Georgia-Pacific Embraces Energy Efficiency, Uses Green Power
Energy efficiency has always been a priority at Georgia-Pacific, and today Georgia-Pacific facilities self-generate enough energy to meet more than half the company's annual energy needs. As an added benefit, much of that energy is generated from burning renewable biomass fuels, such as bark, wood residue and by-products from the wood pulping process.
Georgia-Pacific is not content to stop there. Today, the company is engaging in new energy initiatives that address everything from natural gas and electric lighting to energy inventories and alternative energy solutions.
Natural Reduction
To reduce rising natural gas costs and improve air emissions, employees at Georgia-Pacific's Green Bay, Wis., consumer products mill created a hybrid-drying process by rebuilding a paper machine that was using 12-year-old drying technology. Employees developed a hybrid-drying hood that reduces natural gas consumption by capturing and re-circulating high temperature and humid exhaust air back into the drying unit. The patent-pending process saves the mill hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in natural gas costs and reduces energy use by 1 million British thermal units (Btu's) per ton—the amount of energy needed to heat more than 900 homes. Broadway employees won the Wisconsin Governor's 2006 Pulp and Paper Energy Efficiency Award for their work.
Also focused on reducing natural gas consumption, Georgia-Pacific's Camas, Wash., paper mill participated in an energy-saving assessment as part of Save Energy Now, a U.S. Department of Energy initiative.
Shining the Light on Energy Savings
The Georgia-Pacific procurement group is leading an energy initiative to upgrade lighting at many Georgia-Pacific facilities, replacing older, less efficient fluorescent and metal halide lighting. Although the effort requires a significant initial investment, it has the potential to reduce power consumption anywhere from 30 to 50 percent at each facility where lighting upgrades are made. The lighting program will be implemented at almost 50 Georgia-Pacific facilities.
European Facilities Optimize Energy
Energy costs are the second largest cost, after wood and wood fiber, at Georgia-Pacific's International Consumer Products mills. To better understand and improve energy efficiency, Georgia-Pacific launched the Energy Optimization Project, designed to communicate to employees the need to save on energy, and to identify opportunities for improvement.
Two years later, the European operations have made significant progress. For example, at the Nokia, Finland, facility, energy consumption was cut almost 60 percent with an improved vacuum system for water removal before drying, while at the Cujik plant in the Netherlands, several projects, including insulation of hot water and steam pipes, have improved energy efficiency. All of these practices are being shared.
Georgia-Pacific facilities in Turkey and Italy also have invested in cogeneration turbines, which combine heat and energy to avoid waste. The savings in gas and electricity are estimated at 20 to 25 percent.
Exploring Green Power
Globally,
Georgia-Pacific
has joined other leading corporations as part of the World Resources
Institute's (WRI) Green Power Market Development Group, and already some
Georgia-Pacific
facilities are supporting local alternative energy programs.
Green Power Group members—including Alcoa, FedEx Kinko's, Starbucks, IBM, Staples and Johnson & Johnson—and WRI researchers are working together to transform energy markets and develop strategies to enable corporate buyers to diversify their energy portfolios with green power, helping address climate change.
At the local level, Georgia-Pacific's Camas, Wash., paper mill is investing in alternative "green" power in their community through participation in Pacific Power's Blue Sky alternative energy program that focuses on renewable wind power—an attractive form of clean alternative energy. Georgia-Pacific is the largest participant in the Blue Sky program, buying enough blocks of Blue Sky monthly to offset 1,122 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
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