Industry Groups Push for Fan and Pump Efficiency Standards

The Pump Industry Association and Fan Manufacturers Association of Australia and New Zealand have been working with Sustainability Victoria to develop energy-efficiency standards for fans and pumps used in commercial, manufacturing and mining sectors, Pump Industry Magazine reports.

Companies can adopt several approaches to save energy, Sustainability Victoria’s Ian McNicol writes in an article for the Australian magazine. These include sizing motors to match load requirements, using variable speed drives where the load is variable and using high-efficiency motors, couplings and end-use equipment. McNicol also suggests optimizing downstream distribution systems, eliminating losses and leaks, and maintaining and repairing fans and pumps to cut energy use.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), in a 2011 report, says companies could achieve across-the-board savings of 20 to 30 percent by improving motor systems energy efficiency. This, according to IEA, would reduce total global electricity demand by 10 percent. Global policy changes would save about 24,000 TWh in electricity demand and generate cost savings of about $1.7 trillion by 2030 (see Figure 1), IEA estimates.

There are barriers to achieving cost and energy savings, Pump Industry Magazine reports. McNicol cites split incentives — in which the party that specifies the equipment is not directly responsible for paying the energy bills — and supply chain risk minimization, where standard equipment is specified or “like is replaced with like” as two hurdles.

Additionally, companies often prioritize upfront costs over lifecycle costs. This is a mistake, McNicol says, because energy costs can be a significant percentage of lifetime operating costs: up to 85 percent for pump systems and 67 percent for fan systems.

According to Ferret, an Australian manufacturing, industrial and mining directory, Hydro Innovations’ supplies energy-efficient Gorman-Rupp water and wastewater pumps. It says the company’s centrifugal pumps in the Super U Series are up to 75 percent efficient.