IBIE - 2016 Show Daily, Sunday - 16

Getting an all-access pass T he Energy Star Program is widely known as a marker of energy efficient appliances, but it can also indicate energy efficient businesses. The American Bakers Association (ABA) partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2011 to promote the Energy Star Challenge among the baking industry. The program challenges industrial facilities to improve their energy intensity by 10% or more within five years. More than 100 bakeries have taken part in the challenge including Bimbo Bakeries USA, Horsham, PA; Northeast Foods Inc., Baltimore; and Turano Baking Co., Berwyn, IL. Those companies' experiences will be represented on ABA's panel on Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Savings Opportunities for Baking, held Monday, Oct. 10, at 8:30 a.m. at IBIE 2016. Cost for the session is $10. The panel features Jim McKeown, Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU); Dennis Colliton, Northeast Foods Inc.; and Anthony Turano, Turano Baking Co. In his position as director of environment and energy for BBU, Mr. McKeown is responsible for leading all environmental, energy and sustainable functions. He also acts as the global lead for parent company Grupo Bimbo, Mexico City, in its environmental sustainability pillar. Mr. McKeown serves as co-chairman of the Energy & Environmental Committee of ABA. BBU holds the distinction of having the first commercial bakery to achieve the Energy Star Challenge, a project Mr. McKeown was instrumental in executing. As of May 2015, the company had completed the challenge at six of its facilities, averaging 17% energy reduction per plant with more facilities in line to finish the challenge. 16 * IBIE * Mr. Colliton has been on the engineering side of the baking industry for 41 years, 30 of them with Northeast Foods and 16 as the company's vice-president of engineering. He also serves as a member of ABA's Energy & Environmental Committee and co-chairs the Environ- Colliton mental Best Practices Committee with the US McDonald's Bakery Council. Mr. Turano's position of director of administration at his family's bakery has him responsible for social responsibility, sustainability, systems and analysis. He oversees the operations of all support functions within Turano Baking Co., which gives him a birds-eye view to identify efficiency improvements. Each company pursued the Energy Star Challenge with different goals in mind and are at different stages in their journeys. Through this panel, they will share their experiences and provide insight into becoming an energy efficient bakery. "This session is an opportunity to better familiarize bakers with the Energy Star Challenge and let them ask questions to those who have gone through the process," Mr. Colliton said. The company that succeeds in the challenge receives a framed certificate, communications materials detailing its accomplishment, the opportunity to be profiled on www.energystar.gov, a letter to the company's CEO from EPA and, of course, bragging rights. The challenge creates a framework and tangible objectives to help motivate and structure a company's path to energy efficiency. Participating companies have access to such resources as the Energy Star Energy Tracking Tool, the Energy Tracking Plan Sunday, October 9, 2016 McKeown Template, Statement of Energy Improvement and Guidelines for Energy Management. ABA has also created a guide specifically for the baking industry: "Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Baking Industry: An Energy Star Guide for Plant and Energy Managers." The challenge is completely voluntary with zero legal commitment, no annual reporting and no penalty for not achieving the goal. It simply provides a forum for education and sharing of experiences between companies that have made progress in the arena of sustainability. To enter the challenge, companies fill out a registration form to ABA, which includes site contact information, metrics used, baseline energy intensity, verification of data procedures and target intensity. "Also, the challenge provides a way for all baking companies to measure their success on the same program and get recognition from EPA Energy Star if they achieve the reduction goals, which can be shared with their customer base," Mr. Colliton said. The nature of measuring progress naturally spurs some rivalry. "The Energy Star Challenge is a great friendly competition," Mr. Turano said. "And the baking industry embodies friendly competition." While bakers are engaging the program as a way to reap some Turano sustainable benefits, there is still room for suppliers, equipment and formulating to get involved. "As bakers are looking at solutions to improve their energy efficiency, this provides an opportunity for the equipment manufacturers to step up and provide solutions - everything from ovens to the catalysts used for the oxidizers that control oven air emissions," said Rasma Zvaners, ABA policy director and the staff liaison for the ABA Energy & Environment Committee. On the formulation side, Ms. Zvaners said that bakers are often asked by their customers to show that their supply chains, like flour, are using sustainable agricultural practices. "This is a huge undertaking and an opportunity for bakers, millers and growers to work on the full grain chain to better educate one another and, in return, educate their retail customers," she said. To help facilitate these opportunities, ABA joined the Field to Market Initiative to better engage the full supply chain when it comes to questions such as sustainable agricultural practices. With the access this panel provides, bakers can discover what the process of becoming energy efficient is really like - the challenges, the opportunities, the surprises and the lessons learned. - Charlotte Atchley, Baking & Snack http://www.energystar.gov

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