Introduction
For the average foundry worker, the area of energy consumption is a confusing and little studied area. The aim of this book is to give the foundry professional a practical, concise and systematic guide to improving energy efficiency in a foundry. This guide covers the following key elements:
- Performing energy audits and determining the gaps;
- Gathering energy conservation ideas;
- Selecting and prioritizing projects; and
- Charting the course of improved energy performance.
"Foundries need to understand not only how they use energy, but also how energy consumption patterns affect costs." – L.V. Whiting
This guide came into being thanks to the joint initiative of the Canadian Foundry Association (CFA) and the Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), under the auspices of the Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC).
The CFA was incorporated in 1975 by a group of owners and CEOs at Canada’s leading foundries who realized that there was a need for a united representation of the industry’s interests. Today, the CFA comprises major metal casters operating over 50 plants throughout Canada and representing over $2 billion (or 80%) of production and sales in the Canadian foundry industry. The industry directly employs approximately 15 000 people, with about 10 000 of them in Ontario.
The CFA provides one voice to address specific issues that affect the industry and to represent members in relations with the Government of Canada. Within a decade after its formation, the Canadian foundry industry faced a serious trade dispute with the United States. Foundries on both sides of the border were hit hard by the recession of the early 1980s. American foundries attempted to restrict imports of castings into the U.S., a move that would have been devastating to the Canadian foundry industry, since most of its exports go south. Following a major lobbying effort, the CFA was successful in blocking the attempt to restrict Canadian casting exports. Recently, environmental concerns and the effective usage of energy in foundries have gained considerable prominence.
The CFA participates in the Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) and states its commitment to reduce greenhouse gases in support of the Government of Canada’s objectives and international undertakings. Energy efficiency is recognized as a means of reducing investment in energy supply to save Canadian foundries money and to improve their competitiveness in domestic and global markets.
In the fall of 2000, the CFA, in concert with the OEE of NRCan, commissioned the establishment of an energy baseline for the foundry industry (leading into benchmarking later), as well as the production of this guidebook. The guidebook will give Canadian foundries a practical tool to use in acting on the many energy efficiency opportunities in their operations – perhaps overlooked or unrecognized until now.
How to use this guidebook
The singular purpose of this guidebook is to offer a lot of ideas and tips on how to approach the issue of improving energy efficiency in your operations and what to do to achieve it. This is not a scientific or theoretical book, and neither is it a foundry operations manual. It should serve as a practical, one-stop source of information and point you in the right direction to get the help you need. Regardless of the type and size of your operation and your specific circumstances, you should be able to get ideas from this guide to successfully implement energy conservation projects in your foundry.
Read all of the guide first, no matter what type of foundry operation you have and what your energy-related priority is right now. You are apt to find ideas that you can easily adapt to your own particular situation. Most likely, those ideas may offer a synergistic solution to a particular problem. While you are reading this guide, free up your imagination and the spirit of innovation about which ideas you could apply in your plant.
"Put energy efficiency into perspective. If your energy budget is $1 million, and you could save just 10% through better energy practices, ask yourself ‘How many castings do I have to sell to earn the $100,000 – net?” – Timothy R. Eby
This guide contains updated references to proven, innovative energy-saving practices from many countries. They relate to specific foundry processes as well as to common energy-using systems, such as compressed air and ventilation. The distinctiveness of different foundry operations presented a special challenge in writing this book. Every attempt has been made to address common interests. Various sources of valuable current information from all over the world were used, including personal communications from Canadian foundries and the Canadian Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET) of NRCan. They are referenced in the Information review section (in Appendix 5.8).