SierraPine Composite Solutions, a leading manufacturer of innovative and environmentally superior medium-density fiberboard and particleboard used in green building, knows about reducing waste. The Medford company’s product line revolves around combining recycled wood content with low-formaldehyde adhesives to produce sustainable building products.
Although SierraPine had participated in capital energy-saving projects, company personnel were skeptical about finding much energy waste in the operations and maintenance of plant equipment. That was before SierraPine participated in Energy Trust of Oregon’s Strategic Energy Management initiative, which shows companies how behavioral changes and operations and maintenance improvements can deliver significant and persistent savings.
“Strategic Energy Management helped us set aside time to give energy efficiency more attention,” said Wayne Ralph, electrical supervisor. “Doing that paid off by reducing our annual energy costs by $588,700.”
SierraPine’s employees worked closely with industrial energy experts from Energy Trust for 11 months, receiving training and tools and developing long-term skills. Together they walked through all areas of the facility to examine equipment, review operating schedules and procedures and look for energy-saving opportunities. The resulting detailed list of potential operation and maintenance improvements helped SierraPine prioritize ongoing energy-saving efforts and ultimately reduce its energy use by 11.3 million annual kilowatt hours.