Commercial, Demand Management, Energy Efficiency, Industrial  -  October 10, 2016

Energy Star announces 1st-ever bakery certifications

The U.S. EPA's Energy Star program is on a roll. 

The initiative on Oct. 9 announced the first commercial bread and roll bakeries to earn Energy Star certification for being the most energy-efficient in the country. Eighteen bakeries from five separate companies have earned the much sought-after certification, which is being offered for the first time to large bread and roll bakeries.

The bakeries comprise seven Bimbo Bakeries locations; seven Flowers bakery locations; Automatic Rolls of Baltimore; Bama Frozen Dough and Bama Pie of Tulsa, Okla.;  and Klosterman Bakery in Morristown, Ind.

More efficient than average performing bread and roll plants, these 18 bakeries prevented more than 35,294 metric tons, carbon dioxide equivalents, of greenhouse gas emissions and saved more than 686,000 MMBtus, source, in energy, the EPA said in announcing the news at the International Baking Industry Expo in Las Vegas. To earn Energy Star certification, the bakeries demonstrated a top level of energy efficiency by scoring a 75 or higher on the initiative's Energy Performance Indicator for commercial bread and roll bakeries, a benchmarking tool that compares an individual bakery's energy performance to the rest of its industry.  The indicator was developed in partnership with baking companies, the American Baker's Association, and was released by EPA in June 2016.

Bimbo Bakeries has also been actively pursuing renewable energy sources this year; the company in April announced plans to install a 1.075-MW solar energy project on rooftop and ground canopy structures at its Escondido, Calif., bakery.

Any bread and roll bakery that produces more than eight million pounds of raw dough a year is encouraged to benchmark their energy performance using the EPI to see if they qualify for certification. Bakers can also use the EPI as an energy management tool to evaluate a plant's thermal, electrical, and total energy usage and set energy goals. 

Energy Star is a Smart Energy Decisions content partner. 

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