Legrand: North America Headquarters

Background

Legrand, North America showcased its commitment to energy efficiency by achieving a 11% energy intensity reduction in three years at its 100-year old West Hartford, Connecticut headquarters facility. It will continue to implement energy saving projects in order to further reduce energy intensity. This multi-use facility presents unique challenges in energy intensity reduction, similar to those faced by mid-sized manufacturers, as well as many existing commercial buildings across the United States.

Because of its varied composition, the West Hartford facility presents a variety of energy efficiency concerns, ranging from temperature control in offices to weatherization in old and new buildings to machine recommissioning in manufacturing. The site has undergone building upgrades and additions over the course of many years, which brings further variety to the systems and building materials in place. Collectively, the energy efficiency projects implemented by Legrand at this site have yielded a 11% energy intensity reduction in three years and $200,000 per year in cost savings. Legrand continues to apply a combination of technology, process, and behavior changes to further reduce its energy intensity across all its U.S. and North America locations.

Solutions

Legrand has employed a diverse range of approaches to reducing energy consumption at its West Hartford headquarters over the past several years, ranging from low-tech, low-cost fixes, to more substantial technology upgrades. The company has also partnered with its local utility, and undertaken numerous exercises to engage employees directly in efforts to reduce energy consumption. By realizing early successes and tangible cost reductions, the local energy management team gained momentum to undertake the planning and implementation of other impactful projects.

Utility partnership. Legrand has partnered with its local utility in Connecticut to uncover incentives that will provide partial reimbursement for some of the installation costs of the energy efficiency projects.

Recommissioning program. In 2014, several projects identified through its local utility recommissioning program were implemented. Projects will address a make-up air unit in paint lines, (which will control ventilation and optimize temperature settings), installation of demand control ventilation CO₂ sensors, and laying weather stripping.

Other projects that have already been completed include the following:

Submeter electricity. By installing a submetering system in its corporate headquarters facility, Legrand has been able to bring greater visibility to energy efficiency opportunities, such as the reconfiguration of existing systems, equipment updates, and employee behavior changes to support the company’s energy management goals. The submeter data will allow the company to evaluate the success of energy reduction projects through the deployment of real-time dashboards that share energy data from all sites on TV displays accessible to employees and visitors.

Weatherization. During in-house energy audits, Legrand found many doors and dock levers that lacked adequate weather-stripping. In response, Legrand associates weather-stripped all main doors, and dock levelers in its manufacturing facility. In 2014, Legrand plans to install additional weather stripping around overhead doors.

Installed inductive lighting. In West Hartford, Legrand installed inductive lighting in the parking lots and lighting controls in portions of the factory. Before, only one button controlled the lights in the factory, now a series of switches can illuminate specific areas of the factory. This project provided the added benefit of improving security of the facility.

Installed restroom motion sensors. Following an energy audit, Legrand discovered that the exhaust fans in 11 of 17 of its restrooms were running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. To address this energy waste, Legrand installed WattStopper motion sensors in all of its bathrooms. In addition, motion sensors were added to various portions of the facility including offices and factory work-benches.

Re-lamped Fixtures. Legrand replaced its existing 32 watt bulbs with high efficiency 25 watt bulbs in its office areas. This saves 26,444 kWh/year.

Installed new insulation. The ovens of paint lines gave off a lot of heat energy and often made workers near the ovens uncomfortably warm. Additional insulation was added to the ovens of the paint lines, which the University of Massachusetts Industrial Assessment Center estimated will save about 10,200 ccf of natural gas annually.

Added variable frequency drives in HVAC units. Variable frequency drives reduce energy by automatically running the HVAC units at a variable speed when full speed isn’t required.

Manufacturing process changes. Plant managers had known for years that the paint lines used in manufacturing consumed vast amounts of energy. Productivity was improved in one department which allowed Legrand to reduce the operation of one of its paint lines to one shift instead of two. By holding parts until a complete hanger load could be painted instead of multiple partial loads, the efficiency of the paint line operation was greatly improved. Over a four-month period, a savings of 22,300 hundred cubic feet (ccf) of natural gas and over 935,000 gallons of water was observed.

Installed small air compressor to run overnight equipment. In order to substitute for the use of larger air compressors spanning the entire factory to run only a few machines, three small air compressors were installed to run the few machines that are required to operate 24 hours. This isolated air system eliminates leakage potential by reducing the distance travelled in air lines and thus saves energy typically wasted by leaks.

In late September, Legrand was selected to host a DOE “In Plant Training” seminar. Attended by more than a dozen representatives from academia, government and industry, the technical training focused on maximizing efficiencies in compressed air systems. From the training, it is estimated the West Hartford facility can achieve $22k in savings equivalent to 175,000 kWh annually by improving leak detection and adding variable frequency controls to compressors. Many of the techniques discussed and demonstrated during the training are also applicable to our larger sites, such as Tijuana and Concord, NC, where potential savings may be even greater.

Other Benefits

Energy efficiency projects at Legrand’s headquarters facility are saving almost 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases per year and lending many opportunities for employee engagement.

In addition to implementing energy efficiency projects, Legrand is looking to the combination of people, process changes, and technology to improve its energy intensity through employee engagement across all its U.S. locations. Legrand conducts a corporate wide energy awareness campaign, which includes regular communications to employees on energy facts, internal success stories, and tips for how employees can contribute to the energy savings goals.Through the “Turn it off” Campaign, Legrand organizes ongoing competitions between the different departments in its factory to reduce off-hour energy consumption. The department that has the greatest percent reduction in electricity wins. The goal is to get all associates involved by doing their part to turn off all equipment during down time (lunch and breaks) and at the end of their shift.

In October 2014, Legrand engaged its associates in a 26.2 day energy saving competition coined the “Energy Marathon”. By encouraging and incentivizing energy efficient behaviors, the company was able to save 588,540 kWh of electricity, a 15.4% reduction versus their September 2014 baseline.

Submeters installed at the Legrand, North America headquarters allow the energy site manager to leverage real-time energy usage data to analyze the patterns in both consumption and peak usage to monitor energy usage and identify energy saving opportunities.