With New Ever Green^®

Bates College, located in Lewiston Maine, is widely regarded as one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the U.S. As such, it is very concerned about carbon neutrality and embraces the philosophy of limiting carbon emissions. When the opportunity arose to participate in a demonstration project to test a new insulation product designed to help reduce the cost of wasted energy and reduce carbon emissions, Bates welcomed the idea. In the Spring of 2009, Auburn Manufacturing, a leading developer of textile products for extreme temperature industrial applications, installed its new Ever Green^®

Steam Pipe Fittings Rarely Insulated

Bates College was founded in 1855. The campus has over 80 buildings including this one, Pettengill Hall. Inside these walls, one will find students taking courses in African American Studies, Anthropology, Classical and Medieval Studies, Economics, Politics and Psychology.

Figure 1: A 6-inch valve stem insulated with Ever Green®

Figure 2: A steam trap, and adjacent bare pipe, recently insulated with Ever Green®

REAL WORLD SAVINGS Annual Heat Loss Savings: $4,000 Annual CO2 Emission Reductions: 20 Tons Estimated Payback: 10 Months

While the piping in the college's hot water distribution systems is well insulated, the fittings generally are not, explained Alan Kelley, Mechanical Services Manager at Bates. He acknowledged that uninsulated fittings can be a significant source of energy waste, but says installing covers on the fittings is both time-consuming and difficult. "The reason fittings are left bare is that the standard product for insulating them is expensive and just plain difficult to deal with," he said. "Once you wrap the blanket around a valve you have to literally wire it on, which requires special tools. When you need to remove it to make a repair or fix a leak, it rarely gets put back on as it is such a pain to replace."

Auburn Manufacturing, Inc. Develops an Easier Way to Insulate Fittings

Similar stories like those of Bates' Alan Kelley and other managers of steam and hot water distribution piping systems were the impetus for Auburn Manufacturing, Inc. (AMI) developing a more effective way to insulate valves, flanges, pipe fittings and other hard-to-get-to components. AMI has a 30-year history as a maker of textiles used in custom-made removable flange and valve insulation pads. They recently developed its patent-pending Ever Green^®

Early Prototype Feedback Very Favorable

Kelley recalled the first time he saw the Cut 'n Wrap product. "It was in the very early stages of development, prior to the demonstration project," he said. "Auburn requested permission to install an early prototype kit on a small section of a steam line in our main steam plant. They were looking for our input; they wanted to know how the product looked; how it felt; how flexible it was; and would it meet our temperature needs. As it turned out, it met all our needs."

Auburn continued work on perfecting the Cut 'n Wrap insulation kit, manufacturing it from industrial-grade, coated fabric and industrial-grade insulation media. Both materials are rated for at least 500°F continuous service and were developed to provide many years of effective thermal insulation. "The thermal textiles we use to manufacture the product are considered the safest in the industry," said Auburn's Leonard. "They are used for some of the most extreme temperature applications in the world."

Bates Welcomes Demonstration Project

With the prototype kit in hand and in-house testing showing that the insulation could easily and significantly reduce heat loss, Auburn's next step was to gather real-time data through an actual on-site demonstration. Having already established a relationship with Bates College, Auburn offered to install the insulation kit, on a variety of valves and fittings. Kelley, who is also a member of the college's energy task force, welcomed the idea and was eager to see how much savings could be realized. The goal was to reduce the heat load on the space, reduce the cost of wasted energy and to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide gas, generally identified as a greenhouse gas.

Underground Mechanical Space Chosen For Site

The chosen mechanical space was located under Pettengill Hall, an academic building housing classrooms, lounge spaces, and offices. Once used as a bomb shelter, the underground mechanical space had a collection of 230°F steam distribution pipes including a large number of fittings such as valves, flanges, valve stems, steam traps, pressure relief valves, and strainers that were either partially uninsulated or uninsulated. Prior to the Cut 'n Wrap blanket installation, and due to the enclosed nature of the space, and the additional heat loss from the uninsulated fittings, the ambient air temperature ranged from 97°F to 101°F during the heating season.

A team of representatives from AMI worked with two college staff members to install the insulation. "The Auburn staff did the first couple of wraps to show us how it was done," said Kelley. "They showed us how to cut the material so it didn't unravel and how to cut different shapes to get better coverage. Installation was very easy and the total job took only about 3 hours." Once the insulation was in place, Kelley said he noticed an immediate change in the ambient temperature of the mechanical space. "When the steam plant is running, the temperature in the room is typically 10 to 15 degrees higher than in other spaces," he explained. "Even though the Cut 'n Wrap was installed in the spring, right on the cusp of when we were about to shut down the system for the summer months, I could feel a difference in the temperature. It was definitely lower. We agreed to check the temperature again in the fall. We were not disappointed. In fact, we just completed a post installation room temperature reading after the system was turned back on for the fall. The ambient temperature is now 82°F – a much safer and more workable environment."

Estimated Savings and Reductions

While it was not possible to measure the actual reduction in heat loss at the time because of the summer shutdown, Auburn was able to calculate the estimated savings using a computer program that incorporates ASTM C1129. It calculated that the total heat load on the mechanical room would be reduced by just over 48,000 BTUs per hour. At an assumed energy cost of $10 per million BTUs, and an assumed operation for 30 weeks per year, the Cut 'n Wrap insulation was estimated to save Bates College about $4,000 per year in unnecessary fuel expenses. The savings were estimated to reduce emissions by about 20 tons, primarily as less CO₂. If Bates had purchased the Ever Green Cut 'n Wrap materials cost would have been approximately $3,400, not including installation labor. Compared to the value of the energy savings, this would represent a simple payback of about 10 months.

Bates Considering Cut 'n Wrap For Another Project

Because of the success of the demonstration project, Bates is considering using the Cut 'n Wrap insulation inside its steam vaults, which are tanks buried underground allowing access to steam pipes and isolation valves when work is need on a particular section. "Our energy task force has a certain amount of money this year that we can allocate for energy savings type projects and this is one of the items on our list," said Kelley. "In order to save money these days, you need to invest a little money. And, when you run the calculations, the payback with insulation is very quick. It's one of those 'no-brainer' kind of things."

What impressed Kelley most about the Cut 'n Wrap insulation was how easy it was to install. "I would put that feature near the top of the list," he said. "It's difficult to get people to do things if the job is cumbersome. They tend to be less inclined to spend the effort even though they want to save energy. If you can make it easy, and Cut 'n Wrap does that, then everything just works better."

Demonstration Project Funded by Seed Grant

Early in 2009, Auburn Manufacturing was awarded a Seed Grant from the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) to develop and fund demonstration projects in steam and hot water distribution systems including universities, hospitals and public buildings. MTI is a state-funded nonprofit corporation that offers early-stage capital and commercialization assistance for the research and development of innovative technology-based projects that create new products, processes and services, generating high-quality jobs across Maine. AMI used its two most recent MTI grants to validate the technology behind Ever Green Cut 'n Wrap with independent testing and to conduct several demonstration projects resulting in a patent application and initial commercialization of the product.