Speaking of Savings

Lani — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:45:37 +0000

So you think your energy bill is high? Imagine using over $100,000 worth of natural gas every month.

Then imagine that the cost of that gas has increased by 50% in the last year.

If concern for the environment isn’t reason enough, maybe red ink will get you thinking about ways to cut back.

One 12,000 gallon cryogenic tank + two vaporizers = 50% reduction in natural gas usage per furnace.

At Bullseye we’ve wrestled with energy costs from Day One. Fuel makes up about 20% of our glassmaking expense (labor is the only larger category). From the time that Dan, Boyce and Ray first started re-melting mayo jars in the 1970s, controlling fuel use has been a top priority. Dan once even tried turning old tires into gas (long story, another post, maybe). A few years ago we made the decision to install a liquid oxygen system at the factory.

In short, the system allows us to replace air with pure oxygen in burning the gas that fires our furnaces. This does two pretty neat things:

1. it cuts our natural gas usage in half.

2. it reduces nitrogen emissions to nearly zero.

Vaporizing gas is a cooling process. The equipment gets pretty frosty. Think almost 300°F below zero. Sometimes it even “snows” in the parking lot next to the vaporizers. I think that’s pretty damned cool

Huh? OK, here’s a little Glass Melting for Dummies (that’s me):

You need oxygen to burn gas. Air is about 20% oxygen and 80% nitrogen. By taking the nitrogen out of the process, you eliminate the energy used to heat it and cut in half the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions created in the process.

CO2 is the stuff that under its trendy stage name “Carbon Footprint” is currently getting more press than Paris. There. I just added to the press.

To BE or not to BE » Environment

Speaking of Savings