How Can A Pipe Deliver Energy Savings?

Maury Gaston, Manager of Marketing Services for American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO), discusses the benefits of ductile iron pipe including energy savings, certified sustainability and a new polyethylene encasement.

The following is an excerpt from a Q&A with Water Online Radio. Click on the Radio Player above to hear the full interview.

Water Online Radio: What’s new in ductile pipe?

Maury: There are a lot of things that are new this year that we are debuting here at ACE. One is our Smart Certification. Ductile iron pipe is the only pressure pipe to be Smart Certified by the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability.

We have earned their Sustainable Gold rating based on a number of criteria, including public health and environmental safety, renewable energy, and energy reduction, the use of recycled materials, innovation in manufacturing, and for having a toxin free material and toxin free manufacturing environment.

American Cast Iron Pipe Company is delighted to have a green product, but also to be certified green by the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability.

Water Online Radio: Explain the real value to the customer of the Smart Certification. What does that really mean? What are the benefits of that?

Maury: There are a lot of products out there today that are doing what we call green washing. They’re claiming to be environmentally friendly and that sort of thing. Many of these things are manufactured from petroleum-based products, and they are not recyclable at the end of their life. They have smaller inside diameters and cost more, consuming more electricity, to pump water through them.

Ductile iron pipe is not only made from 100 percent recycled materials. It’s also completely recyclable at the end of its life, which is exceptionally rare. It’s larger inside diameter compared to substitute pipe materials allows you to consume less energy while pumping the same amount of water through the pipe.

Water Online Radio: How can a pipe deliver energy savings?

Maury: All pipe materials are standardized on the same outside diameter. Because of the strength of ductile iron, the wall doesn’t have to be as thick as if it were made out of a plastic material.

Having a thicker pipe wall like plastic does results in a smaller inside diameter for that product, and it takes more energy to pump the same amount of water through a smaller inside diameter pipe than the larger inside diameter that’s available with ductile iron.

Pumping tests and flow tests have shown that you can reduce your energy to transport and pump water through your transmission and distribution systems by as much as 30 percent by using ductile iron pipe materials…

Click on the Radio Player above to hear the full interview.