Energy Conservation
Reduction in energy consumption is a long-term programme within Northern Foods, with a continuous commitment at all sites to identify new ways of making savings. This concerted effort is co-ordinated by on-site energy champions, who come together at regular workshops and forums to share knowledge and best practice in energy reduction and evaluate the latest technology to drive down energy use.
Achievements to April 2010
During 2009 a new energy monitoring system was trialed, evaluated by the energy champions, and then installed in all 17 production sites. It measures energy and water usage on the production line at the point of use, and the amount of waste produced. Accurate, real-time information is fed to the operations team, who can now identify areas for improvement more easily and can manage their resources much more effectively. In most cases, this initiative alone has delivered a four per cent reduction in energy costs within a few months of installation.
Examples of initiatives introduced as a result of new information gained from the energy monitoring system are:
- Defrost cycles on chilling units are now triggered when required as opposed to relying on automatically timed defrost cycles
- Heat exchangers have been installed to recover the heat from water used in production more efficiently and transfer it to clean water used in the generation of steam.
- In the compressed-air systems, which push product around the factories, vacuum dryers have been installed to reduce moisture thereby speeding air compression and cutting energy costs.
As a result of all initiatives across the company, energy used per tonne of finished product is down 10 per cent, year-on-year since April 2009, from 483 to 437 kilowatt hours per tonne.
Target to April 2011
Further five per cent reduction in energy used per tonne of finished product, year-on-year
Longer-term targets
Continued five per cent reduction in energy used per tonne of finished product, year-on-year
Individual site initiatives
In order to save on gas, Cavaghan & Gray in Carlisle, where we make ready meals and meal accompaniments, is testing new steam meters and has installed a separate gas meter on its main boiler to measure and improve its energy consumption under different conditions.
Voltage optimisation and power-factor correction units have been trialed at Gunstones Bakery in Sheffield, where we make sandwiches, sushi and bread-based products. These two pieces of equipment ensure that no more electricity is drawn from the supply than the precise amount required to operate the factory at optimum efficiency, and therefore none is wasted by conversion into excess heat. The trial delivered an eight per cent reduction in electricity use, and is now to be rolled out across all 17 production sites.
At our Green Isle site at Naas, County Kildare, where we make Goodfella’s pizzas, we have installed a combined heat/power plant, which recycles excess heat from the boiler to wherever it is needed in the production lines. It has reduced the amount of electricity we require by 50 per cent.
Our Christmas pudding production site, Matthew Walker, at Heanor in Derbyshire, introduced traffic light stickers on all equipment to save energy. A red sticker means never switch off this machine. An amber sticker means if it is not in use ask the supervisor if it’s OK to switch it off. A green sticker means if it is not in use, just switch it off. In the first year the £28 investment in stickers saved eight per cent in energy costs.
Our two sites in the north-west of England, Cavaghan & Gray at Carlisle, and Fox’s at Kirkham, have successfully trialled an innovative programme for helping employees save energy and reduce costs in their homes. Working with a regional carbon-reduction fund called The Foundation and a home-insulation provider, Northern Foods enabled employees to attend advice clinics at work where they could take advantage of a scheme to have their house walls and lofts insulated at half the usual cost. The scheme is now to be rolled out across all the company’s UK sites.
