coppertalk

How Best to Comply with EISA if You Need to Fix or Replace a Commercial Motor

By David Brender, Copper Development Association (CDA) National Program Manager

Any new motor manufactured or sold after December 10, 2010 must meet certain energy efficiency standards, as stated in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. David Brender, of the Copper Development Association, has some tips on how to comply with the new law.   

There are a number of reasons you’ll want to replace a motor, primarily because an existing motor has failed, or it may not have failed, but it’s inefficient. The electricity the motor uses is about 98 percent of the cost of owning the motor. The purchase price is almost insignificant. In fact, with load cycles typical of an industrial or commercial application, the first cost of a motor may represent only one or two percent of the full cost of ownership. Most people don’t consider that – they just want the cheapest one. But that’s not the way to look at it. Read more…

By Dale Powell, Copper Development Association, Project Manager and Piping Applications Specialist

Dale Powell provides information for a wide range of industries regarding copper plumbing, pipefitting and process piping applications.  Prior to joining CDA 15 years ago, he was a UA Pipefitter and Master Plumber as well as an Estimator/Project Manager for a large mechanical contracting firm in Harrisburg, PA.   He received his education at Harrisburg Area Community College, Penn State and the University of Kentucky. 

When specifying materials for a project, contractors have to weigh the issues of affordability versus quality.  Copper costs more than many other materials to start with, but its advantages are significant, especially when you look at them in light of the move toward what most people call “green” building.  A contractor pursuing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification will find lots of benefits to using copper piping. 

Copper has some phenomenally great characteristics for green building.  To begin with, it’s a 100% recyclable material.  The process for most of our tube and fitting manufacturers involves the use of scrap (roofing, wire, cable, strip plate, bar), which is commonly 99.96% copper.  In fact, about 85-90% of the copper tube put in today is from re-used scrap.  You hardly ever see copper tube or other copper products in a landfill or dump but often see plastic tubing going to the dump.  Another strong case for copper piping is that it’s extremely long-lasting.  You can reliably figure that the piping you put into a building will last longer than the building itself.  There again, the copper remains available and serviceable after many other materials have deteriorated.  It simply gets melted down and re-formed for other uses.  Copper doesn’t burn, so it can be installed in open plenums without adding to the smoke load.  Sun exposure isn’t an issue, either, so you can store the piping anywhere.  If you leave PVC or cross-link polyethylene PEX materials out in the sun, stacked at a building site, for example, they can be adversely affected by the sunlight. 

There are many green building projects throughout the United States, many of them award-winning.  And there will continue to be more and more as contractors understand that specifying copper is one of the smartest, greenest choices you can make.