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Improved Sustainability Efforts Led to Massive Cost Savings

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THE CHALLENGE

Humboldt CreameryHumboldt Creamery is proud of its sustainable, zero-waste initiatives to reduce the footprint of its manufacturing process. The Creamery is always looking to explore ways to bring its customers organic dairy products made in the most responsible way.

The creamery employs about 100 people and manufactures fluid and powdered milk, as well as ice cream. Humboldt Creamery was looking to increase the plant’s sustainability efforts, as well as increase performance and energy savings from their refrigeration system.

THE SOLUTION

Humboldt CreameryHumboldt Creamery started working with VaCom Technologies three years ago at the encouragement of the local utility who had seen firsthand VaCom’s effective and impressive work. Their first project started as an upgrade to their refrigeration on their controls system. VaCom assisted the facility in applying for a utility incentive program which helped cover a significant amount of project costs, as well as drive energy savings.

Following implementation, two years of performance monitoring was per-formed using VaCom’s EnergyDashboard service. During this time, energy and refrigeration engineers from VaCom fine-tuned the system to achieve and maintain the expected savings.

THE RESULTS

According to the Mike Callihan, Humboldt Creamery’s Plant Manager, “VaCom is a very capable company. Their Energy Dashboard is helpful at identifying issues with the system. The team is responsive and available.” They have saved about 1,100,000 kWh per year since implementation (Normalized to 2017 Production). That equates to roughly $150,000 per year, or $450,000 over the past three years.

Their sustainability and energy efficiency efforts have totaled over 250 Metric tons of CO2 emissions reduction. This collective effort lead to the facility being awarded a persistence utility incentive after the two years of improved performance. The facility has continued to participate in performance monitoring, leading to maintained energy savings and identification of future projects to improve the plant’s performance.

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Cold Storage Facility Improves Bottom Line Through VaCom’s Refrigeration Performance Monitoring

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THE CHALLENGE

A multi-national food and agricultural products company operating a 50,000+ sq. ft. protein storage warehouse in California noticed gradually rising utility costs, which had a significant effect

Closeup shooting hand of worker with clipboard checking goods in freezing room or warehouse

upon the operating cost of the facility. It was noted that the largest user of energy was the refrigeration system, which had been declining in performance and efficiency over time, partly due to the facility’s inability to retain onsite refrigeration or energy engineering personnel. Com-pounding the rising energy costs, the facility was not able to dedicate resources toward mitigating growing and changing demand charges on their utility bills.

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THE SOLUTION

The warehouse operator reached out to VaCom’s Performance Monitoring Service Team, whose Refrigeration and Energy Engineers accessed the facility’s refrigeration control system via a secure connection with VaCom’s EnergyDashboard tool. System performance data was continuously measured, trended, and analyzed. Multiple energy-saving and performance improvements opportunities were identified. Opportunities ranged from equipment failures, behavioral changes, to set point changes. Each opportunity was furthermore analyzed financially and ranked according to its payback and criticality to operations.

During periodic review meetings, all stakeholders, including the facility operator, their refrigeration contractor, and the VaCom Engineers, each opportunity was assessed and the team formed a planned approach to address each opportunity for improvement. EnergyDashboard continued to measure the system’s performance and the results of their work was manifested in the data.

THE RESULTS

Clear results measured a 39% reduction in total facility daily energy usage (see graph below), and an annual savings of 800,000 kWh, equating to $120,000 per year energy cost reduction. The energy savings equate to 182 Metric-tons of CO2 GHG emissions per year. Overall, the engagement with VaCom’s Performance Monitoring Service has provided a Return on Investment (ROI) of greater than 700%. The facility is dedicated to maintaining the savings through a continuous improvement program and team approach involving all stakeholders.

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