What problems do companies face in generating compressed air?
Unlike any other utility used in industry, compressed air must be generated on-site, within limited proximity to its intended consumption. The compressed air generating process consumes huge amounts of electricity in a very inefficient manner. The US DOE states that the net relative system inefficiency of generating compressed air by electrical motors is approximately 8 electric motor horsepower = one horsepower of compressed air. Most importantly, according to the US DOE, is the fact that generating compressed air accounts for up to one-third of the total electric motor energy consumed by all industrial facilities in North America, and equally throughout the world. Energy costs vary greatly throughout the world, and energy costs have risen steadily over the past twenty years. Energy costs are likely to continue increasing at an accelerated rate in parallel with the cost and availability of carbon-based fuels upon which the vast majority of electrical utilities are dependent for genera
