Categories: Green

Making Production Changes That Benefit The Earth

July 12, 2016

Production operations of all types can benefit from making changes to their process and minimize their environmental impact. Here, we look at the example of changing the source of energy used to operate commercial equipment and how that would benefit the Earth.

The Background

In the United States as in many other developed countries, a primary concern is the burning of carbon fuels, which produces emissions that will trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. The effect is the greenhouse effect, the cause of global warming. Higher temperatures on the planet can cause the precious ice caps to melt, the sea levels to rise, and the changing of the natural equilibrium for all species. Any production changes that would reduce the burning of carbon fuels will help to decrease the greenhouse effect.

The Facts

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Electricity production accounts for more than one-third of U.S. global warming emissions, with the majority generated by coal-fired power plants, which produce approximately 25 percent of total U.S. global warming emissions; natural gas-fired power plants produce 6 percent of total emissions. In contrast, most renewable energy sources produce little to no global warming emissions.”

What Can Be Done

At first glance, a production facility might hesitate to go green, or switch to a source of energy that does not come from the burning of carbon fuels. The leaders fear the cost of conversion of equipment, but that’s often not required. Converting production equipment to run on natural gas, solar energy, or another type of renewable energy is not necessary if the production facility can source the renewable energy and then convert it through one method into a central electricity source. Then, machines receiving electrical energy from that main source through appropriate circuitry will continue to run according to their original design. Professionals, like those at Power Test Inc., know that testing equipment to run at maximum efficiency can also help. Devices like engine dynamometers, can help to ensure that this happens more often.

Energy Efficiency as a Goal

Organizations that use energy in renewable forms can also streamline all operations to conserve the use of energy regardless of the source. This approach includes identifying the production methods that are most efficient and eliminating instances of duplicated work, especially processes with many steps performed by electrically operated machines. Other simple options that benefit the Earth include: turning off lights in rooms that are not being used, shutting down computers and commercial equipment between shifts, and installing reduced lighting in non-work areas such hallways, lobbies, storage rooms, and break rooms. There are so many ways that an organization can change its operations to benefit the Earth, but it must start somewhere.

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