Recognizing World Water Day

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Audrey Bold, VP of Marketing

Last week millions of people all over the globe celebrated March 22nd, World Water Day, to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

This year’s theme, “Water and Food Security,” focuses on the synergetic relationship between food production and water usage. UN-Water, a group of representatives composed of 28 United Nations organizations, have organized International World Water Day for 20 years to advance water conservation.

The Relationship Between Food, Water, and Energy
It may seem obvious to many that the production of food relies heavily on water. Let’s reflect on that value chain: The daily water consumption requirement per person is between 2 to 4 liters of water, yet it takes 2,000 to 5,000 liters of water to produce the daily food intake of one individual. It takes 1,000 to 3,000 liters of water to produce only a kilo of rice and 13,000 to 15,000 liters to produce only one kilo of grain-fed beef. By 2050 our global water resources—already under stress—will need to support an additional 2.7 billion people.

Another resource, energy, is a factor in the production of food and water as massive amounts of energy is required to deliver water reliably to a community. Energy is required to lift water from aquifers, move it through canals and pipes, control flow, treat waste water, and desalinate sea water. The energy consumed globally for the delivery of water is more than 26 Quads, 7 percent of total world energy consumption (Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, www.waterindustry.org).

Small Change Equals Big Impact
At ERI we believe you don’t have to make significant changes to create a big impact when it comes to recycling water and energy. One fairly simple way is to repurpose waste that is in the form of high pressure fluids. These high pressure fluid applications can be applied to industrial processes from desalination and gas processing to food production and chemical processing.

ERI currently helps produce fresh water via desalination while also reducing energy requirements. By installing the latest technologies such as ERI PX-Pressure Exchanger devices, the wasted energy can be captured and reused many times over, significantly reducing the carbon impact and saving millions of dollars in energy costs per year. It’s like having an automatic recycling plant without having to disrupt the process or production. By recovering even a portion of the wasted pressure, industries such as desalination, gas processing and food production, among many others, can prevent larger losses of water and energy.

In the past five years, ERI has helped industry save a total of 10 billion Kilowatt hours of energy per year globally—about $1 billion per year in cost savings. While that’s something we are very proud of, perhaps we are even more satisfied that we help produce more than 6.5 billion liters of water per day – enough to serve almost 1 liter of water for every person on this planet. At ERI, every day is World Water Day.

Posted in World Events | Tagged , , , |

Into the New Year

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Tom Rooney, CEO

It’s wonderful to kick-off a new year and give thanks for the completion of a very important transition year at ERI. Yes, we have challenges ahead of us, but we are a much stronger company today, and we’re ready for the challenges ahead. We are operating in a recovering and rebounding industry – and that is very exciting! 

The past year was an important transition year for Energy Recovery.  As a company, we faced many difficult challenges and thanks to the hard work of our employees, we emerged from 2011 as a much stronger company. The global economy weighed heavily on our industry throughout the year, not to mention the significant slowdown that occurred as a result of the Arab Spring.  It’s somewhat hard to comprehend but the global desalination industry shrunk by 60% from its highpoint in 2008.  Most companies would be crushed by such a severe 3-year industry downturn, but not ERI!  I’m proud to be part of a company that keeps innovating and is capable of growing at great speed.  

We’re a stronger company today for many reasons;

  • In 2011 we substantially reduced our overhead costs allowing us to have lean & efficient operations.  
  • We added some fantastic new faces to our team, giving us incredible talent to grow the company in new directions.
  • We launched some of the most exciting new “PX” products ever.  The PX-Q Series is taking the industry by storm and in hot demand, offering unsurpassed value in the market.
  • We received the California Clean Technology “Game Changer” Award in 2011 because of our renewed focus and ongoing success in innovating new technologies. 
  • Most recently, we received a record number of new patents for our industry-leading PX technology, the most granted in any one year in the Company’s history.

Looking forward, we have grand plans for 2012 and beyond.  You might want to check back in with us because we assure you there will be more to come.

