Overview
The company plays a pivotal role in the Irish agribusiness and food processing sector, combining operations in dairy, consumer foods, animal feed, retail, and livestock marts. From processing milk and producing butter and nutritional products to managing feed production, garden centres, and ecommerce, the company’s operations rely heavily on energy-intensive processes. Heating, cooling, refrigeration, packaging, and logistics are essential for daily operations and represent significant portions of operating costs.
In today’s economic and regulatory landscape, improving energy efficiency is a strategic priority. Rising energy costs, increasing competition, and the growing emphasis on sustainability require the company to adopt energy-efficient technologies and responsible practices. Doing so can reduce operational costs, decrease environmental impact, strengthen supply chain resilience, and enhance brand reputation.
Importance of Energy Efficiency
Energy can account for 15–30% of operating expenses in food processing and agribusiness operations, and even higher in dairy and frozen products. Beyond cost reduction, efficiency measures support environmental goals by lowering greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring compliance with evolving regulations, and meeting consumer expectations for sustainable practices. Many improvements deliver rapid returns, with payback periods ranging from less than a year to five years, depending on the investment.
Process Heating and Cooling
Thermal energy is central to milk pasteurisation, butter production, feed processing, and other operations. Installing heat recovery systems to reuse exhaust heat from boilers and ovens can reduce thermal energy demand by 10–25%. Upgrading to high-efficiency boilers and burners can save an additional 5–15%, while proper insulation on pipes, tanks, and process vessels further reduces heat losses by 5–10%. Regular maintenance of steam systems, including repairing leaks and traps, can typically save another 5% or more.
Refrigeration and Freezing
Refrigeration is a major electricity consumer in dairy, feed storage, and consumer foods operations. Modernising refrigeration equipment, such as replacing older compressors and condensers with high-efficiency models and installing variable speed drives, can reduce electricity use by 15–30%. Routine maintenance, including cleaning coils and repairing refrigerant leaks, can yield 5–10% improvements. Incorporating thermal energy storage to shift cooling loads to off-peak periods can reduce energy costs by 10–20%, depending on tariffs.
Motors, Pumps, and Fans
Motors drive conveyors, mixers, pumps, and ventilation systems across production sites and feed operations. Upgrading to premium-efficiency motors can reduce energy consumption by 2–8%, with additional savings of 10–20% achievable through variable speed drives. Proper maintenance, including alignment, lubrication, and friction reduction, can further lower motor energy use by 2–5%. Across dozens of motors, these savings accumulate significantly.
Buildings and Lighting
While less energy-intensive than process equipment, buildings and lighting offer substantial savings opportunities. Improving insulation, sealing leaks in production and storage areas, and optimising heating and cooling systems can reduce energy demand by 10–25%. Transitioning to LED lighting reduces electricity consumption by 50–80%, and adding occupancy sensors or daylight controls can save an additional 10–20%.
Water and Waste Management
Water heating for cleaning, sterilisation, and processing is closely linked to energy use. Recovering hot water and steam condensate can reduce energy demand by 10–20%. Optimising cleaning-in-place (CIP) systems can deliver 20–40% savings in water and energy while maintaining hygiene standards. Anaerobic digestion of organic by-products, such as food waste from processing or retail operations, can offset 10–30% of facility energy needs and reduce waste disposal costs.
Monitoring and Control
Energy management systems (EMS) enable real-time monitoring, revealing inefficiencies and enabling corrective action. Quick-win savings of 5–15% can often be realised by adjusting operations. Automated controls ensure equipment runs only when necessary, yielding an additional 5–10% in savings. Over time, advanced analytics can optimise production schedules and process parameters, providing an extra 10% efficiency improvement beyond traditional monitoring.
Staff Training
Employee engagement enhances energy efficiency outcomes. Training staff to identify inefficiencies and follow energy-conscious practices can deliver 3–5% savings with minimal investment. Encouraging ownership through recognition programs or competitions reinforces long-term efficiency gains.
Emerging Technologies and Sustainability
Emerging solutions offer further opportunities for energy and cost reduction. Industrial heat pumps can replace fossil-fuel boilers in some processes, offering savings of 20–40%. Solar thermal systems for water preheating can cover 10–20% of hot water demand. Digital twin models and AI-driven process optimisation have the potential to improve energy efficiency by an additional 10–15% through real-time simulation and predictive control.
Summary of Potential Energy Savings
Across the company’s operations—including dairy, consumer foods, feed production, retail, and logistics—energy efficiency improvements can deliver substantial savings. Heat recovery, high-efficiency boilers and refrigeration, upgraded motors, better building insulation, LED lighting, water recycling, and staff engagement could collectively reduce energy consumption by 15–30%, depending on the scale and maturity of existing systems. These measures translate into lower operational costs, reduced emissions, and enhanced competitiveness in both domestic and international markets.
Recommendation to Schedule an Energy Audit
Given the breadth and complexity of the company’s operations, a comprehensive energy audit is a critical next step. An energy audit provides a detailed assessment of current energy use, identifies high-impact efficiency opportunities, quantifies potential savings, and helps prioritise investment decisions. By systematically evaluating heating, cooling, refrigeration, motors, lighting, water systems, and process controls across all facilities, the company can implement measures that reduce costs, lower emissions, ensure compliance, and strengthen resilience against energy price volatility. Scheduling an energy audit will create a tailored roadmap for efficiency improvements, supporting the company’s sustainability goals while maximising operational performance and profitability.