Thermal Energy Systems: Enhancing the Competitive Advantage for Virginia Businesses

Relevance
In 2010, the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy sponsored a project which in part focused on developing a spatial database of the more than 25-thousand active boilers across the Commonwealth of Virginia.  While further database and map interface formatting refinements are underway, the current web map version of this geospatial boiler database is posted at here.

While much of the initial boiler work focused on exploring opportunities for fuel switching, the project team is also aware of the need to raise awareness of best management practices to increase boiler life and reduce facility energy costs for the existing 25-thousand active boilers across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Response
On June 4, 2014 the project team hosted a boiler workshop in Martinsville, VA using meeting space at the Virginia Museum of Natural History.  This workshop was sponsored by the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. The IMG_20140604_094345_994IMG_20140604_131725_642technical session featured the US Department of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office’s Steam End User training curriculum.  An online version of the course materials is also available at the DOE Learning Management System.

This course covers the operation of typical steam systems and discusses methods of system efficiency improvement. The training is designed for plant personnel, such as energy managers, steam system supervisors, engineers, and equipment operators, who have steam system responsibilities in industrial and institutional plants. The course covers three key areas of potential system improvement:

  • Steam Generation Efficiency,
  • Resource Utilization Effectiveness,
  • Steam Distribution System Losses.”  

(Steam End User Quotation from DOE, 2014)

The session was led by Dr. Stephen Terry, P.E., of North Carolina State University and included a facility tour of the boiler room at the Virginia Museum of Natural History.

Results
One-hundred percent of workshop participants would recommend the session to a colleague, many indicated the direct action they plan to take at their facility as a result of the information gained through the session, some of the most common actions included:

  • “Review and identify energy savings systems for my steam systems”
  • “Evaluate steam system performance using SSAT
  • “Perform an economic analysis on potential steam system upgrades”
  • “Survey and screen steam boiler, distribution and condensate return equipment in my plant”

The information and resources provided through this workshop helped highlight the need to explore appropriate energy efficiency measures, and the methods and examples featured during the session offered some practical approaches to identifying these energy-cost saving measures across the variety of facilities using boiler systems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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