Solmax says that its energy efficiency and climate protection efforts are beginning to pay dividends at its manufacturing facilities in Varennes, Canada. “Solmax’s mission is to continuously innovate, creating state-of-the-art products and services that can help protect the earth,” says Jean-Louis Vangeluwe, President and CEO of Solmax. “We are committed to supporting the Government of Canada’s commitments to reduce Canada’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030.”
“We recently focused on the areas of our business where we can make the most positive change. By recovering thewaste heat produced at our manufacturing facilities and using it to improve the energy efficiency of other spaces, we have been able to significantly reduce our natural gas consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from our factories perimeter of product,” Vangeluwe said.
C-Nergie of Sainte-Julie, a company specialized in energy efficiency, was commissioned in 2015 to conduct an energy audit which resulted in the implementation of the heating system optimization and centralized control project in 2016 atSolmax’s manufacturing facility in Varennes. The project involved recovering the waste energy produced and vented outside by the extruders, the machines used to manufacture polyethylene sheeting liners, to significantly reduce natural gas consumption for additional heating and thus, reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with operating the manufacturing facility.
To do this, new heat recovery ducts were installed to deliver heating to various operating and indoor liner storage areas. The liner storage areas were particularly prone to external cold weather exposure during loading and unloading operations. A central controller system was installed to manage and optimize the heat recovery and redirection process. Since installation, the project has realized a 90% decrease in natural gas costs and has reduced its natural gas consumption by 4,014 GJ (gigajoule) per annum, which is equivalent to the average annual electricity consumption of 97 residential homes, or 10,035 propane cylinders used for home barbeques.
More significantly, the project has resulted in an annual reduction of 200 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of CO2 emissions from 55.6 passenger vehicles. Combined with the Canadian government’s financial assistance initiatives for GHG (greenhouse gases), the project return on investment was realized in just 9.5 months. Without the government subsidy, the amortization period would have increased to approximately 5.5 years.