Less Power to the Press
by Greg Francis
While newsprint remains the most expensive component of a press run, electricity isn’t that far behind. In fact, it’s typically higher up a newspaper’s ledger sheet than the other major press consumable–ink. Recogniz-ing this, The Huntsville (Ala.) Times has realized significant energy savings by replacing its old air compressor and dryer.
"We were having maintenance problems with the old equipment," says Glenn Millett, the Times’ pressroom machinist. The compressor, which provides the pneumatic air pressure to components that power almost every piece of pressroom equipment, and the dryer, which takes the moisture out of the air going to the equipment, were more than 10 years old and unreliable. "It was not cost-effective to keep repairing them."
Both pieces of equipment were inefficient. A 75-horsepower, single-speed model, the compressor produced more energy than the press actually needed most of the time. The pressroom operated at full capacity about eight hours a day; for the other 16 hours it needed only a fraction of the compressor’s output.
The dryer, which dries air by cooling it, presented a similar problem. Unlike most modern refrigerating units, which go through cycles of shutting on and off to maintain a constant temperature, the Times’ dryer stayed on all the time, consuming more energy than needed. In addition, the dryer used R12, a greenhouse gas now being phased out due to government regulations.
Faced with these problems, Millett looked into upgrading the equipment. Using the Internet, conversations with maintenance departments and trade literature, he narrowed his options. In the end, he settled on a new variable-speed Cyclon SR compressor from CompAir of Sidney, Ohio, capable of operating at any rate between 0 and 67 horsepower. The compressor can maintain a set air pressure while responding instantly to changes in demand, Millett says. It also has a traction-repulsion system, which extends service life and makes the compressor virtually maintenance-free.
Using the new compressor, the company was able to cut average power usage from 49.46 to 17.97 kilowatts per hour. By Millett’s calculations, that saves $30 per day, about $960 per month, or $11,523 yearly. He estimates that the new compressor will pay for itself within two years.
To replace the dryer, Millett chose a cycling model from Zeks Compressed Air Solutions of West Chester, Pa. In addition to bringing the newspaper into compliance by eliminating R12, its cycling function makes it much more energy efficient.
Although Millett has no way of measuring the amount of money the dryer
saved, he said that according to its own monitoring equipment, the system
uses 85 percent less energy. 
Francis is an Arlington, Va., free-lancer. E-mail, grfhome@aol.com.
Web Cuts Continue
When it comes to the incision decision, there’s apparently strength in numbers.
More than half the newspapers surveyed by NAA’s Technology Department have either converted to 50-inch printing webs or committed to doing so.
According to the 554 responding U.S. daily newspapers, 146, or 26.4 percent, already have converted to the narrower page size. Another 144, or 26 percent, have committed to the change. An additional 127 newspapers, or 22.9 percent, are considering the switch but have not made a final decision.
Just under one-quarter of the newspapers surveyed–some 137 dailies, or 24.7 percent–do not plan to switch to 50-inch webs. However, their ranks include several major-metro dailies, including The Wall Street Journal, The Sun in Baltimore, The Buffalo News and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, according to the survey. Several large-market tabloids, including Newsday of Melville, N.Y., and the Denver Rocky Mountain News, also do not plan cuts, the survey said.
Among the papers making the change this summer was The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. It announced it would make the shift "to benefit readers," citing market research conducted at numerous newspapers indicating a preference for the more compact size. The transition to the narrower web was completed in late May; a complete redesign follows in September.
"The transition went very smoothly, with no inconvenience to readers," says Kurt Etheridge, the paper’s promotions specialist. "Our distribution was not affected because we carefully planned when to take each press offline."
Earlier this year, NAA released a recommended image width and page size for the narrower web. The new suggested sizes, however, were not intended to replace Standard Advertising Units or endorse the move to 50 inches (TechNews, March/April 2000, p. 7).
The survey is ongoing. To view updated results and additional web-reduction
resources, visit www.naa.org/
technology/pressweb.