Twenty-seven portland cement operations are among 70 manufacturing plants to achieve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Energy Star certification in 2015. The following producers were recognized for achieving energy performance in the top 25 percent of the industry: Holcim (five plants); Buzzi Unicem, Cemex USA and Lehigh Cement (four plants each); Argos USA, Essroc Cement and Titan America (two plants each); and Ash Grove Cement, CalPortland Co., Martin Marietta Materials, Salt River Materials and Suwannee American (one plant each). Argos USA’s Newberry, Fla., plant earned Energy Star certification for the first time.
“Energy Star certified manufacturing plants are driving the kinds of efficiencies and innovations that keep our country strong,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “They’re proving every day that businesses can save on energy, cut down on bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions all at the same time.”
Independently verified energy-efficiency measures at the manufacturing netted power consumption savings of $475 million, EPA estimated, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 5 million-plus metric tons. Since 2006, Energy Star has certified manufacturing plants that reach the top 25 percent of energy performance for their industries nationwide each year. In addition to cement, other sectors represented among the plants certified are automotive, corn refining, food processing, glass manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and petroleum refining.
EPA provides industry-specific Energy Star plant benchmarking tools to help measure energy performance. These tools are available for 15 manufacturing sectors and enable companies to compare a plant’s energy performance against those of its industry counterparts and empower manufacturers to set informed improvement goals.
