Compressed Air Savings Potential

The Overlooked Energy Consumer

While industries increasingly focus on energy savings through solar panels, wind farms, and LED lighting to reduce CO2 emissions and meet sustainability demands, compressed air represents a massive overlooked opportunity. Despite being one of the most expensive utilities, compressed air is often mistakenly considered "free" by many facilities. This misconception leads to inefficient usage and significant unnecessary costs, with production output frequently prioritized over compressed air optimization.

Staggering Cost Impact

The financial impact of compressed air is substantial across global industries. Research shows that 4-5% of global electricity consumption goes toward compressed air systems, representing one of the largest industrial savings potentials at 233 TWh. For individual companies, compressed air typically ranks as the 3rd or 4th largest utility expense, consuming 10-30% of the electrical bill. More than 75% of a compressor's total ownership costs come from energy expenses rather than equipment purchase and maintenance. These costs will only continue to mount in the near future as analysts predict that power utility pricing could increase by 25% by 2030. 

Inherent Inefficiencies

Compressed air systems suffer from fundamental inefficiencies that make them particularly expensive. The process is inherently wasteful, with 85% of compressor energy converted to heat and only 15% producing actual compressed air. Additionally, studies reveal that only 50% of generated compressed air is actually used for production purposes, with the remaining half lost to leakages, artificial demand, and inappropriate applications. This makes compressed air 8-10 times more expensive than electricity.

Proven Solutions and Results

Despite these challenges, compressed air remains necessary for many industrial applications like bottle-blowing, automotive painting, and industrial tooling. However, significant savings are achievable through proper monitoring and optimization. Companies using flow meters, power meters, and monitoring software have demonstrated remarkable results. Results have included reducing energy usage by 25% or even saving more than $300K annually in energy costs. These monitoring investments typically pay for themselves in less than one year, making compressed air optimization one of the most accessible and profitable energy-saving initiatives available to industrial facilities.

Our partner VPInstruments has a proven track record of providing the monitoring solutions we have outlined above. Check out our catalogue of VPInstruments products to learn more about their offerings. You can also chat with one of our Application Engineers to find the right product for your compressed air monitoring needs.