While most companies are eager to do all they can to reduce their energy costs to boost their bottom line, the need to do so is now also being driven by the Government’s mandatory Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS). This requires large UK undertakings and their corporate groups to carry out audits of the energy used by their buildings, industrial processes and transport to identify cost effective energy saving measures.

With about about 12% of industry’s electricity consumption in Europe used on compressing air, it is no surprise that several of the articles in this issue of AirUser focus on energy efficiency.

James Houseman at Atlas Copco puts forward a powerful case for compressed air energy recovery, explaining how heat energy produced by compressing air can be recovered and reused in other manufacturing processes or directed into a site’s heating or hot water system, reducing reliance on external sources of electricity and gas.

The energy recovery case is also taken up by Andy Jones at Mattei who explains how the company’s R&D team has developed a prototype that uses the recovered waste heat from compressors to generate electrical energy.

Another key concern for industry at the moment is the skills shortage. A report published earlier this year by EngineeringUK reveals that engineering companies will need 182,000 people per year with engineering skills in the decade to 2022, but that there is a current shortfall of 55,000 skilled workers.

In his BCAS report, Chris Dee, comments that, instead of bemoaning the lack of qualified youngsters, businesses must help train the next generation of workers. He highlights key findings on apprenticeships that were highlighted at the BCAS autumn conference last year. Greg Bordiak of BCAS, in an article on the need for training, explains that in the compressed air industry there are currently no formal accreditation schemes for designing, installing and maintaining compressed air systems. Greg outlines the courses that are available through BCAS.

Lack of training clearly has the potential to impact on health and safety and, in another article for AirUser, Chris Dee believes that due to the lack of formal accreditation schemes, end users could be receiving poor advice and safety could be compromised. He looks at ways in which compressed air systems can be managed and maintained to ensure greater safety.

Also on the theme of health and safety, Mark Whitmore of Boge explores noise emissions from compressed air systems and stresses the need to efficiently measure and control noise to prevent over-exposure to workers.

Dave Batkin of Hi-line takes filters as the theme for his article. He believes that the true cost of a replacement filter is often not fully understood and explains why.

Also included in this year’s AirUser is an article from BCAS on the benefits of belonging to a trade association, an update from Andy Jones as he approaches the end of his first year as president of BCAS, and several case studies that highlight how correctly installed and properly maintained compressed air equipment can boost efficiency and cut costs for end users.

We are grateful, as always, to all those who have found the time to contribute articles to AirUser and, in particular, our thanks go to Chris Dee and Greg Bordiak at BCAS for their contributions.

The AirUser team hopes you find the guide of interest and that it will prove a useful reference tool – both for sourcing equipment and services and for helping you to run your compressed air systems as safely, reliably and energy efficiently as possible.

We’re already looking ahead to next year’s guide, so if there are any particular topics you would like us to include, do please get in touch.

Val Kealey

Editor