October 2, 2019 | 2 minute read
Each year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) designates October as National Energy Awareness Month, also known as Energy Action Month. This observance promotes smart energy choices and showcases how critical energy is to our national prosperity, security and environmental well-being. The effort also helps increase recognition of the importance of sustainability in managing the nation’s energy resources.
In addition to benefiting the environment, reduced energy use can also benefit a plant’s bottom line by limiting the costs associated with powering equipment.
Power generation plants vary greatly across the industry, from those fueled by coal or natural gas to those powered by nuclear, hydroelectric or geothermal energy. Although they operate differently, they still share a common goal―to meet the growing demand for energy in a responsible, efficient way. John Crane’s depth and breadth of applied engineering expertise, product innovation and reliability services help plants of all types increase uptime, reduce emissions and improve efficiency to achieve their goals.
We offer a wide variety of products custom engineered to use less energy, as well as a wealth of expertise in identifying retrofit, upgrade and conversion opportunities that help lower energy use.
Serving the Energy Sector
We’ve been helping customers in the energy services sector reduce energy consumption for decades, which means we’re uniquely qualified to help optimize individual applications as well as entire systems, such as upstream oil and gas wells.
Using John Crane products—such as the Aura® dry gas mechanical seals, John Crane Diamond® and Upstream Pumping seal face technology, and the T4111 Single-use Elastomer Bellows Cartridge Seal—can help conserve energy and generate fuel savings by improving equipment and process efficiency.
Working with OEMs
We also work directly with OEMs to custom design components that will meet their customers’ demands for reduced energy use. We draw on decades of applied engineering experience to advise our customers of the most cost-effective ways to lower their energy costs. The most common way to reduce energy consumption is to replace soft-packed seals with modern mechanical seals, which can use as little as one-tenth as much energy in some cases. Substituting laser-faced seals for plain-faced seals can further cut consumption by up to an additional 90 percent.
Reliability Support and Turbomachinery Service
Our Reliability Support service helps identify opportunities for energy conservation within the overall system, recommending options such as variable-speed drives or energy-efficient drives for pumps. John Crane Turbomachinery Service engineers have years of experience finding ways to maximize industrial energy efficiency, even in challenging turbine environments. One of the most cost-effective ways to reduce energy consumption in these environments is to ensure proper shaft alignment. When combined with couplings that offer misalignment compensation at low restoring forces, a dramatic increase in energy savings can be achieved.