How Facilities Maintenance Can Reduce Food and Beverage Production Energy Costs

Until recently, energy efficiency may have been a back burner issue for the food and beverage production industry.  However, last year the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Energy Research Service (ERS)  published a report titled “Fuel for Food: Energy Use in the U.S. Food System.” A key finding in the report was that while individual households remain the biggest energy users in the food chain, food processors had the largest increase in energy use. As a result, the food processing industry is now the second largest user of energy in the food system, surpassing the wholesale/retail industry. USA Today referenced this report in the May 2011 article  “Food for thought: How energy is squandered in food industry”.  The article points out that the main reason for this spike in energy use is energy-intensive technologies (and equipment) replacing manual labor.

Focus on Low Cost Opportunities

Cutting energy costs now appears to be moving to the front burner. For food and beverage production facility managers,  a simple and effective strategy for conserving energy comes from a 2011 white paper from EPS Corporation titled “Making Sustainability a Reality: Best Practices for Energy Savings and Reduced Carbon Emissions in the Food and Beverage Industry”. One of the suggested steps for best practice is “focus on low cost opportunities.”  The white paper indicates that by adjusting, recalibrating and maintaining heavily used equipment, food and beverage companies can expect to achieve significant energy savings. To give you a sense of what you are up against, the video below demonstrates (on a small scale – pun intended) the dangers of allowing lime scale to build up in your facilities boilers, chillers and heat exchangers.

Five Low Cost Facilities Maintenance Opportunities

The benefits of maintaining your facility’s heavily used equipment doesn’t stop at increased energy efficiency. Systematic maintenance yields longer equipment life,  increased safety and less stress on the system (and on you). Of course there is a cost but most energy waste can be remedied at a reasonably low cost.

The maintenance opportunities below are available to you whether you’re a dairy facilities manager, meat packing facilities manager, food processing facilities manager, bottling facilities manager or beverages facilities manager.

1. Prepare an HVAC Maintenance Checklist (read a “How to” post)

2. Track and Assess Facility Performance (download an assessment handbook)

3. Establish a Sustainable Descaling and Scale Removal System (get more info)

4. Clean Cooling Tower Basins Without Taking Offline (watch a “How to” video)

5. Speed Up Tube Cleaning of Heat Exchangers, Boilers, Condensers, and Pipes (read a case study)

Next Steps:

• Check out our learning center for more low cost steps to operational efficiency.
• Subscribe to our blog to stay informed on the latest HVAC maintenance news and insight.
• Stay up to date on facility maintenance tools such as chiller tube cleaners,boiler tube cleaners andhose/pipe cleaners,descaler systems,test instruments,industrial vacuums,commercial pressure washers, and drain cleaners.