Posted in From the CEO's Desk |

China Water Expo, A Water and Desalination Exhibit by the Water Cube

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Audrey Bold, VP of Marketing

Ni Hao from Beijing. This  post couldn’t come from a more appropriate place—one of the iconic sites of the 2008 Olympics, the Water Cube. While we are not here to see Michael Phelps take the gold, we are excited nonetheless to be at the China Water Expo as one of the 300 exhibitors here. The China Water Expo is the premier annual water purification and treatment exhibition, taking place on October 13 – 15. This year’s expo is organized by the Membrane Industry Association of China (MIAC), approved by China’s Ministry of Commerce, China, and sponsored by China’s Ministry of Water Resources.

As one of the most important and authoritative exhibitions of water industry in China, the 2011 China Water Expo is a clear reflection of the Chinese government’s sharp edge focus on their investment of the water industry and the development of new resources. According to the State Oceanic Administration, the country plans to be able to produce from 2.5 million to 3 million tons of desalinated water a day by 2020, up from current production of 600,000 tons of desalinated water a day. For example, China’s water sources are disproportionately spread between north and south – in the south there is about four times more water available per capita than in the north, which produces half of China’s wheat and almost one third of its corn.To address such water shortage challenges, desalination has become is becoming more relevant to the country as a viable alternative for water security.

Given that China is about to make a major capital investment in desalination, the country is recognizing the need to utilize “green” technology to save on energy costs and minimize their carbon footprint.  In addition, high efficiency, durability and availability are critical factors taken into consideration before selecting the right energy recovery devices.  Don’t forget, while some equipment makers boast the lowest total cost with lower prices, you can almost be assured that you will pay for it in one way or another. In fact, these lower cost alternatives require higher maintenance; offer less flexibility, and most importantly a severe lack of plant availability from unplanned downtime.   A recent analysis actually showed that even one day of unplanned downtime per month can cost a water plant as much as $6.8 million USD a year over the lifetime of the plant.  Why would you want to risk your most valuable asset – water?

To avoid these unproductive occurrences and eliminate the crippling costs associated with downtime, ERI customers rely on PX technology to ensure 99.8% uptime. Read more on the advantages of the PX devices.  

Our PX™ device technology, high pressure pumps and turbochargers have no less than a 15 year winning record in the Chinese market. ERI technology is currently contracted and working in some of the largest desalination plants in China, such as YuHuan (36,000 m3/day),Qingdao (100,000 m3/day), and Tianjin(100,000 m3/day).  With more than a major ERD share in the China market, ERI is a winning bet every plant owner and operator can bet on for a long-term solution. .

We look forward to a wonderful week at the China Water Expo as well as meeting each of you there! Join us and see why the majority of China’s desalination plants rely on the most reliable and innovative technology.

Posted in Industry Events |

The Best Economic Solution in Energy Recovery Unveiled at IDA World Congress

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Audrey Bold, VP of Marketing

A couple of weeks ago, Energy Recovery joined hundreds of water professionals for the biggest event in the desalination industry: the International Desalination Association (IDA) World Congress in the city of Perth in Western Australia. Australia is one of the largest markets for seawater  reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination with mega-scale plants located in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. The majority of these plants deploy ERI’s market-leading, best-in-class PX™ energy recovery devices. Perth, our host city, is home to two of the largest desalination plants in the Southern Hemisphere – one of which is widely known for its green, award-winning approach – powered by renewable wind energy.

This year’s theme was “Sustainable Solutions for a Thirsty Planet”, and the week-long event gathered the industry’s leading experts in water treatment to share information and to present the latest technological innovations in their field. Keynote speakers at the Congress included Philippe Cousteau Jr., grandson of the late Jack Cousteau and Sir Richard Branson – both of whom were inspirational as they reflected the event’s theme of sustainability in their presentations on the importance of environmental stewardship.

This year’s IDA Congress was especially memorable for ERI as we launched our newest and most improved technology to date: the PX-Q300 energy recovery device. With incredible advantages such as a 99.8% uptime advantage that saves millions of dollars from costly unplanned maintenance and downtime, a lifetime design of 25 years and the highest guaranteed efficiencies in the market at 97.2%, our PX technology is truly transforming the economics of desalination on a global level.

