Green cleaning. Collectively, we are growing more aware of the importance of cleaning ecologically. Recently, a major Dutch research institute, TKT, researched the reduction of energy consumption in open-end machines. We are pleased that the institute is researching an important issue such as
Green Ambitions
Fortunately, awareness and greenambitions among laundries are growing. Partly as a result of incentives by the government, laundries and linen services are investing in a more environmentally-friendly cleaning process. We also noticed this when we connected a complete laundry to our Laundry Intelligence management information software and converted the washers with our in-house operating system, Smart Control. Since then, this laundry has brought the results of the TKT study to life. We would like to briefly explain how this laundry saves both money and the environment.
Save 34% Water
The TKT study shows that matching your machine’s water level to the actual load results in significant energy savings. The institute measures that water will be saved by34% when loaded with 45 kg of linen in a 68 kg washer. There’s one condition though: the water needs to match the load. Unfortunately, this is not the case in reality; in fact, coordinating water and load is not possible with standard machine controls.
Mismatch of Load and Water
Take an open-end washer with a maximum load of 50 kg. In this case, the machine will always use a standard water level for 50 kg; the standard control does not take the actual load into account. This is fine, if you load your machine with 50 kg. However, we all know that is not always the case.
What if you need to clean less linen than the capacity, and load the machine with 20 kg of linen? Well, the same water for 50 KG linen will be used. Obviously, this is inefficient and irresponsible: water is an unrenewable resource.
The Importance of Software in Cleaning Green
TKT reports that this discrepancy between load and water can only be straightened with the right software (read: control). That is exactly the purpose of Smart Control. With Smart Control you can easily tailor a cleaning program to your specific needs. The software is designed for an intuitive PLC from Schneider Electronic, which is easily equipped on the machine instead of the manufacturer software.
Match Made in Heaven
Laundries and linen services equipped with Smart Control can determine the water use, dosage, duration and dosage. As a result, the organization not only uses a responsible amount of water, but also gas and electricity consumption are within borders. In other words: if you wash 30 KG of linen with a 60 KG machine, you can still ensure that exactly enough water is used.
Dry Green
Washers are not the only culprits. Dryers with standard software often cannot dry the linen in the set time. What happens as a consequence? Right, the wet laundry goes back in the dryer. As a result, the dryer uses an excessive amount of gas. And where does that end up? That’s right: in nature.
Although the dryer needs to be heated, the undesirable side effect of an excessive drying time causes the earth to heat up. With Smart Control, the operators themselves set the right drying time for the linen: no longer than the laundry is dry and no shorter! This means that no surplus gas ends up in the environment.
Recognition of the Problem
Searching for solutions starts with the identification and acknowledgment of the problem. Laundry Intelligence was crafted for this purpose. With Laundry intelligence, the manager can see the exact consumption and costs on his smartphone, desktop and tablet. After each batch, he can precisely see what the total costs (including consumption and manpower) are. And if the washer or dryer consumes more resources than necessary, the manager receives a notification. The load can then be tailored to your load in Smart Control.
Do less. Achieve More
The aforementioned study by TKT and the experiences of our customers show that cleaning ecologically can be as simple as saving natural resources. While the business saves costs, it also contributes to a cleaner environment. A nice example of doing less and achieving more; what else could you wish for!
Learn more about Smart Laundry
If you have any questions about Smart Control or other complete Smart Laundry products, we’re there for you. Vartex is also an official Girbau, Unica and Image dealer, if there’s anything else we can assist you with, feel free to contact us!
You can always visit our website.