This paper provides a brief description and overview of an 'energy efficiency improvement" made at a major North East manufacturer.

 

For many years the organization had not considered that electrical energy was of major concern. The raw cost of electricity was relatively cheap and was considered to be a small factor in the overall operation of the company. With the rapid rise in utility costs, energy became a significant cost and increased in importance accordingly. Therefore, it was decided to introduce a quick, high profile initiative to re-inforce the need for energy savings to improve the staff attitude to energy initiatives. The initiative identified was to reduce the lighting levels on the site.

 

A review was performed to identify areas of unnecessary lighting, together with areas were alternative switching methods could be used, such as PIR's or even switches.

 

This review identified a number of unoccupied or rarely used areas. In the identified areas the lighting levels were checked and in some areas, whole banks of lighting were isolated and in other areas only one tube was left in operation.

 

Further to this, in some office areas, there was no capability to switch lights on and off other than by entering restricted risers. In these areas the light switches were re-positioned to allow staff to switch lights on and off. In some low time occupancy areas, switch off timers were fitted to light switches, such that after a time period had elapsed the lights would switch off.

 

Throughout the implementation of all the reductions, checks were made to ensure that Health and Safety requirements were not comprised.

 

The results of the project were positive and well received by all personnel. The savings identified were 3 million kWh hours of energy and over 1350 tonnes of CO₂ with a payback of under a year. Other intangible benefits were also realised such as a change in staff attitudes toward energy efficiency. This initiative was meant to introduce the topic to enable a continuous improvement scheme to be introduced.