The quarrying industry is as essential as it is vast. Supporting almost every other sector by sourcing aggregates for construction, it is one of the backbones of the global economy. But quarrying requires a huge amount of energy, and worldwide, the price keeps growing.
Whether that’s reflected on energy bills, or on the inevitable repercussions of excess energy use that our planet will eventually have to face, it’s time for companies within quarrying to pay attention. So, where are you wasting energy? With quarrying, it’s likely in the machinery that you are using to complete the projects; the process of quarrying relies on a lot of high consumption equipment. Specifically, the electric motors within them are notorious for drawing excess energy which only gets wasted.
Quarrying for Minerals could account for about 10% of the UK’s industrial energy consumption
On any quarry, there are bound to be electric motors in a large proportion of the machinery being used. In fact, site managers may not even be sure of the exact number; some motors are obvious, but not all of them. Depending on the size or scale of the quarry, there could be a lot more than you would expect, each individual motor drawing excessive amounts of energy and bumping up those bills. Applications of motors can include crushing, conveyors, pumps, fans and more. On a quarry, all of these are essential, and often the choice of utilising other equipment can reduce productivity, and still drain energy resources in other areas.
Reduce running costs, wear and tear and peak demand penalties with Integra
Integra is innovative, best in class technology that has the power to cut down your motor running costs by up to 40%. On a quarry, with a substantial amount of machinery relying on electric motors, this could be 40% of a huge proportion of your energy bill.
Integra is for motors what cruise control is for a car: it adapts the amount of energy being drawn by each motor, ensuring that this is only the precise amount that is actually required to complete a task. This is the main problem with motors – they draw more than they need because they lack the capability to adjust intelligently. That is, until now. Integra solves this problem, and does so by converting the motor into its own load sensor, meaning it draws the optimum amount in real time. Once installed, you will benefit from automatic saving, just as a result of your motors not drawing excess energy. In addition, Integra reduces costs over time in terms of maintenance and cutting the risk of peak demand penalties from utility companies, by providing soft starts and smoother acceleration, without compromising the efficiency or speed of the motors.
Integra will cut your energy consumption, but the benefits of this extend beyond financial savings. The nature of quarrying itself, historically, has had a lot of detrimental effects on the environment in terms of noise and dust pollution, habitat destruction, and landscape alteration. While the quarrying industry as a collective has been making huge strides to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly, energy efficiency is another opportunity for businesses within this sector to make positive change.