Through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Plants In-Plant Training (INPLT) program, two Owens Corning manufacturing facilities collaborated on an Energy Treasure Hunt to determine energy efficiency opportunities.
The INPLT workshops are led by DOE and National Lab experts and are designed to train participants to identify, implement, and replicate energy-saving projects. Technical expertise gained through the INPLTs helps companies overcome common, critical barriers to adopting energy management practices and technologies. The Energy Treasure Hunts are onsite, three-day events that engage cross-functional teams of employees in the process of identifying operational and maintenance energy efficiency improvements.
Owens Corning—a manufacturer of a broad range of insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composite materials—is a Better Plants Challenge partner. Due to the energy-intensive nature of its work, the Treasure Hunt represented an opportunity for the company to increase the efficiency of its manufacturing processes and identify additional areas for improvement.
A group of 15 Owens Corning employees representing six locations traveled to Danville, IL for the first week of the Treasure Hunt. There, the group was divided into four teams to cover utilities (compressed air and HVAC), ovens and process heating, process and city water, and “miscellaneous” (looking for opportunities related to lighting, pumps, and fans). The program started with a quick walkthrough of the concept of Energy Treasure Hunts and how to use assessment tools—such as process heating and MEASUR tool modules—for their review of the facility.
The team reviewed site-wide energy data that had been analyzed by the Better Plants team in VERIFI, a utility dashboarding tool that enables partners to monitor, track, and improve their understanding of energy, water, waste, and GHG emission patterns. The tool allows users to quickly explore and analyze their utility data at both the facility and corporate levels.
The team then split up and searched for energy savings opportunities using equipment on loan from the Better Plants’ Diagnostic Equipment Program. For example, in one exercise, participants used a flue gas analyzer to collect the oxygen level and temperature of a thermal oxidizer stack (see Photo 2). This data helped the team to identify an opportunity to optimize and reduce the thermal oxidizer’s energy consumption.
Once the team had identified energy-saving opportunities, they turned to the MEASUR suite of tools to evaluate additional projects. These tools can be used to perform a heat balance that identifies major areas of energy use under various operating conditions, and tests "what-if" scenarios for reducing energy use. The tool also assists with quantifying potential savings from low or no-cost energy optimization opportunities, including powering down unused equipment, adjusting compressed air pressure, upgrading lighting fixtures, and more.
The MEASUR tool encompasses efficiency calculators like:
- Motors (replacement versus rewinding, motor drive upgrades)
- Electricity consumption (adjusting usage, lighting enhancements)
- Compressed air, natural gas, steam
- Water/wastewater
MEASUR helped the teams collect actionable opportunities within their "Treasure Chest," facilitating sharing amongst the group and synthesizing these opportunities into a report for implementation. Using this detailed report, each team developed presentations to explain their findings and recommendations to plant leadership. In total, the team identified 22 recommended projects that would provide a total emissions savings of 18% and site-wide cost savings of 17%.
To kick off the second week of the Treasure Hunt, the team traveled to a new facility in Kansas City, KS. This time, 22 employees representing 11 locations joined the event, including members of the Danville team who shared their findings from the first Treasure Hunt. Together, the group identified 25 more projects that would provide site-wide cost savings of 12%.
For additional information about Energy Treasure Hunts (including the DIY-toolkit), In-Plant Trainings, Tools, and more, visit the Better Buildings Solutions Center.