If you’ve ever played “Whac-A-Mole” on the boardwalk or at an arcade, you can get a sense of the frustration that both food and beverage processors and architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) firms are feeling in today’s economy—fix one problem, another pops up.

Steam, like compressed air, is expensive to generate and easy to waste through leaks and any number of other issues.

From 2006 to 2010, 8,600 structure fires were reported at US industrial or manufacturing facilities, resulting in 11 fatalities, 230 injuries and $753 million in direct property damage, according to NFPA research.

FE interviewed Brian Flynn, chief technology officer of ZF Energy Development, to discuss the options processors have in cutting energy costs.

Plant investments must compete with new product development and other priorities for limited capital, and the challenge is particularly difficult for infrastructure and utility improvements.