Energy Management Programs- Monitoring Performance

Abstract

Energy use standards have been established to monitor energy conservation performance in bulk pharmaceutical plants. The model considers process, comfort heating, and fixed loads.

As the oil crisis developed in the early 70's, it very quickly became apparent that we would be facing increased costs for a prolonged period. As a result, the Merck Chemical Manufacturing Division management set in motion comprehensive programs and objectives to deal with the situation. In order to insure the success of these energy objectives, programs and procedures were implemented as follows:

1. Establish energy use standards on a product-by-product, by production department, by total plant, and on product-by-product, by production department, by total plant, and on division-wide bases. 2. Encourage and allocate capital to energy savings projects. 3. Establish local energy conservation committees to monitor performance against the new energy standards, and to follow up on energy savings projects and objectives. 4. Set up company-wide seminars to exchange energy savings ideas and accomplishments.

Energy use standards were seen necessary to measure the impact of the higher energy costs on the financial performance of individual products. Furthermore, these standards would be the impetus to energy savings through process development, new procedures and practices, and energy savings equipment and control.

Accordingly, energy use standards were developed as a base from which controls could be applied, and future savings toward conservation goals would be measured. The development of the standards for the entire division has taken several years and is still ongoing due to the introduction of new products and new process technologies.

Energy consumption in the Merck Chemical Manufacturing Division is exclusively related to steam and electrical power use. In order to establish the full range of energy standards, the processes were subject to detailed analysis of the theoretical energy needs as well as analysis of the historical energy consumption records.