NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y.,
July 15, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/
-- Through a contract with Shannon Global Energy Solutions,
Horizon Health Network (Horizon) has made a one-time investment in
the Shannon reusable insulation blanket (model LT450SS) and heat
shield (model LT500HS-TC) for the boiler room at Horizon Health
Network's Miramichi Regional Hospital (MRH) in New Brunswick, Canada. Since installing
insulation blankets in April 2015,
MRH calculates it has saved 15 million pounds of steam.
"Each reusable insulation blanket should last at least another
10 years," says Frank Kovacs,
president and CEO of Shannon Global Energy Solutions. "Over the
next decade, MRH can expect to save another 30 million pounds of
steam."
The hospital's staff installed the reusable insulation for MRH's
boiler room, including its main header, instantaneous heater and
condensate pumps. Horizon measured and verified the savings using
its facility and energy management software program with an audit
of its steam system's energy loss before blanketing the components
in 2015. To determine the initial – and ongoing – savings from each
reusable insulation blanket, hospital staff analyzed total steam
produced from April 2015 to
June 2015 and compared that to
April 2014 through June 2014 using a weather normalized data
analysis for two, different baseline years (i.e., fiscal years
2011-2012 and 2014-2015). The staff then compared the
weather-normalized data to the actual steam production after
installation (i.e., April – June
2015).
Following is an extract of an M&V report on the reusable
insulation blankets in place at MRH. Assuming a monthly savings of
250,000 lbs. of steam based on the first three months after
installation, extrapolating a three-month saving over 12 months
yields:
- Monthly Steam Savings = 250,000 lbs.
- Annual Steam Savings = 3,000,000 lbs.
- Annual Cost Avoidance = $29,212
- Project Cost = $22,627
- Simple Payback (in years)= 0.77
Horizon learned about reusable insulation while researching
energy-saving strategies that could deliver a quick payback at a
low cost. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, installing "a
one-inch thick blanket on an uninsulated six-inch gate valve in a
250-pound-per-square-inch-gauge (psig) saturated steam line yields
a savings of $525 per year." With
this and other findings in mind, Horizon contacted Shannon to audit
the steam system at MRH.
The audit for of MRH's system predicted a reusable insulation
blanket covering steam system components could save one million
pounds of steam annually. For the audit, Shannon traced the steam
system and calculated thermal energy loss from MRH's boiler room
among other places. After installing each reusable insulation
blanket, hospital staff measured the actual annual cost avoidance
in MRH's boiler room to be nearly three times greater than
Shannon's initial audit.
Alexis Tremblay of Preston Phipps
Inc., a Canadian-owned provider of products and services for steam
optimization and an exclusive distributor for Shannon, says, "We
often hear employers say, 'We've looked at our insulation and are
in good shape,' or 'We don't have the funds.'" But Tremblay
suggests maintenance and energy managers ask a third party to
perform an energy survey and explore the payback from reusable
insulation.
"The surveys are often free," adds Tremblay. "If done correctly,
they can address energy costs.'"
SOURCE Shannon Global Energy Solutions