10 ways to zap your energy bill: implement these ten low- to zero-cost ideas, and the rising price of energy won't leave you in the dark.

You don't want to spend a bunch of money to save money and you don't have to. With zero-capital cultural change tips, you can pull the plug on your high energy bill and change the way things run around your facility.

To learn to be more efficient on the whole, the industry needs an attitude adjustment, said Bob Eppich, owner of Eppich Technologies, Parma, Ohio.

"It is a cultural change requirement that will come from top management," he said. "Cultural changes require no capital."

And while instituting cultural change sounds like a daunting task, there are simple things you can do to take part in the larger revolution--small changes you can make in your metalcasting facility that will bring about a different attitude in the community.

1 Keep Tabs on Your Provider

Some energy users have no idea how electric companies charge them. As a metalcaster, you can't afford to be one of them.

Depending on whether you reside in a regulated state, you may or may not be charged according to on-peak and off-peak energy pricing.

"The most important thing that I try to advise is to understand how you're paying for energy," said Roger Baker, senior engineer at ComEd, Chicago. "How are you buying it? That can have an impact on what you're doing."

Metalcasters in deregulated states may be in a bind when it comes to how their energy provider charges them. They're not guaranteed the on-peak/off-peak energy cycles and are forced to eliminate energy costs in other ways. But those in regulated states will have the chance to climb in this loophole.

When energy is charged according to on-peak and off-peak demand, the on-peak hours will cost you more, and those usually are positioned strategically in the middle of the day, when most businesses will be drawing energy. Metalcasters can work around those heightened charges because their greatest energy expense comes during a single operation--when they are melting charges. So, by melting during off-peak hours and performing other process operations during on-peak hours, the energy bill will tend to head back to the valley.

2 Invert Ladles for Heating

When metalcasters preheat ladles for pouring, they tend to go the obvious route and blow hot air into them while they are standing upright. That technique can lead to an energy bill that will shock your socks off.

Heat rises. So, a ladle sitting with its opening pointed toward the sky will rapidly lose heat in that direction. Eppich recommends turning the ladle over and heating it from below. All of the energy that goes toward heating the ladle is thus trapped by the bottom of the ladle.

"Heating a ladle upside down also makes metalcasters empty the ladle," Eppich said.

By dumping the heel of the metal bath into a pig, the metalcaster avoids introducing excess oxides into succeeding melts. It will take a little extra time and effort, but the kind of practices that this simple act engenders represent a cultural change, not a quick fix.

3 Insulate More than Just Your Furnace

"Furnaces aren't something that we have to tell metalcasters about," Baker said. "Most are well aware of them and maintain their refractory and insulation." However, many forget the importance of keeping a lid on the furnace. But that is something that can be fixed with vigilance, and it will induce a cultural turnabout.

Baker also recommends that facility managers insulate skylights, hot water tanks, and hot water and steam pipes. All of these are sites of potential heat loss, and they sometimes go unnoticed.

"If you have a bare steam pipe, you're wasting money," Baker said. "The heat is released at ceiling level and can't be recovered."

4 Turn Off Machines That Aren't in Use

Mom was right about this one--there's no need to leave a light on when you're not in the room. The same goes for metalcasting equipment and, well, lights. But it can be a little more complicated.

"There's not too much you can do to save on lighting in terms of zero cost except turn them off when you're not using them," Baker said.

Of course, industrial lights can be sneakier than the fixtures mom was used to--even lights you believe are off can find a way to steal energy dollars. If you have a lighting fixture that is no longer in use and there is no bulb installed, there still may be a ballast running. Ballasts, used to regulate the energy that feeds the light bulb, can draw small amounts of energy in the absence of their light-producing counterpart. By unhooking the ballast as well as the bulb, you can drop your power and save a few kilowatt hours.

This rule goes for everything else in the metalcasting facility. As counterintuitive as it seems, Eppich repeatedly finds that metalcasters leave exhaust fans running even when they are not needed. Grinding wheels are another prime culprit. All three of these unnecessary energy draws--lighting, exhaust and grinding wheels--can be eliminated with the flip of a switch.

5 Improve Component Quality During Routine Changes

Certain components wear out with repeated use, regardless of process controls. When replacing them, low cost upgrades can mean real energy savings. Eppich cites two components that he has seen save money--the notched v-belt and T8 fluorescent lights.

