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Many food producers see the usefulness and necessity of becoming more sustainable. The energy challenge is high, but so is the potential for savings. Case research shows that food producing companies can reduce costs by up to 30% by saving energy. But where and, above all, how to start? With a proven and integrated approach, QING makes sustainability transparent and feasible step by step. From simple energy savings with a short payback period to a conclusive business case for the reuse of heat and renewable energy sources.
Making sustainable impact is often a drastic and expensive process with high risks, which is why many food processors are reluctant to invest. Sustainability does not have to be associated with major risks; we want to accelerate the energy transition with step-by-step solutions that are manageable for every food producer.
“Experience shows us that the biggest savings can be made in the production process,” says QING DGA Martin Ruiter. “Indeed, this is often risky. But when I say that you can already save energy costs by replacing fluorescent lighting with LED with a payback period of 1.8 years, everyone says: put that in tomorrow”.
“And so there is much more low-hanging fruit to achieve energy savings with rapid payback times,” says Stan de Groot, energy consultant at QING. “We map these insights with a Sustainability Roadmap. This first gives you insight into all quick fixes without high risks. In this way, we make sustainability accessible to every agri and food producer.”
Benefits of a Sustainability Roadmap
The Sustainability Roadmap uses the three-step strategy “Trias Energetica”. Step 1 is to reduce energy consumption by preventing waste. Step 2 is to generate renewable energy. Step 3 is to make efficient use of fossil resources.
The advantage of the Sustainability Roadmap is that all energy savings are reviewed, including solutions with the shortest possible payback periods. As a result, you always make a weighted, responsible investment with the highest possible return.
More benefits with a collective approach to industrial parks
With the Sustainability Roadmap, QING not only advises individual companies, but also complete industrial parks. Martin Ruiter: “As an individual food producer, you have a certain energy problem, but the solution is often collective. By looking at sustainability with other companies from the same business park, it is often easier to come to a conclusive positive business case. We are one of the few parties in the Netherlands that can do this”. That is why QING also guides industrial parks with a Sustainability Roadmap towards CO2 neutrality.
Integral approach and subsidies
More than 40% of the energy in the Netherlands is consumed in industry. Roughly two thirds of this is used as (process) heat. We are dealing with a large sector where there is a lot of profit to be made on energy.
Of course, sustainability involves more than just saving energy. There are many complex processes that involve a lot of heat. When you solve an energy problem, you don't want two more problems to be added elsewhere. That is why QING takes an integrated approach.
“Sustainability is a multi-headed dragon,” says Stan de Groot. “Energy saving is our biggest area of knowledge, but we also calculate solutions for water use and circularity. One party that calculates everything from an integrated approach is a crucial success factor for successful sustainability.”
QING also looks at all subsidy options per situation. This prevents you from missing out on subsidies when you get started with sustainability.
What you can already do in concrete terms to save energy
Stan de Groot: “You don't have to earn what you don't spend, and you don't have to pay for what you don't use.” Many companies waste a significant part of their energy demand, or use more than necessary, while this is often fairly easy to prevent.
In food production, products are typically first heated for preparation, and then cooled or frozen for preservation. The residual heat from the cooling or freezing process can often be used to meet part of the heating process's heat demand, but this hardly happens.
“Examples of useless consumption include the use of superfluous high temperatures and/or pressures in steam systems, leaving machinery on outside production times (standby consumption) and the incorrect adjustment of production lines, resulting in increased energy consumption,” Stan concludes.
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