Case Study
POWER SAVING INDUSTRIAL
Increase in electricity consumption due to non-availability of power consumption data and unawareness about the areas/locations consuming more power in different area.
THE GOAL: 15~20 % Cost saving on Electricity Bills.
Sources of saving energy/power consumption
Breaks in between production
Employees can take breaks in between production and industry let the appliances running during this time which consumes unwanted power.
Lunch/Dinner break
It is found that industry let appliances running even when employees take time off for lunch and dinner because turning “ON” and “OFF” desired appliances from a particular place is a challenge.
Canteen
Canteen’s appliances should be “ON” only at the time when employees are there, it is found that canteen’s appliances are running all the time.
Sign in and out
At the time of coming to industry and signing off, it takes time to turn ON and OFF appliances and sometimes employee forget to switch OFF appliances.
Laziness
Sometimes employees know that particular appliances are needed to be switched “OFF” but due to laziness they let them run and end up forgetting about it.
Slip through mind
Sometimes employees really forget about appliances which are unnecessarily running due to workload or any other reason.
The Solution
This situation can be overcome by reduction in energy consumption by suitable tools, management, and recorded data at disposal.
The benefits
- By using the OCTAMCB & UNIMCB, industry can monitor and control their main load appliances e.g. Tubular Fluorescent Lamps, bulbs, fans, ACs etc.
- Management and staff were instantly able to identify the top consumers of electricity. They identified that:
- Some workplaces were using excessive power in the areas where there was no need of power as compared to other workstations. Hence, they started using appliances in the areas where needed, and thus, reduction in power consumption was recorded
- Timer set function made their life easier as they did not have to worry about the breaks in between the productions which caused unnecessary power consumption and also appliances/locations which required attention before, and thus, reduction in energy consumption and increase in production was recorded
- Level of security was increased as any location could be checked anytime
Calculation Explanation
In a particular department in industry, usage of normal loads e.g. fans, tube lights, bulbs, PCs and ACs etc were observed.
There were 60 tube lights, 30 bulbs, 40 fans, 15 ACs, 20 PCs in that particular department.
Average wattage consumption per hour of said appliances are:
- Tube light: 40W
- Bulb: 15W
- Fan: 75W
- AC: 1550W (let’s say, 1.5 unit/hour)
- PC: 200W (Including printer and other hardware device)
Considering all appliances were running 24 hours in a day and employees working in different shifts.
Total wattage/power consumption of said appliances are:
960W*60 Tube lights + 360W*30 Bulbs + 1800W*40 Fans + 4800W*20 PCs + 36unit/day*15 ACs.
Total power consumption in particular department in industry per day= 780 KWH
- As we know 1 KWH = 1 Unit
- Total power consumption of department is 780unit and with 10 ₹/unit
- ₹ 7,800 would be the cost for per day power consumption
- ₹ 2,34,000 would be the cost for per month power consumption for particular department
Saving power consumption
Let us say 15 minutes of break to be provided in every 2 hours So, in 24 hours total of 3 hours break was given, in this particular time appliances should be turned “OFF”
- 97 units were saved by doing this practice
- Lunch/dinner break takes around 1 hour
- 32 units were saved by doing this practice
- Unnecessary power consumption (sign in and out/slip from memory etc)
- 10 units were saved by doing this practice
Conclusion
Total of around 140 units were saved that means 140 KWH of power consumption.
- Around ₹1,400 were saved in a day
- Around ₹42,000 were saved in a month
- Around 18% power consumption was reduced in that month
- Many employees became responsible and decrease in rule breaking was observed
- Value of saving electricity-saving environment was added
- Employees admitted they follow this even at home and results were great
DIRECT COST SAVING: ₹42,000/MONTH
SAVING % = 18 %/MONTH (42,000 /2,34,000) X 100=17.94 %