wild deer,moose,elk,elephants,etc.and human waste treatment facilities?All things considered, humans produce more climate changing conditions than all the animals combined.

Whereas in the past cows were fed grains and clover and hay,now they are fed with chicken house sweepings.Cellulose is cellulose,right?That is how Big Ag sees it.

They compost the sweepings to be more palatable to the cows,and to kill harmful bacteria,but they do not have a reliable way to measure the temperature of the compost..Supposed to be at least 160F. The bucket loader operators simply guess at it,according to a video I saw once.

That is why you cannot get a good steak anymore,unless you raise your own and feed it right with lots of room so they do not stand in their own waste.

You are are what you eat,and by proxy,what they eat.

You are not what you eat, otherwise vegetarians would grow roots and become immobile....

That cannot be true,elephants would be rooted to the ground.Certain wines are favored because of the soil they are grown in,and so are a lot of vegetables,the taste varies with the soil type.Cabbage,carrots and onions for example.

Wild game,like venison,tastes different than domesticated cattle,and home grown steers taste better than the chicken litter fed ones.

So we are what we eat.How else will you get the proteins and minerals to build your body?

IMHO:We are eating chicken litter by proxy when we eat a commercially grown steak and the reason you cannot get a really good steak anymore.

We all eat a certain amount of poop...

..."If the thought of eating bugs grosses you out, you probably shouldn’t read the Food and Drug Administration's "Defect Levels Handbook" before a meal. This document lists the allowable limits on food “defects” which includes how many maggots, roaches, spiders, rodent excrement (poop,) and rat hairs are allowed in everyday foods. On average, people eat 140,000 bug pieces every year!

The FDA considers such things to be "natural or unavoidable defects.” While most Americans may be disgusted at the thought of eating bugs, it’s actually a common part of a traditional diet in many areas of the world including China, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and some developing regions of Central and South America. In fact, two billion people worldwide purposely eat insects – a practice known as entomophagy.

The FDA claims eating insects, rat poop and rodent hairs present no health hazards for humans. If it helps make you feel better, insects are rich in protein, healthy fats, iron, calcium, and low in carbohydrates."...

https://www.doctordavidfriedman.com/blog/bugs-rat-hairs-and-rodent-poop-is-in-your-food

When people eat too much poop,they become constipated and pursue politics as a profession.

Someone once said:A politician can appear to have his nose to the grindstone while straddling a fence and keeping both ears to the ground.

And I must add,talking out of both sides of his/her mouth.

I sold engine and turbine controls for about 15 years. We had all kinds of fancy computerized controls to replace the mechanical controls at petrochemical plants and gas compressor stations.

I remember telling customers that they could cut their fuel consumption by 'X' amount, but then I learned that they actually had no idea how much fuel they were currently using! The gas compressors simply burned some of the gas that they were pumping.

It wouldn't surprise me if this was still the case.