Energy and water consumption can make a major impact on a company’s bottom line, even as implementing changes sometimes requires fighting for funding amid competing priorities. However, soaring energy prices can make optimization projects an easier sell.
To understand how companies in the chemical process industries (CPI) are managing energy and water waste, CEP surveyed its reader base in June 2022. More than 200 readers responded to questions that asked how their companies are prioritizing monitoring energy and water consumption, and how monitoring affects overall operations.
Forty-two percent of respondents said their company monitors for both energy and water efficiency and waste (Figure 1). At least half said their energy and water waste management practices are a boon for helping their company meet regulatory requirements, enhance brand reputation, and optimize operational practices.
▲FIGURE 1. DO YOU MONITOR FOR ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY/WASTE?
In open-ended responses, readers mentioned a variety of challenges in adopting new strategies for energy and water conservation, ranging from resistance to change within the organization to lack of money to difficulty finding skilled labor. Respondents most often mentioned the prioritization of yield over energy/water conservation as a key factor hampering further improvements (Figure 2). Known inefficiencies of the process also ranked as a major barrier, as did inefficient asset management leading to suboptimal operating conditions. About a quarter of respondents mentioned a lack of monitoring and the inability to measure consumption adequately as a problem for their organization.
▲FIGURE 2. WHAT ARE THE KEY FACTORS THAT HAMPER YOUR ABILITY TO REDUCE ENERGY AND WATER CONSUMPTION?*.
Despite the challenges, many respondents said their company is currently taking steps to address energy and water waste. The most common improvement programs involve optimizing internal business processes, implementing technology-enabled monitoring solutions, and replacing aging equipment with newer, more efficient equipment. Also common were efforts to optimize operational envelopes and to improve manual tracking of key performance indicators.
A majority of respondents were optimistic about their company’s ability to make changes in energy and water efficiency and ranked energy/water usage reductions as a top priority of their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy.
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