The philosophy of energy saving

• Optimising cooling unit set-points saves energy and money
• 85 900 kWh (or 6 %) yearly energy savings

Tecmaplast, a French plastics company, carried out an energy audit to better understand what energy and cost savings could be achieved. The results of the analysis showed a classic energy profile for a plastics company: high consumption during production followed by an energy-intensive cooling stage which is directly impacted by upstream practices.

Already aware of this issue, Tecmaplast recently replaced its refrigeration units and followed the operating instructions for cold-loop production, which they found were conservatively low compared to actual demand.

On a chiller, the lower the set-point, the lower the efficiency. Step by step, Tecmaplast safely increased the loop set-point by 3ºC and improved the cooling unit's efficiency by about 6 %, which translated into an equivalent energy saving.

Key benefits

With total annual energy savings of 85 900 kWh and reduced CO2 of 4.4 tonnes achieved, the company can see the benefits, both financial and environmental, of the actions taken. It plans to further optimise the production and cooling, within acceptable levels, and to apply this energy-saving philospohy to other operations (heating, compressed air, etc.).