Do you know the savings from energy management projects?
The business value of an energy management project commonly exceeds direct savings. Aside from this fact, do most managers actually know the amount of direct savings achieved through their energy management projects? A recent report produced by The Ethical Corporation, UK offers a comprehensive picture of how organizations around the world are approaching sustainability. This research report, titled State of Sustainability 2015, [...]
Which problem does Starbucks face?
Starbucks is looking for a savior. Starbucks is having trouble meeting its goal to reduce energy use by 25 percent by 2015, according to its recently issued annual sustainability report. Last year, the company improved its energy performance only 4.6 percent over its 2008 baseline, using 6.49 kWh/square foot per store in the U.S. and Canada. By comparison, the stores [...]
A small efficiency loss may cause a big loss of business value
At a recent project, we worked with an industrial bakery that faced a minor increase in natural gas consumption at its oven. Through an analysis of consumption/production data and discussions with the client, we found that the waste was caused by a faulty temperature-sensor calibration. The sensor was adjusted, and consumption came back to expected levels. The eliminated waste was [...]
Energy efficiency adds value beyond saving energy
Waste of energy, as painful as it is by itself, is often a symptom of lost sales, under utilization of production capacity and other lost opportunities. Some time ago I participated in a walk through energy audit of a commercial bakery. Plant manager was interested in saving energy, but not as much as in opportunities to increase production. This bakery produces [...]
Will this energy efficiency measure work for you?
To M&V or not to M&V - this is the question If you are in charge of energy at your manufacturing or commercial facility, you are likely to be addressed by vendors with various energy efficiency improvements proposals. It can be a more efficient machine or a tune-up or an addition to your existing system. The immediate question is: How [...]
How to make behavioural energy saving work?
Flip a switch or a flip bird? Numerous studies show that simple changes in employee behaviour may save up to 10% in energy costs with no capital costs. The common issue is that it’s difficult to initiate behavioural changes and it’s definitely very difficult to sustain them. Here comes the most puzzling part: some companies save a lot of energy [...]
Does your plant pay for water service it does not use?
If water is part of your recipes or your plant runs an absorption cooling tower you likely pay for sewage service you do not use. With some effort your plant may decrease water bill without changing production processes. Water service is not cheap any more Water used to be cheap in Canada. Not any more: in 2014 1m3 of water [...]