TOTAL SYSTEM EFFICIENCY

Brian GongolDJ Gongol & Associates, Inc.

March 22, 2016

Nebraska Rural Water Association ConferenceKearney, Nebraska

Efficiency: Who really cares?

Not the person who drives thisto the grocery store

Of course we SHOULD care, right?

Resources are finite

Only the state capitol gets a gold dome

Water systems are big users of energy

Utilities have a special responsibility

You provide essential services, usually undera monopoly or near-monopoly condition

Rate dollars are after-tax dollars

Money saved is a leveraged bonus

Substitution effect

We can say it's all for the environment

But it's really about public health

Money wasted displaces other public goods

The problem is, we really DON'T care

"How can you say that?"

Well, it's simple...

Revealed preferences

What's your household public works budget?

(...if you even bother to have one)

How does it compare to your travel budget?

Why we don't really care

Low electrical rates

Cheap borrowing

Low regard for worker time

Public disregard for the state of public works

The day of reckoning cometh

Why we will be forced to care

Rising energy costs

Carbon emission regs and electricity costs

European electricity costs vs. our costs

Anticipated shortages of fresh water

Rising treatment costs pressuring budgets

Declining or flat populations

Aging infrastructure

Higher future interest rates

Shrinking water workforce

Compounding costs of deferred maintenance

Costs of catastrophic failure

The conventional definition of "efficiency"

Pump hydraulic efficiency

The second order definition is still too narrow

Maybe include motor efficiencyor throw in a VFD so it looks good?

Measure efficiency by total system impact

Think of yourself as atrustee of public assets.

You serve the public best bydelivering the services they expect

with a minimum of waste.

Not everything that counts can be measured

The love of a child,puppy kisses,

the smell of flowersafter a rain

But counting is a good place to start

What we might measure to gauge efficiency

Energy consumption

Losses (especially unmetered losses)

Labor costs (including opportunity costs)

Total cost of ownership (TCO)

Everything can be converted to dollars

Even hidden savings deserve a dollar value

Boards don't want to know your specialty

Dollars are common currency to every industry

Total system efficiency includes:

Hydraulic efficiency

Energy efficiency

Maintenance efficiency

Longevity/durability

Adaptability to future conditions

Part 1: Pump hydraulic efficiency

Clearances

Pump specific speed

A dimensionless value that indicatesthe relative efficiency of a pump impeller design

Vane adjustments (numbers, angles)

Smooth coatings

Straight pipe entering the suction

Suction diffusers (straightening flow)

Part 2: Motor/engine efficiency

110/220/460 volt differences

VFDs

Soft starters

Two-speed motors

Across-the-line starters

High-efficiency/premium-efficiency

VFD misapplication: Static head prevails

Fill towers at full speed

Hydrostatic tanks

VFD misapplication: Missing the (BE) point

Transmission losses

Part 3: Valves

Surge control

Save on pipe damage

If waves on a beach can erode boulders into sand,what are surge waves doing inside your pipes?

Air control

Maximize pipe diameter

Throttling

Emergency cut-in valves for an emergency

Part 4: Pipework

Bends

Pipe smoothness

Corrosion and losses

Friction losses aren't just theoretical

Part 5: Labor and TCO efficiency

Preventive/predictive maintenance

Fix-on-failure wouldn't work for an airline,so why do utilities use it so much?

Preventive maintenance and knowledge

Labor training and continuous improvement

Quantify downtime

Part 6: Longevity/durability

Major repair work is disruptive and costly

Realistically assess how long things will last

Is the system robust or fragile?

Can it survive periods of neglect?

Part 7: Auditing your system

Total water supplied (own plus imports)

Authorized consumption (billed/unbilled)

Losses (apparent and real)

Apparent losses

Unauthorized consumption Metering error Data errors

Real losses

Distribution losses Tank leakage and overflow Service connection leakage

Benchmarks and baselines

To recap

We ignore efficiency We won't forever Pump efficiency matters It's not the only thing by far Total cost of ownership matters most TCO includes hydraulics, motors/engines, maintenance,

longevity, and adaptability to future conditions

Questions?

Thank you for coming!

Thank you for your attention!

Contact us anytime with questions

Brian Gongol DJ Gongol & Associates 515-223-4144 info@djgongol.com

References:

US electric prices: http://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/#/topic/7?

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Germany, EU electric prices: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Electricity_and_natural_gas_price_statistics

Fed funds rate: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/FEDFUNDS

Motor efficiency standards: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=18151

Suction vane drawing and sample pump curve courtesy Patterson Pump Co. Valve photographs courtesy GA Industries Some material in Part 7 adapted from the AWWA water loss auditing tool:

http://www.awwa.org/resources-tools/water-knowledge/water-loss-control.aspx

Special thanks to Shane Kinsey (City of Johnston, Iowa) and Rose Ann DiGiovanni (Patterson Pump Co.) for observations that extended the scope of this presentation

All other photos are original work by and copyright reserved to Brian Gongol