Energy inefficiencies: how to detect them

Energy inefficiencies are difficult to detect, but they significantly impact consumption and consequently costs. We have gathered, from our experience in energy management, some of the most common inefficiencies found in manufacturing companies. Find out below if they could be affecting your company’s costs too!

Heat losses

Thermal losses represent a major inefficiency in companies, especially in industrial settings where energy consumption for heating and thermal energy production is high. It is estimated that between 20% and 50% of energy used is dissipated in the form of waste heat. These losses not only result in higher energy expenditure, but also increase operating costs.

Let’s look at the main causes of heat loss in industries:

Cogenerators: Cogenerators, devices that simultaneously produce electrical energy and heat, tend to lose efficiency over time due to worn internal components. This leads to an increase in fuel consumption and a simultaneous reduction in the amount of useful energy produced, with inevitable heat losses.
Ventilation: ineffective ventilation of industrial environments can cause heat loss. If ventilation systems are not properly designed or regulated, hot air generated by production processes can be dispersed without being recovered or reused.
Insulation: inadequately insulated industrial facilities can generate heat losses through walls, roofs and equipment. This generally accounts for a considerable percentage of the total energy consumed. The absence of good thermal insulation in critical areas, such as heating ducts or production rooms, leads to critical energy losses.
Heat exchangers: if these devices are not working at full capacity or are subject to malfunctioning, they cannot efficiently transfer heat between fluids, wasting energy.
Leaks: a compressor that leaks air, for example, increases the energy demand for its normal operation, leading to an unnecessary waste of resources. Leaks affect operational efficiency, but also energy consumption.
Frequent opening of machinery. When machinery is opened for daily operations, hot air is released into the surrounding environment, increasing the energy required to restore ideal temperatures within the equipment.

All these factors contribute significantly to thermal inefficiencies in companies, leading to higher energy costs. But they are not the only ones.

Off-shift consumption

Off-shift energy consumption is another significant inefficiency in companies, which can increase operating costs without bringing any value to production. This unnecessary consumption is often due to errors in the management and control of systems:

Often, systems are not switched off correctly or are not programmed to enter energy-saving mode during periods of inactivity. This leads to continuous energy consumption, even when no operation is required.
Many devices, such as electronics or air conditioning systems, consume energy even when they are not actively operating. In these cases, electricity continues to flow to keep machines in a state of readiness, causing energy expenditure that could be avoided by switching off equipment when not needed.
Transformers and power supplies that remain active during idle periods continue to consume energy even when they are not needed. Although their consumption in stand-by mode may seem minimal, in the long term, it results in a significant waste of heat.

To reduce this off-shift consumption, solutions such as advanced automation, regular maintenance and optimised energy management are needed to identify and correct this waste.

Low power factors

The power factor is an indicator of the efficiency with which an electrical system uses energy. A low power factor implies energy inefficiencies, as a significant part of the energy is used to maintain magnetic fields in electrical components, without contributing to useful work.

This phenomenon can be attributed to several causes:

Inefficient converters or inverters: These devices, used to transform direct current into alternating current or vice versa, can introduce harmonic distortions and phase shifts between voltage and current, reducing the power factor.
Transformers under load: When transformers operate below their rated capacity, efficiency decreases, increasing reactive power losses and lowering the power factor.
Oversized inductive motors: Electric motors designed for higher powers than those required operate with a low load, causing an increase in the reactive component of the current and, consequently, a low power factor.

It is crucial to identify and correct the underlying causes of low power factor to ensure energy efficiency and longevity of electrical systems.

Machinery malfunction

Industrial machinery malfunctions can cause significant energy losses. Certain factors play a crucial role:

Wear of components. Wear is the involuntary removal of material from a surface in relative motion with another or with a fluid. In industrial machinery, component wear can lead to energy efficiency losses: for example, wear on contact surfaces in bearings can increase friction, requiring more energy to maintain the same operating performance.
Overheating. Overheating of machinery is often caused by inadequate lubrication, high friction or insufficient ventilation. An increase in operating temperature can reduce energy efficiency and accelerate component wear, leading to premature failure.
Incorrect calibration. Incorrect calibration of machinery can lead to inefficient operation, resulting in increased energy consumption. For example, an incorrectly calibrated machine may operate outside its optimal specifications, requiring more energy to perform the same function. Regular maintenance, including cleaning, calibration and periodic inspection of equipment, is essential to ensure efficient operation and reduce energy waste.

How to detect inefficiencies in your site

Inefficiencies in production systems can be difficult to detect: rising energy bills are not enough to identify faulty systems or machines. An Energy Management System (EMS) is crucial to identify and correct these inefficiencies.

e•boost, our energy efficiency platform, can monitor machinery and processes, including electricity, gas and water meters, in real time. This enables total control of performance, even remotely, and early detection of any consumption outside parameters.

An alarm system and the presentation of consumption data in real time allows the detection of anomalies for a prompt intervention. Our control and peak-load management tools make it possible to intervene primarily on defective systems and to optimise energy production and consumption according to actual needs, thus avoiding energy wastage.

Want to know more? Request a personalised, no-obligation consultation with one of our experts, contact us.