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Managing Utilities to Reduce Usage, Save Money (Conclusion)

Tracking, improving water and natural gas usage

CHICAGO — The key performance indicators (KPI), also called metrics, in the laundry industry are labor, inventory and utilities.

Each of those metrics can be positively affected to make improvements in the bottom line of a laundry business. When it comes to utilities—electricity, water and natural gas—there are practical steps that a laundry can take to see lowered usage and increased savings.

David Bernstein, president of Lapauw USA, addressed the topic of improving utility usage in the Association for Linen Management (ALM) webinar called Key Performance Indicators in Utility Management.

“As we talk about utilities in our facilities, we’re going to answer some specific questions in regards to each of these utilities. How and what should I track? How much do I use? How much does it cost? What can I do to positively impact those metrics?” says Bernstein.

WATER

Bernstein says there are two components to a laundry’s water bill: incoming, or how much water a plant is feeding into its equipment, and outgoing, or how much water the laundry is putting down the drain. 

“Think about what your ironers and dryers are designed to do,” he says. “They’re designed to evaporate water. If you’re currently paying one-to-one on what comes in and what goes out, whether you have a water reuse or water recycle system doesn’t matter. We know that we are evaporating moisture. You should be getting evaporation credits from your utility company.” 

Bernstein says that some laundries have been battling their utility companies for evaporation credit, and he recommends to keep at. In most places throughout the country, most people are getting such credits, he says. 

“Some get them automatically,” he says. “Sometimes it’s just a phone call, ‘Hi, I’m a laundry,’ and you get a 15 to 20% evaporation credit. In other cases, you may have to do some evaporation studies, but it’s well worth it because you’ll see that recurring savings month after month.”

A laundry’s water usage is measured in pounds processed per gallon, and Bernstein says there are a lot of dependent factors when it comes to usage. 

“It depends on your equipment,” he says. “Do you use washer-extractors or are you using tunnel washers? If you’re using washer-extractors, do you have a traditional water reuse system? Do you have a water recycling system? Do you have a tunnel washer and a recycling system where, in some cases, you could be saving 70 to 90%, depending upon your product mix?” 

Bernstein says the most obvious place to start when it comes to reducing water usage is leaks.

“A little drip that keeps you up at night at home can cost you $140 to $150 a year,” he says. If that were my home, that would be something I would fix right away. If you go through your facility looking for little drips like this, they’re everywhere. Imagine if you could find, say, 10 of these. You’ve saved yourself $1,400; to me, that’s time well spent.” 

Next, Bernstein recommends checking washer drains on a regular basis.

“I was in a facility that had a conventional side-loading washer-extractor with dump valves underneath,” he says. “So I got down underneath to look at these drain valves and what did I see? Napkins, strings, all kinds of things caught in the drains, which meant that the machine would fill up to a certain level and then because these drains were being kept open by all this stuff that was blocking the valves from closing fully, they were constantly leaking. They were constantly refilling.” 

Not only was the laundry using more water than it needed to use, but it was also diluting the chemistry. Bernstein says the company’s wash quality was probably suffering as well.  

NATURAL GAS

When it comes to natural gas, the bill might read in Btu, but Bernstein says that some gas bills might read out therms or deca-therms of McF. It’s just a conversion to figure out Btu used per pound in order to compare what the utility says has been used to the readings a laundry has recorded. 

Again, he says natural gas usage depends on the equipment in a facility.

“How many dryers? What kind of dryers? How do you use your dryers? Do you have ironers? Are they steam-heated? Are they self-contained gas-heated? Are they thermal oil-heated where you have a thermal oil boiler elsewhere in your facility? If you have a steam boiler, what are you using it for? How large is it? How efficient is it? All of these things can affect your gas usage,” he says.

A simple way to reduce natural gas usage, says Bernstein, is for a laundry to check if the steam piping going from the boiler to, for instance, ironers, and the condensate lines going back, are insulated.

“Obviously, OSHA requires insulation within so many feet from the floor, but they should be insulated throughout your facility, especially if there’s a long distance involved. You could be talking about a lot of thermal loss before that steam ever hits the ironer,” he says. “You may be at 120 psi at your boiler, but once it gets to your ironer, you could be as low as 105 psi. You spent a lot of money to heat up water, and you’re not seeing the benefit; those need to be insulated.” 

Bernstein also says that using heat reclaimers in a facility can help improve gas usage. 

“For some plants, even water recycling systems can help with usage,” he says. “You can reclaim some of that heat so you don’t have to reheat that water before it enters your wash line.”  

Another option to reduce cost is to look at how natural gas is transported to a laundry, Bernstein says. The cost of gas, he says, includes the commodity price, which is the traded value on the market. Next, there is a transportation cost, how much it costs to get the gas to the local municipality. Finally, there is the “city gate to burner tip” cost, which is how much it costs to deliver it from the city to your individual equipment. 

“It is possible to use an energy broker. It is possible to use different transportation companies,” he says. “You don’t have to use your local municipal utility for each of those elements. By doing that, there is a lot of competition and you may be able to save just by using different people. You’ll get another bill, but who cares? You’re saving money.”

Other options to reduce natural gas costs, Bernstein says, include longer-term contracts and agreeing to what is known as “interruptible service.”

“Some utility companies will say, ‘We would love, with reasonable notice, say within 20 to 60 minutes, to be able to say we’re going to turn your gas off,’” he says. “Maybe it’s really cold weather, and the gas is needed elsewhere. If you agree to that, if maybe you have a supplemental propane tank onsite or maybe a gas-oil burner, you may be able to qualify for a lower gas rate from the utility company.” 

Bernstein says there are several ways a laundry can reduce gas usage. Keep the boiler tuned up. Monitor stack exhaust temperature to ensure efficient energy usage. Keep heating circuits clean as part of tune-ups. Bring the condensate from steam-powered equipment back to the boiler. Make sure the steam traps on steam equipment are in good condition. Make sure the burner and controls are up-to-date and efficient. 

“Consider a stack economizer,” he says. “You’re taking that exhaust air that normally would just go out in the atmosphere and make a nice cloud over your plant, and you’re using that hot air to heat incoming water.

“Inspect for leaks. A small leak, besides being dangerous, can cost you a lot of money. There are few plants I go through that have zero steam leaks.” 

Most importantly, he says, the laundry needs to involve everybody in the facility to successfully reduce utility usage. 

“Explain to everybody what the impact of leaks and drips and leaving lights on could be in the facility,” he says. “Explain the effect that each of them could have when making sure they save energy and keep their company profitable.”

Miss Part 1 on how and what to track, plus electrical usage tips? Click here to read it.

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Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].