Energy Transition| 10/27/2022

Jump-start Energy Savings and Carbon Reduction

by Rob Vitello

Adversity sometimes requires you to think differently; that's definitely the case when it comes to carbon reduction. Just in the last year or two, decarbonization has rapidly transitioned from an ideal to be realized in the future to a key priority in the present for many of our customers.

What's more, recent events have conspired to drive electrical energy costs significantly higher. That trend won't change any time soon, especially as global demand for power continues to rise.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting about these concerns, and how Flowserve is responding to them, with Charli Matthews, host of the Empowering Industry Podcast, a production of Empowering Pumps & Equipment. In particular, we discussed how Flowserve's new Energy Advantage Program is helping customers accelerate their sustainability commitments by producing fast, cost-effective, and tangible results, either through emissions reduction or lower operational costs.

Preview the Flowserve Energy Advantage Program podcast, a production of Empowering Pumps & Equipment.

Flowserve Energy Advantage Program Podcast

Sustainability can deliver ROI faster than you think

At Flowserve, we see the trends driving energy transition as opportunities, not just headwinds. During my discussion with Charli, I summarized some of the steps we’ve started taking early on, from developing products that can be manufactured with a more sustainable carbon footprint, to improving energy efficiency and finding more efficient methods to contain the leakage of unwanted emissions. We’re also looking for ways to help you expand into existing and emerging technologies, such as hydrogen, carbon capture, plastics recycling, energy storage and renewable fuels. Although these new technologies are both necessary and promising, they’re still costly, longer-term plays that will take years to implement or mature.

In response, we launched the Energy Advantage Program earlier this year. This data-driven, programmatic approach is designed to accelerate your energy transition plans quickly and cost-effectively. It accomplishes this by leveraging Flowserve’s deep expertise in pumps and control valves to go beyond traditional methods of improving efficiency.

The goal is to deliver measurable short-term results and identify opportunities for fast financial payback while helping you build a more sustainable business. This can be done as a complement to longer-term operational activities or site-level programs by setting the pace of execution to one the customer’s organization can easily adopt. By reducing the source of emissions, when you eventually to need to implement carbon capture, you won’t have to store as much carbon.

The Flowserve Energy Advantage Program is a holistic flow control approach aimed at helping you reach your carbon reduction goals and lowering your total cost ownership (TCO).

The Flowserve Energy Advantage Program is a holistic flow control approach aimed at helping you reach your carbon reduction goals and lowering your total cost ownership (TCO).

Upgrading for efficiency

Although Flowserve has been upgrading equipment for decades, it’s traditionally been as a complement to improved reliability or enhanced production objectives. With the launch of the Energy Advantage Program, you now have a third option: a platform with an intensive focus on energy efficiency. The program helps you achieve energy transition in three ways:

  1. Identifying opportunities within existing plants and processes for immediate sustainability improvement
  2. Implementing value-added solutions that deliver higher system safety, reliability and production certainty
  3. Collaborating with experienced partners with the know-how and expertise to address carbon reduction and operational cost challenges to have an even greater impact than Flowserve can deliver on its own

The effectiveness of the Energy Advantage Program has already been proven in pilot programs with multiple Flowserve customers. Although it may not cover every single pump or flow loop in your operation, it can start by analyzing the top 10% of your power consumption and breaking down upgrades into a two- to five-year program. Solutions with very attractive payback periods can then be systematically engineered based on the unique needs of your site.

To achieve full success, you’ll need to combine the Energy Advantage Program with other, longer-term initiatives, or use it to replace another program that isn’t delivering the desired goals. In this way, your business can see faster results from its sustainability initiatives while making a much smoother energy transition.

Optimizing Pipeline Systems to Significantly Improve Energy Efficiency

Optimizing Pipeline Systems to Significantly Improve Energy Efficiency

Want to know more about Flowserve’s Energy Advantage Program?

 

Flowserve Expertise: It's Our People

Author Photo
Rob Vitello | Vice President of Operations

Rob Vitello joined Flowserve in October 2013 as the director of sales globally for the Royal Dutch Shell account and was promoted to lead all corporate accounts in August 2017. In January 2022, he was tapped to head the new Energy Advantage Program. Before joining Flowserve, he served as a senior vice president of AES Seal North America, and before that as the director of global services business development for Elliott Group, a compressor and steam turbine manufacturer.