Abstract
Industrial energy conservation measures (ECMs) are important components of efforts to reduce global energy consumption and carbon emissions. To aid in assessing water conservation co-benefits of ECMs applied to industrial steam systems, this study proposes a combined energy-water conservation metric that captures the cost of conserved energy and water (CCEW) for common steam system-related ECMs. The proposed metric utilizes a fundamentals-based steam system model coupled with US industrial energy audit data to estimate potential water savings for 21 common ECMs in US industrial plants. At an average water cost of $0.71/kL ($2.66/1000 gal.), improvements to steam distribution, steam vents, de-aerator operation, steam traps, and steam leaks, which correlate to a reduction in steam generation requirements, are shown to have a CCEW that is 0.22 $/GJ lower than the conventional cost of conserved (CCE) for these ECMs. Furthermore, improvements to boiler system blowdown, which correlate to a reduction in liquid water purged from the system, are shown to have a CCEW that is 0.83 $/GJ lower than the CCE for this ECM. The study results demonstrate how broader consideration of water savings can improve the economic case for industrial ECMs.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- AI :
-
Annualized investment
- A p :
-
Assumed fraction of industry subset to which each energy conservation measure can be applied
- CCE:
-
Cost of conserved energy
- CCEW:
-
Cost of conserved energy and water
- CHP:
-
Combined heat and power
- C imp :
-
Capital purchase and implementation costs associated with each energy conservation measure
- CSC:
-
Conservation supply curve
- Δm MU /ΔQ fuel :
-
Change in mass of water consumed vs change in energy consumed
- ΔOM :
-
Change in annual operation and maintenance costs associated with each energy conservation measure
- ECM:
-
Energy conservation measure
- E pot :
-
Energy savings potential associated with each energy conservation measure
- ES :
-
Energy savings associated with each energy conservation measure
- Pn initial :
-
Assumed initial market penetration for each energy conservation measure
- Pn max :
-
Assumed max market penetration for each energy conservation measure
- P w :
-
Price of water
- Q boiler :
-
Energy consumed for steam generation in boiler systems for industry subset
- Q CHP :
-
Energy consumed by combined heat and power systems in industry subset
- Q fuel :
-
Total energy consumption baseline for steam generation in industry subset
- S p :
-
Average fractional energy savings associated with each energy conservation measure
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Abigail Hawley for her contributions assessing industrial water prices, as well as Randall Waymire for their contributions assessing energy conservation measures.
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Niemeyer, E., Walker, M.E., Lema, G. et al. Impact of water consumption on the economic viability of energy efficiency improvements for industrial steam systems. Energy Efficiency 16, 89 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-023-10167-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-023-10167-9