Given the significant operational and capital savings, the PX technology IS the best economic solution for energy recovery in desalination. We are extremely proud of the technical enhancements made to our PX™ Pressure Exchanger™ product line, represented by the new PX-Q300, and Perth was the perfect place to celebrate with our friends and colleagues.  If you have a few minutes, please take a look at our uptime calculators for investors and operators to evaluate the best technology for your next plant. Remember, there are also plenty of savings to enjoy for retrofitting existing plants. We can help provide the best approach.

Now, that’s what we call a good week “down under”. A special note of appreciation goes to Patricia Burke, Leslie Merrill, Nancy Pagels and the IDA team. We look forward to the next IDA World Congress in Tianjin, China in 2013.

Below are a few photos from IDA World Congress:

Visitors gather at ERI booth.

ERI CEO Tom Rooney converses with former CEO Jim Medanich.

“Uptime is money.” says Borja Blanco, Senior VP, on the economic value of a plant's energy recovery devices.

The PX-300, the best economic solution for energy recovery. ever.

CDA General Mr. Guo, Pentair's Mr. Chia, and ERI's Howard Chao celebrate ERI's "Outback Night "@ Kings Park, Perth

Posted in Industry Events | Tagged , , |

What’s the Impact on the Energy? A Question Every Water Professional Must Ask.

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Tom Rooney, CEO

During this July’s Singapore International Water Week (SIWW), I was invited to speak on a workshop panel on the topic of “Implementing Innovative Water Solutions for Asia,” which I would like to share with you here.

As the majority of the readers of this blog know, water shortage issues are not isolated to a few specific regions in the world, but affect the entire globe. In previous blog posts and industry talks, I have expressed my conviction that any long-term solution to solve this water crisis must include desalination. And it would seem that the market reflects this conviction. According to Global Water Intelligence Desalination Markets 2010, the desalination capacity for Asia will grow from a 7.5 million m3/day to 12.6 million m3/day in 2016 with China and India leading the way.

However, the setback with desalination—and the production and distribution of water in general, for that matter—is the large amount of energy required. As water professionals looking for long term sustainable solutions, energy and water must go hand in hand, after all we are currently facing both a water crisis and an energy crisis. Therefore, the one question that should always be asked when considering water solution is: what is its impact on the energy side?As obvious as this question may seem, most of the researchers, investors, governments, policy-makers and technologists working to address energy and water issues often take a one dimensional approach to solving these problems. We need experts that are focusing on these problems as mutually inclusive with full understanding of a concept I have discussed in previous posts: the water energy nexus. When I speak to college and universities students, I tell them to invest in careers that are mindful of both sides of the water energy nexus. We need strategic businesses and smart individuals that are working on the sum of energy recycling and water recycling. This cross section referred to as the water energy nexus is where true innovation and solutions will come from in the future.

ERI’s PX™ Pressure Exchanger energy recovery device is a great example of the type of innovation that is very much at the intersection of energy and water. Given that the process of desalination is an energy intensive one, we use the energy that is wasted in the process and recycle it by adding our PX™ Pressure Exchanger to the equation. This device accounts for one percent of the plant’s capital cost, but it reduces the energy of an entire desalination plant by 60%. Desalination is not an economically viable option if you do not recycle energy by using an energy recovery device.

A few weeks ago while attending the China Desalination Association’s conference in Qingdao, a reporter from the Associated Press asked me what lessons should Asia be learning when seeking out water solutions for each country? Should Asia learn from infrastructure and policies that may have worked for the Western world?

I answered, “Asia should learn from looking at the mistakes made by some brilliant countries around the world including our own. “

When I said this, I had in mind the eerie similarities between a proposed $40 billion investment in China to build aqueducts to move water from the south to the north and California’s own energy-guzzling aqueduct. Fortunately, China realized a massive aqueduct is likely not the right long-term solution for the country and will opt for a less radical solution.

Here is my challenge to you today, as an innovator looking for the best water solutions for our generation and beyond, please always ask yourself: “what is its impact on the energy?”