"Notched v-belts save 3% on energy and have a longer life than standard belts," Eppich said. That's because notched belts don't offer as much resistance when they're whirring around a conveyor. As long as the upgrade is performed in stride with standard maintenance, the cost of the changeover will be minimal.

Fluorescent lighting has come a long way in the past five years, but many metalcasting facilities haven't advanced quite as quickly. Given that your facility has upgraded to fluorescent lights (a necessary capital expense for some), T8 bulbs can provide as much light as the more common T12 bulb with less electricity.

"It's just a maintenance change," Eppich said. "You'd replace the T12s anyway."

6 Don't Blow a Lot of Hot Air

Compressed air systems account for a good chunk of most metalcaster's energy bills.

"For sand metalcasters, air is a big wasted resource," Eppich said. Baker offers two zero-cost, as well as one low-cost, improvements that will reduce your air-related energy costs.

Don't over-compress--Baker said that just about every metalcaster compresses air at greater pressure than they need in the facility. All you have to do is turn down the pressure. But don't take this whole prescription at once; take one pill at a time.

"Do it in baby steps, because there might be something in the system that is forcing you to keep the pressure up," he said. "Drop it down one to two pounds per day and see if everything is okay. At some point, something is going to start acting up." That's when you've reached the threshold, and you should be operating your compressor just above that level.

Plug the leaks--"All plants have them; it's just the nature of the beast," Baker said. Fixing the leaks requires going around the plant during down production times and checking the compressed air lines. You can do a cursory check by skipping the hoses and focusing on fittings, flexible hose joints, couplings and pressure regulators. "I don't often see leaks within the main piping; it's always the little stuff that comes off."

Use advanced nozzles--Individual operators and standard nozzles use too much compressed air. Ensure that operators use the air only when necessary, and remember that engineered nozzles can correct both of these problems by producing the same amount of air flow from point sources without using as much pressure. Because the nozzles combine outside air with the compressed variety, metalcasters can save 25-50% of their air consumption.

7 Clean Scrap Returns

Don't melt anything down that you can't cast. Melting only clean scrap will use less energy than melting foreign objects on the metal. Shot blasting your returns will eliminate this wasted energy by eliminating slag.

Slag represents energy consumed that has not led to castable material. So estimate the amount of sand you might currently be heating. If that amount equals X, you will save the amount of energy as is required to melt two times X in metal because heating sand requires twice as much energy as melting metal.

8 Don't Heat the Neighborhood

This is one of mom's as well, but it's a little more complicated. When you left the door open and heated the neighborhood, there was no chance of retrieving that lost energy. Metalcasters of course can't recover heat that has escaped the building, but they can corral energy from exhausted heat and reuse it.

"With any molten metal energy or other process energy that comes out of the process, you want to use it if you can," Eppich said.

The energy can be used in a number of ways. For example, high temperature exhaust air can be reused to preheat incoming combustion air, leading to a progressive way to pre-heat scrap.

Use common sense here. The metalcasting facility is a hot place. Why pay extra to keep a heater running for comfort during the winter? Exhaust heat can keep employees warm instead of drifting off into thin air. For every 10,000 cu. ft. of air that is heated per minute, using exhaust air will save you 18,000 therms.

9 Conserve Water

Diecasters tend to use the most water in the industry, and this is another resource that should be optimized to assure energy efficiency. When using water to cool molds, most diecasters run the cooled liquid through the hydraulic pump, around the molds, and then send it down the drain. What they neglect to do is stop the flow when castings aren't being poured. Hydrostatic control valves can regulate water flow automatically, but they aren't necessary. These, again, simply need to be shut off to conserve energy.

10 Use Free Resources

"For the average plant manager, once you've done these things, you've dealt with the low cost things," said Baker. "But there are going to be things that you can't cover with the broad strokes."

That's when it's time to call in the professionals. The U.S. Department of Energy offers energy-saving best practices on its website and also links to a network of industrial assessment centers designed to save manufacturers money. Without spending a penny, you can call a team of energy experts to your facility for a walk through. After their initial examination, the team offers a list of energy saving measures that you can implement.

"Industrial assessment centers act as a compass and get you headed in the right direction," Baker said.

For More Information

"Turn Down the Heat," R. Murillo, MODERN CASTING, September 2005, p. 30-33.

"Combating Energy Bills," E.P. HuangFu, R.D. Naranjo and K.M. Bentz, MODERN CASTING, April 2005, p. 20-23.

Visit www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/bestpractices for U.S. Department of Energy tips on conserving energy and iac.rtugers.edu for the industrial assessment center nearest you.