In December 2018 Corrugados Colinas ALTAVISTA assumed as part of its quality policy, a greater commitment to sustainability, through the efficient use of energy resources, by means of certification in the INTE ISO 50001:2018 (SGEn) standard.
This is why we set the goal of reducing energy consumption in our industrial process by 4% by 2022 compared to 2018, and Colinas Altavista achieved its reduction goal ahead of schedule.
To achieve the proposed goal, it had the support of the consulting firm INGESA, a Costa Rican company with regional reach, dedicated to consulting, implementation and accompaniment processes on cost-effective energy efficiency. “Having INGESA on board was vital to achieve the goal of reducing energy consumption in a quick and agile manner,” said Omar Duran, plant manager.
Less CO2, better energy performance
“Thanks to the commitment of our employees and the constant support and monitoring of INGESA, we were able to profitably reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 220 tCO2e per year, while at the same time we achieved savings of close to $120,000 per year in our operating costs thanks to the implementation of energy performance improvements and tariff changes. The accumulated savings from 2019 to 2021 amounts to $360,000,” said Durán.
Gloriana Sánchez, Sales Manager of Corrugados ALTAVISTA, said that “At ALTAVISTA we know that part of the commitment to sustainability is to make an adequate use of resources; energy efficiency is vital not only to improve as an industry, but also to contribute to the national decarbonization plan that Costa Rica intends to implement in the coming years”, she said.
The consulting process sought that through the use of operational controls and training plans, awareness of energy savings would be generated in the collaborators and thus achieve not only the continuous improvement in the efficient use of energy, but also the achievement of quick and important savings with a low investment, and in this way be able to guarantee the availability of the necessary resources for investment in future action plans, which support the SGEn, and allow the organization to be more competitive in the market.
“International evidence regarding the business implementation of the SGEn shows that it achieves 3% to 5% savings in energy costs in the first years. Thus, taking into account the size of the Costa Rican market and the sector where Corrugados ALTAVISTA’s business activity is developed, as well as its characteristics, we estimate that from an economic point of view the implementation of this innovative system in the organization would bring important economic benefits in addition to the ecological benefit to the country”, said Javier Espinoza, general manager of INGESA, which is part of its brand promise: “Reduction of emissions in a profitable way”.
He added that “the work carried out at Corrugados Colinas ALTAVISTA demonstrates that it is possible to reduce CO2e emissions in a profitable way, since Altavista has a savings of $545 for each tCO2e reduced annually both through changes in energy tariffs and improvements in the energy performance of the production process”, he said.
Currently, the company is working on the implementation and use of the innovative ENER-FACT application, also developed by INGESA, which aims to reduce by up to 90% the time dedicated to the analysis of energy-related data and the management of indicators associated with the energy management system. “This way we can monitor and respond to deviations in energy performance in real time,” said its plant manager.
Source: revistacorrugando.com
