Energy Management at Norfolkline

February 15th, 2007

An Energy Management Team (EMT) has been set up in Norfolkline’s facilities in Larkhall, Scotland, and in the year to date a 12% reduction in energy consumption has been achieved.

Norfolkline Scotland operates a chilled warehouse and cold store facility in Larkhall that distributes salmon and fresh fish to the UK and Continental Europe. One of the major costs of operating a chilled warehouse and cold store is electricity.

Over the past 18 months electricity prices have risen by 64% in the UK.

General Manager Allan Bell decided that energy management should form part of the strategy for 2006, not only to deliver cost savings but also to reduce Norfolkline’s carbon footprint (the emission of carbon dioxide or CO2). He contacted the Carbon Trust, a UK Not for Profit Organisation established to help support businesses reduce their carbon emissions.The Carbon Trust evaluated the facilities at Larkhall and presented a report on their findings.

While overall the feedback was positive there were a number of areas identified where there was scope for improvement.

A key recommendation from the Carbon Trust’s report was the establishment of an Energy Management Team (EMT). This was set up in February 2006 with the Finance Manager, Mark Thomson, leading the group. The EMT was set a challenging target of reducing energy consumption by 15% year on year.

In accordance with best practice the EMT established an energy management policy which included a statement of commitment from senior management, a plan of implementation, details of everyone’s involvement and clearly defined which parts of the organisation are covered by the policy.

The EMT identified a number of stages to improve energy efficiency; the group’s first priority was to identify some “quick wins” to highlight the importance of energy management. These short term actions would deliver improvements immediately.

Key to achieving this stage was staff awareness of energy conservation and training on good practice in the warehouse and office. These included simple actions such as switching off lights, ensuring the chilled warehouse doors are kept closed and including articles in the local newsletter on energy management. The Carbon Trust estimated that implementing good practice would reduce carbon emissions by 51.3 tonnes.

The second stage of the process was to ensure that the warehouse was operating as efficiently as possible.A review of the warehouse was carried out to ensure that there was no damage to seals or doors that would allow warm air into the building.

Where problems were identified, repairs and maintenance work were prioritised to address the issue.

The final stage of the process was to identify potential “spend to save”initiatives.These are options that require more significant investment (both in terms of time and finance) but would generate greater savings for the business over a period of time.

Based on an initial review, it was identified that low energy lighting would be a triple win; in terms of reduced energy consumption, a reduction in heat emission and improved lighting. After a detailed study had been carried out by electrical contractors, new light fittings were purchased for the chilled warehouse. Based on the reduced running costs alone, it is estimated that the new lighting will pay back the investment in 1.28 years.

So is this the end of the story? No, the EMT has now moved on to identifying other potential savings initiatives as well as ensuring that the current good practices are maintained. Potential future projects include looking into renewable energy in the form of wind turbines to offset our electricity supply and considering the benefits of installing a monitoring and data management system to optimise the operation of the cooling equipment within the building.