When thinking about saving electricity in our businesses we often think of some common tips:

  • Turn off lights when the room is not in use, or fit motion sensors.
  • Shorten our office or other premises operating hours when underused
  • Ensure computers are switched off each evening

Although lighting is perhaps the best-known global consumer of electricity, another significant factor that many forget is pumping. Pumps and pumping equipment account for an estimated 10% of global electricity consumption.

Pumps account for a massive proportion of our energy consumption.

Think about your daily morning routine: you might get up, go to the toilet, have a shower and make a cup of coffee. All of these activities involve pumps. The water used to flush your toilet has to be pumped from a reservoir, to a treatment facility, down the mains pipe to your street, and eventually to your house and into your toilet.

The pressure required to make this happen often comes from pumps. Second, once the toilet is flushed, the waste needs to make it to a sewage treatment works, where it is made safe to dispose of, and then it can be safely introduced into the environment. Again, pumps are involved in moving the waste we produce. Thirdly, the simple act of turning on a tap requires drinking water to be drawn from a reservoir, treated, tested and safely transported via pipes to your tap. This is no simple feat.

So, as you can see, pumps are involved in many of the simple daily tasks we take for granted. What this also shows us is that if we are serious about reducing the amount of energy our pumps consume, we can make a significant contribution to the world’s electricity consumption and save ourselves or our business some money in the process.

How can pumps help me save energy?

Any conventional business will most likely have at least one pump using electricity. Most likely this pump is part of the central heating system, and its job is to move the hot water from the boiler round to all the radiators in the building. Most pumps of this type contain an electric motor which spins an ‘impeller’ and transfers energy to the water so it moves - the same principle as the propellor on the back of a motorboat.

If the pump is: a) the wrong size, b) not variable speed or c) not set up correctly, then you could be wasting significant amounts of electricity every year, and therefore wasting money. I’ll now go into more detail on each of these issues and how to address them:

1. Proper Design and Sizing

Probably the most complex of the issues to solve - which is why we would always recommend involving a trained professional who knows how to correctly size and specify an appropriate pump.

Although variable speed pumps are more expensive to purchase, in almost all situations this extra cost will be offset by the energy savings achieved over its lifetime - along with reducing its carbon footprint.

2. Selecting Variable Speed Pumps

In the pumping world there are two ways of operating a pump: fixed speed and variable speed. Fixed speed pumps are the traditional method - the pump is fed power at a set voltage and this directly powers the pump. Because most mains power is stable, the pump will operate at a single speed. Because of this, the pump will use a consistent amount of energy whenever it is activated. Even a pump with an energy-efficient motor will waste energy this way. This is because the demand in the majority of systems is not constant.

For example, a pump used to supply cold water to an apartment block will use much less cold water at 2am than at 7am. As long as the demand is above zero, a fixed speed pump will operate at full power. On the other hand, a variable speed pump is capable of turning itself down so that it uses much less energy in low-demand situations.

Although variable speed pumps are more expensive to purchase, in almost all situations this extra cost will be offset by the energy savings achieved over its lifetime - along with reducing its carbon footprint.

3. Ensuring the Pump is Set Up Properly

Professional commissioning of any pumping system is an essential step in the energy-saving process. An experienced engineer will survey the system once installed and adjust the various parameters to ensure the system works efficiently. Although many of the assumptions made in the design process will be accurate, there may be aspects which differ slightly and therefore the system will no doubt benefit from proper commissioning which will lead to a significant reduction in energy wastage.