The 2009 CIPEC Leadership Awards honour 10 CIPEC Leaders who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to improving industrial energy efficiency.

Only companies that were registered with Natural Resources Canada as CIPEC Leaders were eligible for these awards. The energy efficiency initiatives submitted for consideration must have taken place at a Canadian facility after June 1, 2007. 

Each submission was evaluated against five criteria:

1. improved energy intensity
2. innovation
3. potential for broader use
4. contribution to the environment
5. cost effectiveness

Two awards were presented in each of five categories:

• Corporate stewardship
  The corporate stewardship award is for projects that promote energy efficiency at the corporate level — for example, by creating an energy management team or developing a corporate energy management plan.
• Process and technology improvements
  The process and technology improvements award is for projects involving changes to equipment and procedures that reduce the energy intensity of an industrial process.
• Monitoring and tracking
  The monitoring, tracking and reporting award is for projects that enhance a company’s ability to provide accurate reports on energy consumption for facilities or across entire companies.
• Employee awareness and training
  Winners in the employee awareness and training category showed how to develop a broader awareness and understanding of energy efficiency opportunities among employees. They also adopted best practices and demonstrated the environmental and economic advantages of energy management.
• Integrated energy efficiency strategy
  The integrated energy efficiency strategy award is for projects that use a combination of initiatives to reduce the overall energy consumed at a facility or by a company.

1. Frito Lay (25 locations across Canada)
Corporate stewardship

Frito Lay’s corporate motto is “We take our chips seriously.” The company also takes energy efficiency seriously. Frito Lay follows an aggressive energy conservation policy with annual and long-term targets. Corporate and divisional leaders are responsible for implementing the policy. The company also has had employee-based green teams since 1993, which are led by a sustainability leader.

The company’s energy efficiency success comes from a combination of people, leadership, intense focus and numerous innovative technical projects and upgrades. Some of these projects include heat recovery systems installed on the deep fryer exhausts to transfer the excess fryer heat into the building hot water system, insulation upgrades, lighting retrofits, compressed air audits and improved metering of energy usage. 

Frito Lay’s successes include:

• reducing water consumption by 34 percent
• reducing natural gas consumption by 25 percent
• reducing electricity consumption by 18 percent

2. Agrilait Coopérative agricole (St-Guillaume, Quebec)
Corporate stewardship

Agrilait Coopérative agricole cheeses have won many prizes in Canada, and they continue to delight the taste buds of the most avid cheese lovers.

Agrilait Coopérative agricole follows a corporate policy that targets energy efficiency. This policy includes supporting an energy champion who is responsible for managing audits and implementing energy efficiency projects, such as upgrading to more energy-efficient equipment. Collectively, energy efficiency projects to upgrade plant refrigeration systems and process drying equipment have reduced total plant energy consumption by 35 percent annually. These projects have also allowed the plant to avoid producing 1,733 tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

3. Miralis (Rimouski, Quebec)
Process and technology improvements

This maker of kitchen cabinets managed to increase production and decrease energy consumption at the same time, by using energy efficiency to energize the bottom line.

The dust collection system at Miralis was an obvious target for an energy reduction project because it is the biggest energy consumer. A new on-demand HVAC control is saving the company about 2300 gigajoules of energy a year. These savings are worth about $50,000 in annual electricity costs. This HVAC system, called the ecoGate Master SRL, isolates equipment that is not in use. This allows production to increase by 10 percent while also decreasing the amount of energy consumed through the dust extractor by 50 percent. The system is also flexible enough to handle the unequal ventilation needs at Miralis’ 125 workstations.

At the same time, Miralis upgraded its lighting system and reduced electricity consumption related to lighting by about 45 percent.  

4. McCain Foods (Carberry, Manitoba)
Process and technology improvements

More than 17,000 truckloads of potatoes are turned into tasty french fries every year at the McCain Food’s potato processing plant in Carberry, Manitoba. To do this more efficiently, plant managers realized there was an opportunity to recover heat from fryer vapour. They installed a two-stage energy recovery system, and now the plant saves an average of 125 gigajoules every day.

This is energy that was going up the stack instead of energizing the bottom line. Now, the plant uses this waste heat to heat water in pre-heaters. This approach is allowing the plant to be one of the lowest-cost facilities in the McCain Food family — something that is energizing the corporate bottom line with energy efficiency.

5. Redpath Sugar (Toronto, Ontario)
Monitoring, tracking and reporting

RedPath Sugar has found the sweet spot between profitability and energy efficiency by using an energy benchmarking system to stay lean and green. The system includes regression models that help identify and manage variables affecting energy use, as well as meters for the plant and for individual processes. Energy targets are also reviewed every day.

RedPath’s plant on Lake Ontario in downtown Toronto runs at full capacity during the week. Metering and energy targets are allowing staff to start and stop equipment more efficiently. And better monitoring is allowing for better coordination with the RedPath packaging plant in Niagara Falls.

