SMART POWER EQUIPMENT
Carbon emissions & industrial power
- How smart power equipment makes carbon reduction manageable
In recent years, environmental agencies across the globe have increased pressure on businesses to reduce their carbon emissions. With hefty costs in place for exceeding carbon limits, plant and site managers must find new ways of minimising their ecological footprints. Here, Matt Collins, business development manager of power distribution specialist ide Systems, explains how this challenge has given rise to smart power equipment — and how businesses can
O
ne of the more popular approaches plant managers take to reducing the carbon footprint of electrical usage is by switching to more renewable
sources. In the UK, for example, thousands of businesses have already taken the step of installing onsite solar panels to reduce their costs and emissions. It’s easy to see why this is a popular choice
among plant and site managers. In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, using onsite solar panels reduces the plant’s operating costs and yields a strong return on investment. Yet, while this is a step in the right direction, it may not necessarily have the desired effect for industrial businesses. Due to the amount of electricity required in
the daily operation of a factory, using onsite renewable energy only goes part way to curbing carbon emissions. It does result in reduced costs and emissions overall, but it does not address the root cause of the high emissions - usage.
To sustainably minimise their carbon footprint, electrical engineers and plant managers must monitor the electrical draw of their equipment and set actions to reduce it. For example, many construction sites
operate on a twelve-hour working day. Outside of these hours, power generation units are commonly left on to provide electricity to site cabins for workers, which results in a significantly elevated energy cost and carbon footprint. This is because these units often power more than just the cabin, meaning other connected equipment draws electricity despite not being in use. Plant managers can keep tabs on their
energy usage by investing in smart energy meters, which provide information on the cost and emission levels of a facility. However, these only provide information about the usage itself rather than insight into what is driving up costs. It is for this reason that we have recently seen a growing trend of manufacturing
“Managers
and electrical engineers who invest in smart
electrical equipment can actively ensure that their energy usage and carbon
footprint are both kept to a minimum.” Matt
Coll ins, business
development manager of ide Systems
16 Matt Collins - ide Systems
construction managers investing in smart electrical equipment. These are systems that allow engineers
and managers to remotely observe the output of electrical equipment and identify what applications, if any, are drawing energy outside of normal parameters. In our construction site example, the generators left on to power the site cabins will be supplying energy by way of a power distribution board. These boards are responsible for distributing power to each subsequent application, such as cabin lighting or industrial equipment. To minimise carbon emissions and energy
costs, all output sockets on the distribution board that are not feeding cabins must be switched off. Unfortunately, this has traditionally only
been achieved through the lengthy process of checking in on all boards before closing up the site for the day. As many of the construction workers are likely to be contractors, managers would be responsible for doing this. However, managers using smart electrical distribution boards would be able to perform this task remotely. Each socket on a smart distribution board is fitted with a multimeter that monitors energy usage and relays this information to the manager’s laptop or smart phone. Managers can then identify the exact location of the board using its GSM functional- ity to manually disconnect the load. Interestingly, the development of smart
technology has allowed managers to do much more than simply pinpoint elevated energy consumption. Smart electrical equipment manufactured
by ide Systems, for example, has been designed to give managers full control over sockets remotely. If a socket is found to be drawing load when it shouldn’t be, managers can use their smart phone to turn it off remotely. Of course, the end goal for managers is to
create a culture where power is managed effectively and equipment is not left drawing energy while not in use. However, a culture such as this takes years
to build and, in the meantime, does not meet the environmental agency’s expectations of lower emissions. Managers and electrical engineers who invest in smart electrical equipment can actively ensure that their energy usage and carbon footprint are both kept to a minimum.
idesystems.co.uk
NOVEMBER‐DECEMBER 2017 UK POWER NEWS
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