SEP’s Role in Driving Technology Adoption in Manufacturing Plants

The ISO 50001 standard and the accompanying energy efficiency improvements required for Superior Energy Performance (SEP) certification provide an effective methodology for managing energy in industrial plants without designating specific equipment requirements or technology upgrades to achieve certification. Instead, the standard’s measurement and procurement requirements specify that energy-using equipment that can significantly affect energy use be assessed for its energy efficiency and impact on the organization’s energy performance. These two requirements work together to prioritize justifiable procurement of energy-efficient equipment and the evaluation of alternative technologies as companies manage their energy use through ISO 50001.

Measurement

ISO 50001 requires plants to establish an energy policy, baseline and performance indicators to monitor energy use. This, along with the energy performance requirements of SEP, facilitate the identification of energy efficiency measures beyond energy management and operational measures for further evaluation and upgrades.

Greg Morrow, Environmental Manager at Haynes International, Inc., a high-performance alloy producer for aerospace, chemical, land-based gas turbine among other industries said that “SEP gave us a more systematic approach to look at not only things that had the most energy savings, but also where technology was ready and available for us […] there were areas where we knew that there were problems, but we didn’t have the tools to identify how serious they were or what we could see from changes.” Haynes International saw additional benefits from the technology upgrades, the upgraded lighting brought safety and quality benefits and the upgraded compressed air system improved production reliability.

At the Volvo Group Truck Operations New River Valley Plant a variety of initiatives were undertaken during their SEP period, including the installation of infrared (IR) heating in place of natural gas to heat the equipment, floor, materials, and in warehouses, a large air compressor, and adding gas injection to their regenerative thermal oxidizer. Volvo Trucks piloted the IR heating system in a shipping building and achieved annual energy savings of 80 percent. The energy savings from this IR unit justified installing them in other areas of the plant.

Procurement

There are two components to the requirement in ISO 50001 that the procurement of major energy using services, products, and equipment be evaluated for their energy use. The first is the establishment of energy purchasing specifications and the consideration of energy performance when evaluating services, products, and equipment. The second is the requirement that the supply chain be alerted that the company will be evaluating equipment in part based on the energy it consumes (covered in more depth here).

Plants implementing and developing purchasing specifications and life-cycle cost analyses of procured equipment as a standard practice can more easily justify the purchase of higher efficiency equipment when life-cycle cost effective. Otherwise, purchasing departments often buy the least expensive equipment that meets technical criteria.

According to Morrow, the hurdle to changing the standard purchasing framework is “Educating people in purchasing to look at the long-term costs associated with purchases is something we are learning to work through.” Many equipment purchase requests at plants are driven by replacement in which purchasing the same unit and efficiency/capacity level is often standard practice. At Haynes International, the maintenance department, a part of the energy team, has been working to drive more energy efficient replacements.

The ISO 50001 requirement for energy use measurement and evaluation in procurement provides plants with context for evaluating equipment specifications and technology upgrades. Together, these requirements can encourage companies to adopt timelines for upgrades and find opportunities and resources for cost-effective energy efficiency projects.