Project Based Energy Conservation vs. Management Based Energy Conservation

Abstract

Basic American Foods (BAF) is the largest potato dehydrator worldwide. This paper will trace the shift from a Project Based to Management Based energy conservation program. Second only to raw material, energy is one of the highest expenses at BAF. Due to this fact, BAF started a corporation wide energy reduction program in 1999. The program was one full time project engineer focused only on energy reduction projects. This approach, called project based energy conservation, worked well for about 3 years. Total savings from energy reduction projects were equivalent to over 10% of the corporate profit. At that point entropy started to take over and the initial successes were reversing themselves. BAF then re-energized its energy initiative by setting a 5% per year energy reduction goal. The project based program could not achieve this goal. Therefore, the focus switched from project based to a management based energy conservation program.