GENERAL

• Undertake regular Energy Audits.
• Plug all oil leakage. Leakage of one drop of oil per second amounts to a loss of over 2000 litres/year.
• Filter oil in stages. Impurities in oil affect combustion.
• Pre-heat the Oil. For proper combustion, oil should be at right viscosity at the burner tip. Provide heat capacity.
• Incomplete combustion leads to wastage of fuel. Observe the colour of smoke emitted from chimney. Black smoke indicates improper combustion and fuel wastage. White smoke indicates excess air & hence loss of heat. Hazy brown smoke indicates proper combustion.
• Use of low air pressure "film burners" helps save oil upto 15% in furnaces.

FURNACE

• Control excess air in furnaces. A 10% drop in excess air amounts to 1% saving of fuel in furnaces. For an annual consumption of 3000 kilo litres of furnace oil, means a saving of Rs. 3 lakhs.
• Reduce heat losses through furnace openings. Observation shows that a furnace operating at a temperature of 1000 °C having an open door Results in a fuel loss of 10 lit/hr. For a 4000 hrs. Furnace operation this translates into a loss of approx. Rs. 4 lakhs per year.
• Improve insulation if the surface temperature exceeds 20°C above ambient. Studies have revealed that heat loss from a furnace wall 115 mm thick at 650°C amounting to 2650 Kcal/m² /hr can be cut down to 850 kcal/m²/hr by using 65 mm thick insulation on the 115 mm wall.
• Proper design of lids of melting furnaces and training of operators to close lids helps reduce losses by 10-20% in foundries.
• Improve insulation if the surface temperature exceeds 20°C above ambient. Studies have revealed that heat loss from a furnace wall 115 mm thick at 650°C amounting to 2650 Kcal/m²/hr can be cut down to 850 kcal/m²/hr by using 65 mm thick insulation on the 115 mm wall.
• Proper design of lids of melting furnaces and training of operators to close lids helps reduce losses by 10-20% in foundries.

BOILER

• Remove soot deposits when flue gas temperature rises 40°C above the normal. A coating of 3 mm thick soot on the heat transfer surface can cause an increase in fuel consumption of as much as 2.5%.
• Recover heat from steam condensate. For every 6°C rise in boiler feed water temperature through condensate return, there is 1% saving in fuel.
• Improve boiler efficiency. Boilers should be monitored for flue gas losses, radiation losses, incomplete combustion, blow down losses, excess air etc. Proper control can decrease the consumption upto 20%.
• Use only treated water in boilers. A scale formation of 1-mm thickness on the waterside would increase fuel consumption by 5-8%.
• Stop steam leakage. Steam leakage from a 3mm-diameter hole on a pipeline carrying steam at 7 kg/cm² would waste 32 kilo litresl of fuel oil per year amounting to a loss of Rs. 3 lakhs.

DG SETS

• A poorly maintained injection pump increases fuel consumption by 4gm/kwh.
• A faulty nozzle increases fuel consumption by 2gm/kwh.
• Blocked filters increase fuel consumption by 2gm/kwh.
• A continuously running DG set can generate 0.5Ton/Hr of steam at 10 to 12 bar from the residual heat of the engine exhaust per MW of the generator capacity.
• Measure fuel consumption per kWh of electricity generated regularly. Take corrective action in case this shows a rising trend.

COMPRESSED AIR

• Compressed air is very energy intensive. Only 5% of electrical energy is converted to useful energy. Use of compressed air for cleaning is rarely justified.
• Increase in inlet air temperature by 3°C-increase power consumption by 1%. Ensure low temperature of inlet air.
• Reduction in discharge pressure by 10% saves energy consumption upto 5%. It should be examined whether air at lower pressure can be used in the process.
• A leakage from a ½" diameter hole from a compressed air line working at a pressure of 7 kg/cm
• Air output of compressors per unit of electricity input must be measured at regular intervals. Efficiency of compressors tends to deteriorate with time.

REFRIGERATION & AIR CONDITIONING

• Use of double doors, automatic door closures, air curtains, double glazed windows, polyester sun films etc. reduces heat ingress and air-conditioning load of buildings.
• Maintain condensers for proper heat exchange. A 5°C decrease in evaporator temperature increases specific power consumption by 15%.
• Utilization of air conditioned/ refrigerated space should be examined and efforts made to reduce cooling load as far as possible.
• Utilize waste heat of excess steam or flue gases to change over from gas compression systems to absorption chilling systems and save energy costs in the range of 50-70%.
• Specific power consumption of compressors should be measured at regular intervals. The most efficient compressors to be used for continuous duty and others on standby.

PUMPS

• Improper selection of pumps can lead to large wastage of energy. A pump with 85% efficiency at rated flow may have only 65% efficiency at half the flow.
• Use of throttling valves instead of variable speed drives to change flow of fluids is a wasteful practice. Throttling can cause wastage of power to the tune of 50 to 60%.
• Drive transmission between pumps & motors is very important. Loose belts can cause energy loss upto 15-20%.
• Modern synthetic flat belts in place of conventional V belts can save 5% to 10% of energy.