How can Maintenance or Asset Managers contribute to a better climate?

Climate change is hot topic. The extreme weather conditions of the past decades make us face the facts, and everyone realises that urgent action is needed if we want to keep our planet livable. Organisations and companies are adapting their operations; not only out of their own sense of responsibility and social interest, but also to achieve the goals imposed by governments. This sense of responsibility is also seeping through to the shop floor, where individual employees are asking how they can actively limit the impact on the environment within the responsibilities of their job.

Engineer W. Theuws has more than 50 years of experience in Maintenance & Asset Management and is a true authority in the field. He keeps his finger on the pulse of asset-intensive companies and is increasingly asked by Maintenance and Asset Managers how they can contribute to a better environmental policy within their company. Wout therefore shared his insights on how a sophisticated maintenance policy can help beat climate change in this BEMAS webinar.

Maintenance is already intrinsically part of a circular economy, because repair and life extension in its entirety already fit into this model. The starting point is now to move from a linear to a circular maintenance process, and thus to use as few new materials or sources as possible in this process. General starting points for this are:

• Replace spare parts only if they are defective
• Repairing and remanufacturing broken pieces
• Recycle
• Continue to focus on improved materials; e.g. bearings that provide less friction and therefore lower CO2 emissions
• ...

Energy

A maintenance manager can contribute to lower energy consumption in several ways. Consider the integration of smart devices such as motors that automatically run at lower energy levels when the application requires less input, or the installation of heat exchangers to capture heat released during the production process. A common mistake that can be avoided is overinstallation: When expanding, it is often argued that the capacity of the assets must be increased, but this is not always necessary. Finally, the maintenance / asset manager can also have a motivating role in other departments to use renewable energy, or to foresee this in new designs.

Water

Saving water has been an obvious thing to do for some years now. Maximum efforts are being made to prevent and repair leaks and many companies are already collecting rainwater for (re)use. There are also less obvious solutions to limiting water consumption, such as reusing waste water and ensuring minimal water pollution during processes. Smart monitoring systems can play an important role here. Anyone wishing to delve deeper into this topic may also visit the website of the International Water Association, where interesting blogs, articles and webinars can be found.

Concrete examples

Wout concludes by giving some practical examples that can easily be applied in the management of buildings:

• Use filtered air for the ventilation system
• Provide as much natural light as possible
• Install smart metering and control systems for energy use and ventilation
• Limit road paving on the site, and reuse concrete where possible
• ...

Tips for managing assets:

• Ensure that installations are equipped as far as possible with common components
• Filtering oil instead of replacing it
• Limit the use of sprays
• Design an asset in such a way that it is easier to maintain
• Use the energy released in the process (heat exchangers and dynamo instead of classical braking system)
• Disable unused assets
• Buy local
• Keep a record of improvements you have made
• Share your insights with the people in your team
• ...

How to continue learning and keep up with the latest developments?

• Book: Products that last - TU Delft
• All about circular economy: Ellen MacArthur Foundation
• Linkedin group Climat Improvements by Asset Management and Maintenance
• BEMAS podcasts