Compressed air savings calculator

Compressed air is the most expensive utility per unit of work. Enter compressor horsepower, load factor and leak rate to price the loss.

This section will contain

  • Inputs (§G.1): compressor hp · load factor · leak % · $/kWh.
  • UX: simple first (2–3 inputs → estimate), then an optional Refine step.
  • The result is a data-viz moment, not form output: a §E widget with the money figure large and tabular.
  • Export as CSV. The on-page result stays free and crawlable — and it is the ONLY thing this deployment delivers: §G.1's emailed PDF report is not built, so nothing on this site offers one. [TOM-REVIEW] §K.2.

Run the numbers

What compressed-air leaks cost

Compressed air is the most expensive utility per unit of work in most plants, and the published leakage range — 20 to 30% of output — is the easiest 20% you will ever recover.

nameplate horsepower — the motor’s rated shaft output
per cent of nameplate shaft power it actually makes
per cent — from the motor nameplate; 90% is the conservative default
per cent of output lost to leaks — published range is 20–30%
dollars per kWh — from your own bill
hours a year the compressor runs

These fields need JavaScript to recalculate. The figures beside them are the worked example at the constants listed below — real arithmetic, just not yours yet. Send us your numbers at info@quantifyenv.com and we will run them.

What it costs you

$9,549/yr

  • 79,573kWh a year, wasted
  • 13.3kW of electrical draw doing no work
  • 66.3kW drawn at the meter
Annual cost of compressed-air leakage
YOUR INPUTS10% leak: 4,774 $/yr20% leak: 9,549 $/yr25% leak: 11,936 $/yr30% leak: 14,323 $/yr4,7749,54911,93614,323
YOUR INPUTS · YOUR RATES · CANADIAN DOLLARS
Chart data
IntervalAnnual cost ($/yr)
10% leak4,774
20% leak9,549
25% leak11,936
30% leak14,323

Conservative arithmetic, verified against your own utility bills. Your number comes from your own meters.

The constants behind this
  • air.kwPerHp — 0.746 kW/hpPhysical constant. Note that it converts nameplate horsepower to SHAFT kW, not to the electrical kW a meter bills — see air.motorEfficiency.
  • air.motorEfficiency — 0.9 fraction (shaft kW ÷ electrical kW)[TOM-REVIEW]US DOE Uniform Methods Project, Chapter 22 — Compressed Air Evaluation Protocol: electrical input power is shaft power divided by motor efficiency, and a measured or nameplate PACKAGE full-load kW is preferred over any hp-based estimate. NEMA Premium motors in the 50–200 hp band run about 0.93–0.95 at full load and lower at part load, so 0.90 is the conservative default until a nameplate or a measured package kW is supplied. energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/01/f19/UMPChapter22-compressed-air-evaluation.pdf
  • air.leakShare — 0.2–0.3 fraction of output[TOM-REVIEW]US DOE / Compressed Air Challenge leakage studies, as cited in Quantify's own concept footnote.
  • air.compressorHoursTypical — 6000 h/year[TOM-REVIEW]Quantify's own teleprompter example.
  • electricity.blendedRate — 0.12 $/kWh[TOM-REVIEW]Ontario Class B blended rate as used in Quantify's own teleprompter ('6,000 hours a year at $0.12/kWh') and concept footnotes. VERIFY against the current IESO/OEB Class B blended rate.

This section will contain

  • Constants come from src/data/benchmarks.json. Nothing is hard-coded in a component.

Every constant used here renders with its source inline, in the c11-run-the-numbers footnote style (§G.1).

Where these numbers come from

This section will contain

  • air.kwPerHp — 0.746 kW/hp. Physical constant. Note that it converts nameplate horsepower to SHAFT kW, not to the electrical kW a meter bills — see air.motorEfficiency.
  • air.motorEfficiency — 0.9 fraction (shaft kW ÷ electrical kW). [TOM-REVIEW] US DOE Uniform Methods Project, Chapter 22 — Compressed Air Evaluation Protocol: electrical input power is shaft power divided by motor efficiency, and a measured or nameplate PACKAGE full-load kW is preferred over any hp-based estimate. NEMA Premium motors in the 50–200 hp band run about 0.93–0.95 at full load and lower at part load, so 0.90 is the conservative default until a nameplate or a measured package kW is supplied. energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/01/f19/UMPChapter22-compressed-air-evaluation.pdf
  • air.leakShare — 0.2,0.3 fraction of output. [TOM-REVIEW] US DOE / Compressed Air Challenge leakage studies, as cited in Quantify's own concept footnote.
  • air.compressorHoursTypical — 6000 h/year. [TOM-REVIEW] Quantify's own teleprompter example.
  • electricity.blendedRate — 0.12 $/kWh. [TOM-REVIEW] Ontario Class B blended rate as used in Quantify's own teleprompter ('6,000 hours a year at $0.12/kWh') and concept footnotes. VERIFY against the current IESO/OEB Class B blended rate.

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