September/October 2013 - for the online version go HERE.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has taken the next step in establishing first-time energy efficiency standards for industrial and commercial pumps. The agency is in the process of putting together what is called a negotiated rulemaking committee composed of users, manufacturers, and environmentalists who ostensibly hammer out a standard which then flies through the rulemaking process, without any objections.
The DOE
previously released a request for information in 2011 and then a framework document last February providing some
direction on where it expects to go, in terms of the categories of pumps
covered and the kind of metrics that could be used to set new efficiency standards.
The pump manufacturers, represented by the Hydraulic Institute, are pressing
for "an extended product approach" using an energy efficiency index
(EEI) which would take into account the pump, motor, variable speed drive and
control and feedback systems. The HI has been working with environmental groups
such as the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the Alliance
to Save Energy, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on consensus
standards with those efforts focusing on clean water commodity-type pumps.
However,
environmentalists want to expand the types of clean water pumps to include double-suction
and circulator pumps. The EU already has a Directive (547, 2012) on efficiency
standards for clean water pumps, and the
DOE generally intends to follow it. Charles Llenza, project manager for the
rulemaking, says, "We have sort of borrowed from their playbook a little
until we get our footing with this rulemaking and the stakeholders input in the U.S. industry."
The DOE estimates clean water pumps represents about 70 percent of sales
by value and 90 percent of pump energy
use. Those pumps can be used for chemicals and other liquids, and the DOE is
considering roping "chemical" pumps--to the extent any are used
primarily for that end use--into the new standard. But wastewater, slurry, API
610 pumps are outside the purview of this rulemaking.
A
major issue will be whether to include variable speed drives (VSDs) in the
standard. Greg
Towsley, Director, Regulatory and Technical Affairs, Grundfos Pumps Corporation,
the Danish concern which claims to be the world's largest pump manufacturer,
wants VSDs to be included.
But Steve
Rosenstock, Senior Manager, Energy Solutions, the Edison Electric
Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, says, "EEI does not support establishing standards or test
procedures based on pump performance with a variable speed drive controller.
Pumps are used in a variety of applications and not all are a good fit for
VSD."
