Thread by @MarkTomasovic

In 2019, the industrial sector accounted for 35% of U.S. energy consumption

The single biggest opportunity to reduce industrial energy consumption is by optimizing industrial pumps

"Edge" technology can help solve this problem 👇

Pump systems - specifically in the chemicals, paper, and petroleum products industries - account for over 6,000 GW-h/yr of energy consumption

The reason why these industries use so much power is because they transport liquids via pumps

The lowest cost pump is called a "fixed speed pump"

The impeller on the pump rotates at a constant speed and the flow of the liquid is controlled with a valve downstream of the pump

Fixed speed pumps operate on a curve

When the valve is open, the flowrate increases and the pump pressure is low (because the pump isn't pushing against anything)

When the valve is closed, the flowrate decreases and the pressure is high

Both scenarios use the same horsepower

But now, there's "edge" technology which lets you decrease the horsepower consumed...and still maintain the same flowrate!

By connecting an edge device to your pump, you can "shift the curve" down and control the pump at a lower horsepower, while still keeping the same flow

These "edge" devices are boxes that connect to your pump to regulate the horsepower consumed

A company called PeopleFlo is developing these boxes and @ZededaEdge is the operating system which runs them

By operating your pumps at a lower horsepower, you can increase the life of the pump, increase the life of the control valve, and improve energy consumption by up to 50%

This is called operating your pump at its BEP - Best Efficiency Point

So many of these pumps are operating at a fixed speed with excessive energy consumption

So if you're looking to save on energy costs, it may be worth considering Edge technology 🦾

//end tweet

Follow @one_muldoon, Partner at my firm @EnergizeVc for more news on ops at the Edge

@EnergizeVc @ZededaEdge @Lux_Capital

@souissal

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