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• Companies often have to set up new metrics even in historic buildings. Tanks, pipes, valves,
and tools to measure energy consumption machinery and storage all require insulation. Heat
and to quantify the success and benefts of recovery can help balance opposing needs in the
effciency programs. production and packaging process: While heat is
needed for the brewing process and pasteurization
during packaging, cooling is needed to reduce the
Example: energy effciency in temperature of the wort (the liquid resulting from
the mashing process) before it goes into the aging
the beer industry and fermentation processes.
Continuous load balancing seeks to avoid large
The global beer industry spends 4% of its energy needs for cooling or heating. Instead,
manufacturing costs on energy, roughly $3 billion constant processes allow excess heat to be
per year. Most beer companies launched energy- reused in a steady manner, while also reducing
effciency activities several years ago - not only to peak demands on the heat generation and cooling
save costs, but also because of the systems. One more general
marketing connection: beer and improvement lever can be found
green culture (pure water, natural Energy effciency fts with highly effcient electric motors,
ingredients). Energy effciency fts as used in refrigerator and air
well with beer’s brand positioning, well with beer’s brand compressors, fans and blowers,
and the cost savings are critical positioning, and the cost pumps and conveyer belts in
in the industry’s cutthroat savings are critical in the packaging system. The new
competition. Brewers typically the industry’s cutthroat motors typically use 10% to 30%
regard their energy-effciency competition. Brewers less energy. Some brewers also
efforts as ongoing activities for use the waste from the brewing
continuous improvement. typically regard their process - especially spent grain
So far, the bulk of identifed energy-effciency efforts called draff - for biogas generation
energy-effciency potential lies as ongoing activities for or to fuel cogeneration plants.
within the levers of the core continuous improvement With the ongoing consolidation in
production processes and the the industry, brewers also want
infrastructure and supply chain to simplify their manufacturing
Fig. 8 – Three leading brewe- including insulation, heat recovery footprint and often aim to
ries with energy-effciency and load management. Insulation is important, as replace their old, infrastructurally bur-dened
goals (Source: sustainability steam and heat must be carried, exchanged and legacy production sites with new state-of-the-art
reports; AB InBev; SABMiller, distributed throughout the plant, and breweries greenfeld facilities. Needless to say that energy-
Heineken) often produce on outdated sites, sometimes eff-ciency efforts reduce pay-back time and, in the

Impiantistica Italiana - Novembre-Dicembre 2013 43