1Copyright 2014© Reprinted by permission of Pallet Enterprise magazine — All rights reserved, Industrial Reporting, Inc.

Like many things in life, finding waysto save money on your power bill startswith asking some key questions. Thekey to this process is W5H. What isW5H and how can it help you discoverenergy solutions for your pallet mill orsawmill? Who uses W5H to reduce en-ergy usage and energy cost? When andwhere is it appropriate to use W5H?

Well, let’s explore the answer to thosequestions because it may be able to saveyou a lot of money when it comes toyour plant’s energy bill. W5H stands forwho, what, when, where, why, and how!The following questions need to beasked about energy at your company:

1. Who is in charge of managing en-ergy usage and cost?

2. What is the cost of energy and whatare the available rate tariffs?

3. When is energy used?4. Where is energy used?5. Why is energy being used?6. How much energy is used?Now let’s explore these questions one

at a time so that you can start to developa strong energy savings strategy.

Who Is the Energy Boss?

Who in your company is responsiblefor managing energy usage and cost?Does this person even exist? Are energybills just sent to accounts payable to bepaid without any review? In some busi-nesses an energy team has been formedto manage energy. Members of this teammight include people with titles such asplant manager, foreman, operations di-rector, energy manager, sustainabilityofficer, purchasing agent, chief financial

Power Play

How W5H Helps to ReduceEnergy Usage and Energy CostBy Ralph Russell

officer or manufacturing director. Insmaller organizations, this might be ateam of one.

You need somebody to watch overthis area and champion your cause. Ifyou don’t look for savings, don’t expectthe energy company to just give it toyou.

Are We Paying a Fair Rate?

After determining who has responsi-bility for energy management in the or-ganization, the cost of energy needs tobe determined. Create a spreadsheet oruse a software program, such asEnergyCAP (www.energycap.com), tomonitor energy usage and cost eachmonth. This baseline is important to de-termine the success of energy manage-ment initiatives and to eliminate billing

errors. It will also help identify ineffi-cient facilities and improve energy costbudgeting.

When Are Your Peak Hours?

Businesses must determine when en-ergy is used. The first step is to look atenergy consumption on a monthly basisfor the past 12 to 36 months. This analy-sis will help you to determine when dur-ing the year that you use the most en-ergy. It will also help to determine ifcertain business cycles or the weatherimpact energy consumption.

After looking at monthly energy con-sumption, take a look at daily energyconsumption. Depending on the size ofyour operation and the utility meter in-stalled, interval data on a half-hour or 15minute interval may be available from

PALLET ENTERPRISEAs seen in May 2014

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2 Copyright 2014© Reprinted by permission of Pallet Enterprise magazine — All rights reserved, Industrial Reporting, Inc.

the utility provider. If this detailed me-tering data is not available, estimatewhen energy is being used. Look atequipment start and stop times. F o ra typical pallet mill/sawmill that oper-ates one or two shifts, the daily energyuse profile or load curve is bell shaped.Most of the energy consumption is dur-ing the day and little is used at night. Theload curve for an industrial or 24/7 op-eration would be almost flat with con-sumption around the clock. What doesyour load curve look like?

In many cases, energy cost can be re-duced by shifting load from the “on-peak period” which is typically duringthe day to the “off-peak period” which isusually at night. As an example, shiftinga portion of your operation to a secondor third shift during evening hours orweekends might reduce energy cost.

Where Do You Use the

Most Energy?

Where is energy used? How can youreduce energy if you don’t know wherethe energy is being used? In a typicalpallet plant, motors, air compressors,and kilns are the largest consumers ofenergy. Perform a basic energy audit tolocate and record the nameplate data foreach piece of energy-consuming equip-ment in a database.

Has more efficient equipment beendeveloped since your equipment was in-

stalled years ago? More efficient mo-tors, lighting and methods of pallet milloperation are always being developed.In some cases it may be financiallysound to replace equipment before itfails to cash in on improved efficiencies.Utility rebates for more efficient equip-ment also helps to improve the return oninvestment. Energy related incentivesand rebates can be found at the Databaseof State Incentives for Renewables &Efficiency website www.dsire.org.MotorMaster+ International can help us-ers evaluate repair/replacement optionson a broad range of motors. Find outmore at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/m a n u f a c t u r i n g / t e c h _ a s s i s t a n c e /software_motormaster_intl.html.

Why Is Energy Used in

Each Part of Your Operation?

Why is energy being used? What isthe purpose of each piece of equipment?Is equipment being used when it couldbe shut down? Is the optimal kiln tem-perature and drying time being used? Isequipment being left on during lunch? Isthe air compressor turned off at nightand on weekends?

Take a look at why energy is beingused at each location and determinemethods to reduce the energy consump-tion. It is estimated that a 1/8 inch diam-eter hole in a 100 psi compressed airsystem can cost you more than $1,200per year in wasted energy. Imagine howmuch energy and dollars you could saveif all of the compressed air leaks in yourpallet mill were eliminated. Here aresome air compressor energy saving tips:h t t p : / / w w w . m n t a p . u m n . e d u /greenbusiness/energy/82-CompAir.htm.

Use of kiln heat exchangers to preheatoutside air, improvement of kiln fan ef-ficiency, use of an adjustable speeddrive for the fan and proper kiln mainte-nance to ensure uniformity of the dryingenvironment will help improve kiln en-ergy efficiency.

How Much Energy

Is Being Used?

How much energy is used? After de-termining who will have responsibilityfor energy management and determiningthe cost of energy, the next task is todetermine how much energy is beingused. Creating a baseline of energy con-

sumption for a 12 to 36 time period isimportant to determine how operationalchanges, weather, new equipment instal-lation and energy management projectsimpact energy usage.

Energy Baseline & Monitoring

Whether you use a self-generatedspreadsheet or a commercially availablesoftware package such as EnergyCAP,develop a method to create an energyusage and cost baseline. Then continueto add data to the system on a monthlybasis. While important, creating abaseline is looking at energy consump-tion in the past. Looking at energy real-time will significantly increase yourability to control energy consumptionand cost. If you advance to real-timeenergy monitoring, sub-metering differ-ent manufacturing areas or pieces ofequipment can also be helpful.

Realizing Savings in

Your Operation

Remember the W5H strategy for re-ducing energy usage and cost. Who,what, when, where, why & how are thekeys to a successful energy managementinitiative. I once heard of a companywith a $1 million per month energy billthat had someone assigned to monitorcell phone usage but did not have any-one managing its energy.

Most companies have a human re-sources department to manage theorganization’s human capital, a financedepartment to manage money but no oneto manage energy. Consider developingan energy team, even if it is a team ofone or two. The results of asking theW5H questions may have a dramatic im-pact on your bottom line. eDiscoveri isprepared to help your organization dis-cover energy solutions and to be yourenergy manager “on demand” whenneeded.

Editor’s Note: Ralph Russell ispresident of eDiscoveri, an energyconsulting service designed to helpcompanies save money and improveplant efficiencies. Russell formerlyworked as a key account managerfor Dominion Virginia Power. He canbe reached at (804) 291-7667 or emailrwrussell2@eDiscoveri.com or visitwww.eDiscoveri.com.

PEPE

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