Robert Hefner
Marketing & Industry Awareness Committee Member
Kurz Industrial Solutions, Inc.
I have now been an EASA member for 3.5 years, but much of my professional perspective was shaped by a decade spent in the wind energy sector. One proficiency acquired from that time and space was developing vendor sustainability reporting as a prerequisite for selling products. This is particularly important to the European-based wind farm owners and system builders. Often mandated by local policies, this reporting has become a strong value-add presented to clients as part of the qualification process. While sustainability reporting isn't yet commonplace or federally mandated in the U.S. industrial space, a growing number of companies are establishing sustainability goals. This shift is driven by various factors, including a commitment to social responsibility, a necessity to meet global supplier mandates from their own customers, or an operational advantage for facilities operating in countries with sustainability regulations. Regardless of the motivation, understanding how your motor repair service center can better position itself to appeal to customers with these sustainability initiatives presents an opportunity for business growth.
The importance of this topic isn't new to EASA. In December 2023, Chris Culver's Currents article, "Decades of Industrial Recycling and Sustainability," laid the groundwork for the concept we are exploring here. And, in the September 2024 edition of Currents, EASA Senior Technical Specialist Chuck Yung detailed the notable statistics surrounding the motor repair industry's contribution to material reuse and recycling. Links to these articles are provided in the citing. Building upon this information, I want to focus on a practical strategy for service center leaders to better appeal to companies with sustainability objectives. Specifically, how can we provide the documented, science-based reports they require to achieve their environmental goals? Before jumping into reporting mechanisms, let’s walk through the scopes of sustainability a customer near you might be working toward right now.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely adopted framework for greenhouse gas accounting, categorizes sustainability goals into three distinct emission scopes. Scope 1 encompasses direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the organization, such as emissions from company vehicles or on-site fuel combustion. Scope 2 addresses indirect emissions specifically associated with purchased energy, primarily electricity, heat or steam. Finally, Scope 3, the broadest category, captures all other indirect emissions occurring within the organization's value chain. This includes upstream and downstream activities like purchased goods, business travel and the use of sold products. In essence, Scope 1 is what a company directly burns, Scope 2 is the energy they purchase and Scope 3 represents all other emissions linked to their wider business activities and are the most difficult to document.
Electromechanical repair facilities like ours, particularly motor rewind activities, are uniquely positioned to offer significant support to companies navigating the challenges of recording and then reducing Scope 3 emissions. We can provide crucial science-based documentation that substantiates carbon offsets resulting from their company decisions to rewind versus purchase a new motor.
When a motor is determined to be repaired or rewound, more than 90% of the material associated is typically “upcycled.” This means that the incoming material is either reused or recycled and avoids the landfill. Our mature processes have become remarkably efficient; by reusing the heavyweight iron frames, electrical steel laminations and metal shafts of old motors, while recycling non-reusable copper and steel bearings, service centers routinely upcycle 90% or more of a motor's total weight. This level of material reuse is significant, especially when considering the high carbon footprint associated with producing new materials like cast iron, copper and electrical steel. The EPA GHG Emission Factors report from 2017 documents the carbon offsets per kilogram associated with the materials service centers often repurpose. This helps validate their contribution to reducing the overall environmental impact of rewinding a motor and provides the numbers needed to calculate those hard-to-find documented scienced-based offsets.
Furthermore, our ability to easily research the weight of a new replacement motor allows us to incorporate what the associated greenhouse gas emissions would have been required to transport that new motor into the overall offset calculation. Published transportation emission rates are readily available, enabling us to estimate the kilograms of carbon dioxide associated with transporting weights of product from various global manufacturing hubs like Mexico, Vietnam, Europe, China or wherever the quoted replacement might originate.
Personally, I have found the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) guidelines helpful in performing this transportation emission calculation. I have also included a snapshot of a sample Motor Repair Upcycle Offset document calculation.
While our company is still in the early stages of supporting a few customers with these sustainability initiatives, it has been a well-received value-add. It offers a compelling example of upcycling that directly addresses the increasing demand for responsible industrial practices. This is the circular economy and we as service centers can be a significant value chain partner to those customers actively quantifying their sustainability.
For those seeking more information on this topic and support in establishing an upcycle offset documentation process for your customers, please don't hesitate to contact me: rhefner@kurz.com.
Citings:
AVAILABLE IN SPANISH
ANSI/EASA AR100
More information on this topic can be found in ANSI/EASA AR100
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