PUMP INDUSTRY
President’s welcome T
he importance of energy efficiency is obvious. We already have in place “MEPS” (Minimum Energy Performance Standards) for electric motors, MEPS for fans is not far away and MEPS is in the planning stage for centrifugal pumps. Sustainability Victoria is the driving force behind these initiatives and those of you who attended our energy efficiency seminars and our recent PIA Exhibition and seminar last October should be well aware of these developments.
Pump Industry Australia Incorporated Kevin Wilson – Secretary PO Box 55, Stuarts Point NSW 2441 Australia Ph/Fax: (02) 6569 0160 pumpsaustralia@bigpond.com Ron Astall – President United Pumps Australia & Astech Consulting Services John Inkster – Vice President Brown Brothers Engineers Mike Bauer - Councillor Dynapumps Geoff Harvey - Councillor Davey Products Pty Ltd Tony Kersten - Councillor Grundfos Pumps Pty Ltd John Link – Councillor Link Pumps Martin O’Connor – Councillor KSB Australia Alan Rowan – Councillor Life Member Keith Sanders – Councillor Australian Industrial Marketing & Life Member
So from a pumping perspective, we already have mandatory electric motor efficiency standards, and similar standards for pumps are on the way. Does this mean job done? Not even close! Aiming for more efficient pumps is a no-brainer, but pumps - particularly centrifugal pumps - are pretty unique in that their power consumption is hugely influenced by the system into which they are installed. Unlike a stand alone appliance that may receive an energy rating, pumps are slaves to the system and to the specifier. In his presentation to PIA last October, Sustainability Victoria’s Ian McNicol correctly highlighted that pumps are only one facet of total pumping system efficiency. A poorly designed system incorporating an efficient pump is still a poor system. A well designed system with an efficient but incorrectly sized or throttled pump is still a poor system. The real issue is minimising power consumption. A friend of mine was designing a transfer pumping system and asked my advice on pump selection. Originally he wanted to limit himself to 50mm poly pipe because this was cheaper. This would have meant around a 200kW pump for the pipeline length involved. Of course common sense intervened and we found a compromise with 100mm pipe
requiring only a 30kW pump. His annual running costs were obviously much lower and in this instance the capital cost was also better. Interestingly, because larger pumps are typically more efficient than smaller pumps, the 200kW unit would have had a better pump efficiency than the smaller 30kW unit. The point of this example is that pump efficiency is far less important than the overall system efficiency. Again, the real issue is minimising power consumption. This brings me to the excellent presentation from John Macdonald from AusIndustry at our February General Meeting; in particular; the Clean Technology Investment Program. This program is an $800 million competitive, merit-based grants program that supports Australian manufacturers to invest in energy efficient capital equipment and low emission technologies, processes and products. The program will provide funding over a seven year period from 2011-12 to 2017-18. As pumps are often responsible for the bulk of industrial energy consumption, this program could be of benefit to many pump users and would potentially assist in covering upgrade costs for inefficient or worn pumping systems. I encourage pump users to investigate this program and the pump industry to let their customers know that this is available. http://www.ausindustry.gov.au/ programs/CleanTechnology/CleanTechnologyInvestment/Pages/default.aspx The challenge for us all is to encourage better system design and to correctly specify the most efficient pumps available.
Ron Astall President, Pump Industry Association 1