Redpath also used energy monitoring to implement energy efficiency projects targeted at natural gas consumption. A flash steam heat recovery system, process upgrades — including adding a buffer tank to prevent sewering condensate overflow from the hot water tank — and insulation projects allowed Redpath to reduce natural gas consumption by 67,000 gigajoules a year.

6. Alcoa Canada (Quebec and Ontario)
Monitoring, tracking and reporting

This global aluminum giant, with significant operations in Quebec and Ontario, lives up to the old adage that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. At Alcoa, energy consumption is tracked on a daily basis at four of its major facilities. A regional energy committee then monitors consumption against targets on a monthly basis. High or unusual patterns of energy usage are investigated so corrective action can be taken. To date, annual energy savings have reduced total energy use by 27 percent. This has also avoided 15,110 tons of annual greenhouse gas emissions.

This kind of attention to detail has seen Alcoa included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for seven years in a row. And for the fifth year in a row, Alcoa was named one of the most sustainable companies in the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

7. Husky Injection (Bolton, Ontario)
Employee awareness and training

Husky’s injection molding plant is part of a global corporation that is the world’s largest supplier of injection molding equipment. Its employee awareness and training has three elements: an energy awareness education program, an energy challenge and an engineering engagement program.

Husky and Natural Resources Canada have trained more than 900 employees on best practices for energy efficiency. New Husky employees also get sustainability training as part of their orientation. Creating an energy efficiency awareness culture helped Husky employees reduce energy usage by 16.8 percent between June 2007 and August 2009.

By implementing global energy standards for lighting levels, setting HVAC seasonal set points and installing sub-metering in every building on the campus, Husky has realized annual energy savings in electricity consumption of 19,000 gigajoules.

The Husky energy challenge also saw Bolton employees compete with their global counterparts, and employees can earn prizes for energy-efficient behaviour. In addition, an engineering engagement program helps Husky drive energy efficiency throughout its manufacturing process.

8. Molson Coors Canada (Vancouver, B.C.)
Employee awareness and training

It takes great employees to make great-tasting beer. Molson Coors recognizes that their employees are key to their success, which is why when it came to energizing the bottom line with energy efficiency, the brewery focused on engaging employees.

A program called the Power to Make a Difference increases the awareness of employees of their role in day-to-day energy efficiency. Energy targets and results are reported monthly by e-mail and on scoreboards throughout the brewery.

Molson Coors also takes advantage of Spot the Energy Savings Workshops from Natural Resources Canada. And the company’s employee engagement strategy is underpinned by an energy awareness communications strategy.

A project to redesign the brewing kettle steam systems and subsequently reduce the overall plant steam pressure was responsible for reducing energy use by 5,800 gigajoules and avoiding 288 tons of carbon dioxide annually. A refrigeration study identified opportunities that resulted in electrical savings of 6,000 gigajoules per year. Replacing the incandescent light bulbs in the Molson sign with LED bulbs saved 700 gigajoules.

9. Alberta Newsprint (Whitecourt, Alberta)
Integrated energy efficiency strategy

This leading manufacturer of premium newsprint runs a mill 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. At the same time, the company’s high-profile Energy Conservation Team is just as busy focusing on energizing the bottom line with energy efficiency.

Alberta Newsprint has an integrated energy efficiency strategy that is proactive. The Energy Conservation Team looks for solutions instead of waiting to be blindsided by problems.

Alberta Newsprint understands that integrated energy efficiency includes everything from regular cleaning and maintenance to adopting innovative technologies. The energy team’s initial focus is on reducing the consumption of electrical energy.

Since 2008, 35 projects have been implemented — removing about 5,300 horsepower from plant operations and delivering energy savings of 100,000 gigajoules annually. These projects include removing energy intensive pulp cleaners, secondary pulp screens, major tanks and accessories.

10. Broan-Nutone Canada (Mississauga, Ontario) Integrated energy efficiency strategy

Broan-Nutone is North America’s largest producer of residential ventilation products. The company’s plant in Mississauga is home to a cross-functional energy team with members drawn from key departments.

The team’s advice enables executive management to prioritize and implement the most cost-effective energy efficiency projects.

Broan-Nutone is realizing significant energy savings with projects such as reducing the temperature of wash water by using new chemicals that can clean at lower temperatures. This is reducing wash-water energy use by 80 percent. Recycling process water is reducing water consumption by 80 percent and cutting heating costs. Recycling water also means Broan-Nutone is using less fresh make-up water, which means less water has to be pre-heated.

It is also recirculating compressed air, which reduces gas consumption. And it is reducing dry-off oven temperatures. Natural gas and electricity consumption is being cut by 4,500 gigajoules per year.

This integrated approach to energy efficiency has vaulted Broan-Nutone’s plant in Mississauga to the top of the energy efficiency rankings among the company’s 236 plants around the globe.