Redefining energy efficiency: helping customers think differently leads to cost and energy savings
We extend our expertise in sustainability beyond our own operations to help our customers realize the power of thinking differently about how they operate their facilities. Too many businesses make the mistake of thinking that being sustainable costs money. We know that using resources wisely not only protects the earth, it also protects the profitability of an enterprise.
A pilot project with beverage bottling plants proves the value of thinking differently. The customers, a regional group of bottlers for a global brand, asked us to help reduce their energy costs and carbon dioxide emissions associated with cleaning their bottling lines. Traditional thinking would call for installing a more efficient boiler to heat the water used to clean the lines. A new boiler consumes capital resources.
Instead, we asked a different question: Do you need the boiler? We replaced a conventional five-step clean-in-place process using hot water with a three-step clean-in-place process using water at its ambient temperature. The year-long project:
- saved $100,000 from the decreased cost of energy,water and waste;
- reduced annual carbon dioxide emissions from the plant by more than 1,200 metric tons;
- saved time, improving the plant's productivity.
Other plants could realize similar savings, with specific totals varying depending on the fuel used in the boilers.
The savings represent an immediate return on investment with a capital outlay that is a fraction of what would be required to replace existing equipment.
If all of the bottling plants in the region associated with this global beverage company were to adopt the process we tested, they would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 27,000 metric tons per year and save about $1.7 million per year.