Posted in From the CEO's Desk, Industry Events | Tagged , , |

Action for Good, Impressions from Portofino

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Tim Dyer, CTO

The IDA Portofino “Action for Good” Conference was held on May 16th- 18th at the beautiful Grand Hotel Miramare in the small, seaside village of Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy.  The location of the conference was picture perfect with a near perfect climate to match. The air was fresh and contained essences of Ligurean sea salt and Jasmine blossoms.

This conference, organized by the International Desalination Association (IDA) was developed in order to discuss real world water issues, such as drinking solutions for third world countries and providing water in crisis situations. There were technical experts from all over the world in attendance; a wide range of talents and specialties that all share one thing in common, to help produce water for those who need it.

Action for Good – Repairing Wells in Madagascar
The motivation of this conference initiated from the support of Rotary International’s “Water for Africa” project to restore and improve drinking water accessibility to a region in southern Madagascar. To give you a perspective on this, the region, called Ankililoaka, has a population of more than 100,000 people, where 50% are children.  Life expectancy there is short at 42 years, and the water they drink is very low quality, plus, difficult to obtain.  Currently, there is less than one well per 2,000 inhabitants.  Rotary International’s goal, with the help of fund raising from conferences like IDA’s, is to repair enough wells so that there is one per every 1,000 inhabitants.   This is a tremendous charitable cause and it felt good to be part of it.

The Great Engineering Challenge
One of the most interesting topics in the conference was that of providing clean drinking water solutions to economically impoverished areas. Technical solutions need to be inexpensive, easy to maintain, and reliable.  To engineer a device for real world conditions with an almost zero-installed price tag is a great engineering challenge.   Excellent papers were presented by Rhett Butler of Skyjuice and Miriam Balaban of European Desalination Society that discussed solutions for this most challenging type of engineering problem.  The presentations offered clever solutions using materials available in most areas of the world with reliable designs — all for less than 8,000 USD per dispenser.

Creating low cost solutions for enabling drinking water production in areas without electricity is truly amazing to me. These devices are noble in their cause and are the ultimate combination of creativity, clever mechanical design, energy, and materials science.        

Overall, the conference was a huge success.  A symbolic check was presented to the Rotary International representative to a great applause on the last night.  I also enjoyed hearing the Italian Navy band play Verdi in the front deck of the Grand Miramare; being a trumpet player myself.  “Hats off” to Patricia Burke and her IDA staff for an excellent job of making sure the event was well organized and pleasant to attend. For more information about IDA, www.idadesal.org.

Posted in Industry Events |

Water = Underpriced?

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Audrey Bold, VP of Marketing

“Water security stands at the center of all our most pressing global tragedies, including hunger, poverty, infectious diseases, energy, the environment and climate change.”  
                                          -  Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations

 Last month, we were among the attending guests to the 2011 Global Water Summit and Global Water Awards Gala dinner held in Berlin.  During the awards gala, Mr. Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, spoke passionately about water issues and its impact on humanitarian efforts and the future of our world. The message inspired audience members both in and out of the water industry as Mr. Annan emphasized just  how much water is undervalued and underpriced by our world today.

Continuing on the theme of “Focusing on Performance”, the two day summit included plenary sessions by keynote speakers such as Michel Camdessus, Former Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, round table meetings presenting topics such as “The Challenges of a Mega City Public Water Authority in a Developing Country.”, and an Oxford style debate on the topic: “”Does subsidizing water in poor countries work?”

The point that drove home is that the water issue is an end-user issue. All foods and common commodities rely on water for its production process.  Meat production is very water intensive – approximately 1600 liters of water produces 1 kilogram of beef. A Big Mac which costs most of us around $5 – is really worth $200 USD if we accounted for each component added in and each step taken during the production process.

Another soundbite we heard was that there are more mobile phones than the number of toilets in Asia, blaming the shortage of water and the lack of infrastructure in countries of concern. A strong message conveyed during the Summit is we are not only facing a global water crisis, we are facing a world-wide famine. Therefore, for the next 40 years we need to produce more food than was produced in the last 900 years to supply the growing population.

