Opportunities for saving energy are everywhere, but which measures are worthwhile and can be implemented on a big scale? Energy and environmental managers are asking themselves this question over and over again. Viega, a world market leader in installation technology for sanitation and heating, is an example of how even small savings can have a significant impact.
Overview
- Project
- Viega
- Location
- Attendorn, Germany
- Challenge
Energy savings at production sites
- Solution
Service and efficiency check by Rittal
Check of each coolings units efficiency and recommendation of which device should be replaced
“Making energy consumption transparent and identifying the main drivers that we can address” are the key points that Martin Szilinski is concerned with in daily life. He is responsible for energy, environmental and occupational safety at Viega. The company produces pipe connection technology from copper, steel, stainless steel, brass, plastic, and gunmetal at its main production site in Großheringen.
AMBITIOUS SAVINGS TARGETS
“We set ourselves a target of 10 percent over the past five years for energy savings at our German sites,” says Andreas Brockow, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Viega: “And we were able to easily exceed this target.” One crucial step, for example, was the construction of four combined heat and power (CHP) plants with integrated refrigeration. After the so-called low-hanging fruit had been plucked, Szilinski and his team had to look for other ways of saving energy.
Thomas Schild, energy and environmental manager at the Großheringen site, initiated an exciting project. He learned about the Blue e+ series of cooling units at a Rittal in-house exhibition. Thanks to innovative hybrid technology, which combines conventional compressor cooling with a heat pipe, these allow real energy savings of up to 70 percent in operation.
The results were impressive: In fact, the energy savings were as high as Rittal predicted.
The heat pipe works especially well if there is a big temperature difference between the interior of the enclosure and the environment, and it consumes very little energy. Furthermore, the compressor cooling system is also very energy-efficient thanks to demand-driven control technology and energy-efficient drives.
THE TEST RESULTS ARE CONVINCING
During the market launch of the new generation of cooling units, Rittal offered selected customers the chance to put the devices through their paces in a trial run. As a result, two production machines in the Großheringen manufacturing facility were retrofitted. After testing, Mr. Szilinski and Mr. Schild commissioned Rittal’s After Sales Service to check each cooling unit’s efficiency. The findings identified the machines where it would make sense to replace the cooling units. In the end, 138 devices were earmarked for replacement.
“Of course, we also had to convince the management of this investment,” Mr. Szilinski recalls. Here, the data from testing, the efficiency check and the emissions savings helped to aid argumentation enormously. “One single enclosure climate control system is, of course, a relatively small adjustment. However, if you look at the savings made in the entire plant, the measure has a big impact,” Mr. Szilinski adds.