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Compressed Air

Why be energy efficient?

Stationary compressor

Stationary compressor (Yanior on Wikimedia)

Approximately 10% of the electricity supplied to Australian industry is used to compress air.1 Many industrial businesses use compressed air to operate equipment such as hand tools, pumps, valve actuators, pistons and large-scale processes.

There is significant potential to save energy and improve the bottom line in this area. It can be achieved by reducing the need for compressed air services, optimising equipment and upgrading old systems. Typically, 20–50% energy savings are possible.2

For information on types of air compressors, see Technology Background – Compressed Air.

Opportunities

A good air compressor energy efficiency strategy relies on an integrated approach that incorporates the following opportunities:

See all opportunities in Compressed Air See all opportunities

Case studies

  • Murray Goulburn Co–operative Leongatha Plant 2008 (Opens in a new window)

    This case study describes how Murray Goulburn Co-operative undertook a system-based audit to deliver energy savings and cost reductions through the improved use of compressed air. This led to a range of changes to the compressed air system at their Leongatha plant, which reduced their energy and maintenance bill by more than $147,000 per annum with a project payback within 2.4 years.

  • Climate Energy Efficiency Case Study: Futuris Automotive 2011 (Opens in a new window)

    Futuris provides seating and interior trim on a just in time basis to Ford Australia. At their Cambellfield site between 2008 and 2009 they more than halved their average energy intensity. This case study outlines an energy efficiency demonstration project that set out to identify further cost effective energy efficiency opportunities.

  • North American Case Studies - Compressed Air Systems 2004
    • Natural Resources Canada

    This content provides links to a number of compressed air case studies drawn from a range of programs across Canadian and United States industries.

  • Case Studies – Compressor and Compressed Air Systems 2006
    • Energy Efficiency Guide for Industry in Asia

    A collection of case studies focusing on the optimisation of compressor and compressed air systems. Each case study reports project costs, annual cost savings and payback period, as well as identifying other issues and benefits. These case studies will be useful in helping to identify new energy efficiency opportunities, estimating energy savings potential, developing business cases for process optimisation and leak identification and repair.

Key resources

For more resources, see Resources – Compressed Air.

 

Footnotes ~ Show 2 footnotes

  1. Sustainability Victoria (2009) Energy Efficiency Best Practice Guide: Compressed Air Systems Sustainability Victoria (Opens in a new window) PDF 1.58 MB ↩
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2003) Improving Compressed Air System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry US Department of Energy (Opens in a new window) PDF 1.1 MB ↩