These are serious facts that deserve serious solutions. We need to act now to build infrastructures in the legal, technical, civil and policy making sectors to change our future.

During the Summit, Energy Recovery Inc received a Highly Commended Award for our energy recovery solutions.

For more information on Global Water Summit, go here.

Posted in Industry Events | Tagged , |

Earth Day and the Missing Link between Energy and Water

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Tom Rooney, CEO

Today marks the 41st anniversary of the first observance of Earth Day.

You may not be aware of this, but Earth Day was founded in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson. It was started as a government response to local demonstrations by university campuses and the general public to voice their concerns regarding rising environmental issues.

The organization of Earth Day is a prime example of the effect of positive activism at the grassroots level and the impact it has on policymakers at the national level. As a result, the United States Environmental Protection Agency was established, the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts  were passed, and Earth Day is celebrated by over 1 billion people in 190 countries 41 years later.

As I think about Earth Day and the challenges that are facing our global population, one that rises to the top is the depletion of freshwater resources and the increasing amount of wasted energy. Much like the founding of Earth Day, it takes both top down policy-making and grass roots activism to affect long term change in these two mounting areas.

The term “Energy-Water Nexus” refers to the intimate link between energy and water. Neither energy nor water can do without one another. They are often inseparable in industrial production processes.

For example, energy is needed to generate water in desalination plants. On average, it takes three glasses of seawater to produce just one glass of drinking water, but you’re still paying for the energy it takes to process all three glasses. Therefore, a massive amount of energy is wasted in the desalination process unless the plant installs energy recovery devices (ERDs) as a part of its system. 

On the other hand, a massive amount of water is needed for the generation of energy. A nuclear plant is powered by 190,000 million gallons of water per day, which is 39% of all freshwater withdrawals in the U.S.  (Source: National Renewable Energy Lab)

What is the missing link in the Energy-Water Nexus? Energy solutions with water-savings advantages and water solutions with energy-savings advantages.

ERI was founded on the principles of the Energy-Water Nexus and fits right in the middle of this equation. By providing energy efficient technologies focused on water generation and beyond, we create solutions that answer both the need for clean water and the need for energy conservation. It is our continued goal to develop energy recovery devices for more green and efficient industrial processes by significantly reducing global energy consumption, reducing the carbon footprint of desalination, and offsetting carbon dioxide emissions in the environment.  

You can read more about Earth Day here, and the Energy-Water Nexus here.

Posted in From the CEO's Desk, World Events | Tagged , |

Providing India with Potable Water

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Audrey Bold, VP of Marketing

Last month, we left our footprints in Mumbai, host city of AquaTech India, the largest and most international water technology show in India. Among thousands of visitors and exhibitors, ERI unveiled the newest addition to our centrifugal product line, the ERI™ AquaBold™ high pressure pump.

ERI Booth at AquaTech India

Better Water Management
India is as famous for its colorful, diverse culture as it is known for the lack of freshwater resources.  It is currently the world’s leading user of groundwater, with some 20 meter bore-holes providing water for over 60% of its irrigated area. From a rural side, the high demand for irrigation in its major river basins is expected to deplete groundwater levels by 2050. From the urban side, industrialization and infrastructure growth are projected to drive water consumption and lead to increased discharge of untreated wastewater. 

The good news is the India government has been focusing on the better management of water resources and the construction of more desalination plants (Source: India Times article). In 2007, based on approval from the municipal government, a $140 million liters per day (MLD) desalination plant was set up in Minjur, utilizing ERI’s PX™ technology with multiple trains containing a total of 23 PX ™ devices.

This desalination process results in the fresh water trasporting through pipelines to the city water tank, where it is distributed through the city’s water infrastructure out to individual residences. In addition, to ensure that the brine (wastewater) leftover from the desalination process is properly disposed in the most environmentally friendly manner possible, it is diluted with pure water and discharged back into the sea, so the salinity will not affect natural habitats.

