While making a contribution to the environmental movement is not only a personal and corporate imperative, the potential it holds for significantly improving efficiency and lowering costs within your organization's supply chain is compelling. For many companies, however, going green will require a cultural shift that fosters corporate-wide ownership and long-term commitment.
One way to get the ball rolling is by tapping your internal resources; e.g., meeting with your warehousing and transportation staff to identify improved process, equipment and systems opportunities that will contribute to lower energy consumption and reduced costs.
Although there are countless ways to optimize your supply chain and increase efficiency, the following ideas for facilities, equipment and systems design can help you prime the pump and get rolling toward greener operations.
Facility Design
Lighting: Energy demand during the day can be reduced with the use of photo sensors and skylights. When sufficient sunlight is detected, the sensors turn off the lights and vice versa. Also, consider the use of T5 fixtures that feature shields to focus light on work areas. Lights in reserve storage areas can be fitted with motion sensors to remain off until a lift truck enters an aisle. Finally, low bay lighting can be converted to fluorescent for additional savings.
Heating & Cooling: Solar panels are steadily gaining in efficiency and lowering in cost, and can be put to use in generating power and heating water for your facilities. In addition to offering significant utility energy savings, both approaches may qualify for federal and state tax credits.
If you dig down about 6 feet on most of the planet, you'll discover that the temperature hovers between 45-70 degrees Fahrenheit year around. Through a system of underground pipes, geothermal heat pumps transfer heat from the warmer earth to the building in the winter and discharge the heat from the building into the cooler ground in the summer. Once the heat is transferred from the pipes, it passes through a heat exchanger where the warmth is concentrated and then distributed through the building.
The EPA estimates annual heating savings of as much as 70 percent and cooling savings near 50 percent. With the amount of space generally used for tractor-trailer access and parking, geothermal could well make sense for your warehouse.
Dock Seals: Did you know that depending upon your location and loading practices, installing the right dock seals can save from $200 to $600 or more per year in preventable energy loss?
Leverage Your Local Utility: Contact your energy provider to engage a specialist to conduct a facility walk-through and analysis that may help to identify savings opportunities beyond those mentioned above.
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