by Brianna Crandall — March 9, 2016—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that 70 manufacturing plants have achieved Energy Star certification for their superior energy performance in 2015.
Together, these manufacturing plants saved a significant amount of energy, cut their energy bills by $476 million, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than five million metric tons — equal to the average annual energy use of more than 450,500 households. From building corporate energy management programs to implementing energy efficiency projects, there are many ways plants can save energy with the Energy Star program, says EPA.
Since 2006, EPA has certified manufacturing plants with the Energy Star for reaching the top 25 percent of energy performance in their industries nationwide each year. Energy Star certified plants must have their energy performance independently verified. Plants from the automotive, cement manufacturing, corn refining, food processing, glass manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and petroleum refining industries are among those that qualified in 2015.
Nine plants earned certification for the first time:
- Actavis: Fajardo, Puerto Rico (pharmaceutical manufacturing)
- Actavis: Manati, Puerto Rico (pharmaceutical manufacturing)
- Allergan: Cincinnati, OH (pharmaceutical manufacturing)
- Ardagh Group: Bridgeton, NJ (container glass)
- Ardagh Group: Winchester, IN (container glass)
- ConAgra Foods: Boardman, OR (frozen fried potato processing)
- ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston: Twin Falls, ID (frozen fried potato processing)
- Argos USA: Newberry, FL (cement)
- Tate & Lyle Ingredients Americas: Lafayette, IN (corn refining)
Throughout 2016, many Energy Star certified plants will be hosting events at their facilities to showcase their energy-saving strategies that are delivering top energy performance. For more information on which plants are hosting events, see EPA’s Plant certification events Web page.
Since the inception of EPA’s Energy Star certification, a total of 148 manufacturing plants have achieved this distinction. These plants have saved over 618 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) in energy, equal to preventing more than 41 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions and saving enough energy to provide the total yearly energy needs for approximately 3.5 million American households, calculates EPA.
EPA provides industry-specific Energy Star plant benchmarking tools to help industry measure energy performance. These tools are available for 11 manufacturing sectors and enable companies to compare a plant’s energy performance against those of its industry counterparts and empower manufacturers to set informed improvement goals.
Visit the Energy Star Web site for a list of the 2015 Energy Star Manufacturing Plants by state, for more information about how to earn Energy Star certification for plants, for specific plant profiles, or to learn more about how Energy Star and industry work together.