Clean Water for Chennai
Currently, the Chennai plant is supplying 100,000 cubic meters per day (100 MLD) of desalinated water to the region. This means 2000 people, including low income and disadvantaged groups are supplied with clean water and alleviated with many of the health concerns that come with the usage of desanitized water.

Customer reading ERI brochure

With the acquisition of Pump Engineering and its line of high pressure pumps and turbochargers, ERI is more than equipped to offer both isobaric and centrifugal solutions for brackish and seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants to supply for India’s water scarcity. In addition to the PX™ devices, Our turbochargers and pumps are also widely used in brackish, seawater, and power plants such as Adani power plant in Maharashtra, India.

“There is a huge potential for more of ERI’s TurboChargers to be used in small and medium scale seawater desalination plants here in India.”
     - Hermant Dandekar, Managing Director, Pure and Cure Technology

“ERI’s energy saving technology makes it possible for us to receive clean, reliable water at a much more competitive cost, enabling our people to live without the fear of insufficent water.”
     – Natarajan Ganesan, Joint General Manager, Chennai Water Desalination Company

Here’s to our success in providing India with fresh drinking water by way of energy efficient means. Namaste.

Posted in Industry Events, Regional Spotlight | Tagged , |

World Water Day and Solutions for California’s Water Crisis

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Tom Rooney, CEO
From the Desk of the CEO, Tom Rooney

If you are like most readers of this blog, there is a great chance that you did not mark World Water Day on your 2011 calendar.

In 1993, the United Nations established March 22nd as World Water Day and has since encouraged us to celebrate water as a precious resource and to reflect on the global water issues, such as a billion people being without access to safe drinking water. Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, very few of us actually understand the severity of the global water situation, even here in California, where the seriousness of the water crisis is converging in our own backyard.

Over the course of California’s history, water has been at the center of both the fictional dramas of Hollywood—think Roman Polanski’s Chinatown—as well as the very real dramas of the California Water Wars, which pitted Los Angeles against the Owens Valley, and the establishment of the Hetch Hetchy Dam in Yosemite National Park, which saw Sierra Club founder, John Muir, on the losing side of a battle against the San Francisco municipal government.

While this publicity has helped advance efforts and attract more support, recently published research illustrates that the water crisis has only intensified in California and in our neighboring states in the Southwest, setting the stage for a scenario far more tragic than even Polanski’s best Film Noir.

A report published by the US Center of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) last month is the latest critique of California and Southwest water policy by scientific and environmental organizations that warns that climate change and continued inaction to reduce water consumption could cost the region as much as $5 trillion, which would devastate already fragile local economies and adversely affect agriculture, homes and businesses.

While the researchers are on the mark when they list the variety of measures that need to be taken to help avert a major environmental and human disaster, which include implementing substantial conservation and efficiency measures as well as instituting price increases for both urban and agricultural users, they rule out utilizing existing desalination technology for water production.

Water desalination has often been vilified as too energy intensive, or disruptive to the environment—outdated notions the authors of the SEI report revisit in their work. It’s important, and timely to point out that water generation through advanced desalination techniques should be part of a multi-faceted solution and that existing desalination technology with significantly reduced environmental and economic impact is a viable option, ready today.

Technological advances in energy recovery devices, membranes and plant designs have addressed many of the energy, cost and environmental issues, making desalination a more affordable and environmentally sound process. Specifically, existing best-in-class energy recovery devices operate at 98 percent efficiency and reduce energy consumption in salt water reverse osmosis desalination by up to 60 percent, making desalination a cost-effective solution to help eliminate clean water shortages.

It is a great time to pay tribute to the values of World Water Day and focus our attention on the necessity of freshwater and advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Recycling, reclaiming and reducing consumption are integral components to a multifaceted solution, but must be looked at as part of a package that includes energy-efficient desalination. If water issues and their solutions are not part of our daily discourse, then the most tragic chapter in California’s water drama is coming sooner than we think.

Learn more about World Water Day here and become part of the solution by learning about ways that you can reduce water use at home and at work as well as the options available to your community for water generation.

Posted in From the CEO's Desk, World Events | Tagged , |