By 2022, we will achieve a 7% reduction in the energy used per kilogram of product made against our 2018 baseline

Using less energy…

In 2018, we used 810 million kWh of energy to manufacture products. This equates to 11.2 kWh per kilo of production. Over the past twelve months we have reduced our energy consumption by 3% as we have invested in new technology and processes and implemented a series of energy efficiency programmes around the world.

… generating fewer emissions

By using less energy and investing in renewable sources of energy, we have reduced the greenhouse gas emissions related to the fossil fuels and electricity that we use (so-called scope 1 and scope 2 emissions) by 3% from 311,000 tonnes in 2017 to 300,000 tonnes. And we have done this while increasing our production of thread, so the emissions per unit of production have reduced by 4% to 4.2 kilos per kilo of dyed thread.

Focus on energy efficiency

Over the past twelve months we have stepped up our focus on energy efficiency, finding ways to improve the competitiveness of our operations, improve our productivity and use less energy. We identified our top 20 energy using sites and held a series of energy focused workshops and audits, with the assistance of external experts in each market. These audits helped us to identify potential areas of savings – ranging from simple, low-cost measures to more significant investments – and formed the basis of an energy saving plan at each site to be rolled out over the next two years.

At some sites we went further. For example, in Mexico we held a week-long workshop involving a cross section of managers, engineers and production colleagues to undertake a ‘deep-dive’ to review how energy was used and where savings could be made. This activity identified 24 measures across the plant, and resultant plans are now being executed.

We have a constant programme of machinery replacement and maintenance, which gives rise to some improvements in our process efficiency. In other instances, we can improve energy use by taking a critical view of existing processes and often making reasonably simple adjustments. For example, in Bangladesh we use water jackets around our gas generators to help regulate their operating temperature and efficiency. Previously, we used water circulated through cooling towers to do this. In 2018, we changed this to use water from our dyeing process, that still offered the cooling for our generators, while increasing the temperature of process water – a win-win as we were able to improve the thermal efficiency of our gas generators, while speeding up the dyeing cycle and reducing steam needed to heat the water.

Investment in renewable energy

We have continued to review the cost-effectiveness of renewable energy generation at our sites, as well as the purchase of certified electricity from renewable sources. Over the past three years we have been able to maintain a constant level of around 30% of the total energy we use, of which typically 40% is generated from biofuels and the remainder is a combination of onsite generation of electricity and purchased electricity from renewable sources.

But our intention over the next three years is to increase this proportion significantly. We have adopted a diversified approach that enables us to be flexible depending on the type of renewable technology available, our business needs and the location. For example, in India we have invested in solar generation capacity for our plant in Ambas, as well as in our Patrick Yarns plant in the US, both of which provide us with a reliable and constant supply of electricity due to the plentiful sunshine, as well taking a more circular approach using other companies’ waste to generate energy using discarded cashew nut husks to raise steam required to power our dye houses

Leading our approach to energy efficiency in Romania

Over the past two years Coats Romania has implemented a wide-ranging energy efficiency programme to fine tune its operations and processes to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The first step in the process was to introduce a new energy monitoring system. This enabled the detailed tracking of energy usage across the plant over time, as well as the related costs. This helped them understand where energy savings could be made and to develop a detailed action plan. As a result, the business has introduced a number of energy saving measures including:

• Installation of inverters on electric driers that adjust power consumption based on the temperature of the surrounding environment.

• Recovery of heat from process chimney flue gas and waste water.

• Optimisation of compressor operating air pressures.

• Installation of LED lighting and motion sensors in warehouses.

• Piloting of onsite solar renewable energy generation.

So far, this plant has managed to make consistent reductions in energy consumption so that it now consumes less than half the energy per kilo of production that it did when it was opened in 2004. Encouraged by the significant costs savings and associated greenhouse gas emissions, our team in Romania has recently been certified to the ISO 50001 global energy management standard to enable the business to continue to address the modern challenges faced by manufacturers in controlling rising energy costs and addressing climate change.

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