Kellogg - Case study: Cutting CO2 emissions

By the end of 2008, Kellogg's was tracking at about 25% less energy used per tonne of food produced against the 1990 baseline.

In the last three years, Kellogg's UK cereal operations have reduced their energy production by 3.7% per tonne of food and this has led to an emissions reduction of 4% per tonne over the three years.

Much of the progress can be put down to good housekeeping. For instance, the company is replacing the 30,000 lights used in its Manchester site with tubes that are up to 60% more efficient and it has installed 86 new meters to accurately monitor its use of electricity, gas and steam and thus identify inefficiencies.

However, the biggest single factor in Kellogg's ability to reduce energy usage and emissions was the installation of a Combined Heat and Power plant in 2007.

This provides the Manchester site with 80% of its steam and 40% of its electricity requirements. This CHP plant has reduced the amount of energy the company needs to take from the national grid, and has meant a reduction in indirect emissions, energy and costs.

In its Wrexham site, Kellogg's has taken the same approach – focusing on measuring and managing – and has developed an on-line energy monitoring tool to help in that task. It is also steadily replacing older equipment with more efficient models.

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