Why be energy efficient?
Vegetable sorting machine (Simplot).
Tight profit margins and rising energy prices create a strong case for energy efficiency in the food and beverage sector. Reducing energy costs through investment in energy efficiency can make a significant difference to the bottom line.
A focus on energy efficiency can also enhance customer loyalty and a company’s reputation for responsible environmental performance.
Additional benefits can be delivered through lower water and chemical costs, increased plant productivity and improved product quality.
Ways to save
See all ways to save in Food and beverage manufacturing
Case studies
- Murray Goulburn Co-operative - Energy Efficiency Best Practice 2003 (Opens in a new window)
- Department of the Environment and Energy
- PDF 162 KB
Staff know-how combined with sound measuring and monitoring enabled Murray Goulburn to achieve savings of $400,000 per year, with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 3,500 tonnes.
- Bakers Delight - Energy Efficiency Best Practice 2003 (Opens in a new window)
- Department of the Environment and Energy
- PDF 228 KB
Through the Energy Efficiency Best Practice program, Bakers Delight’s designed a showcase bakery at its operation in Mascot. The bakery showcased best-practice building design, baking procedures and equipment efficiency, achieving a 32% reduction in annual energy costs compared to a standard Bakers Delight bakery. This was achieved without impacting on product quality, customer satisfaction or staff comfort.
Key resources
- Winery Energy Saver Toolkit 2013
The Winery Energy Saver Toolkit (WEST) includes procedures, templates and resources to help small to medium sized wineries identify the key energy efficiency opportunities and assess the business case for investing in energy-efficient equipment and process upgrades. It covers energy efficiency opportunities in six key technology areas as identified by the South Australian Wine Industry Association (through engagement with its members):
- refrigeration and insulation
- pumping
- compressed air
- hot water
- HVAC
- lighting.
- South Australian Wine Industry Association
- Website
- PDF 9.5 MB
- Energy Efficient Equipment Toolkit 2013
Use this toolkit to understand and collect the right kind of information so your business can make informed commercial decisions on equipment upgrades and process improvements.
This Toolkit aims to help small to medium sized food businesses to:
- assess benefits and value of energy efficient alternatives
- choose actions and upgrades to energy efficient equipment in their operations.
- Food South Australia
- Energy in Dairy 2012
This series of fact sheets provides examples of the range of technologies and strategies available to improve energy efficiency on a dairy farm. Fact sheet topics include an overview of energy efficiency, solar panel systems, solar hot water systems, thermal heat recovery, LPG water heating and variable speed drives.
- Victorian Department of Primary Industries
- Food and drink processing: Introducing energy saving opportunities for business (Opens in a new window)
The UK Carbon Trust website includes a range of energy saving advice for food and beverage manufacturers. This includes an overview of key carbon saving opportunities, energy saving advice for key energy using technologies and a series of case studies of how different companies achieved significant energy savings.
- Carbon Trust (UK)
- PDF 2.75 MB
- Industrial Refrigeration, Chilled Glycol and Water Applications Technology Report 2011 (Opens in a new window)
This report outlines 15 energy saving technologies available to increase the energy efficiency of an industrial refrigeration plant. Where possible, for each technology the annual energy savings, capital costs and payback periods have been estimated by considering examples.
- NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
- PDF 2.0 MB
- Website
Best practice guides are also available for specific sub-sectors in food and beverage, such as meat and livestock, dairy, fruit and vegetable, confectionery processing, breweries and wineries.