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It’s likely that every parent in the world, in the perpetual battle over home energy bills, has barked a warning to their children to turn off lights and appliances when they are not using them. But as Fireclay Tile in Aromas discovered, that type of waste is not as easy to spot or control in an industrial setting.
With help from consulting firm Cascade Energy and using tools from PG&E’s lending library, Fireclay is projecting a yearly savings of $37,000 on lighting alone, going from the current weekly use of 5323 kilowatt-hours (kWh) to 2680 kWh, a 50% reduction.
And with system upgrades recommended through PG&E’s no-cost Industrial Systems Optimization Program, Fireclay is looking to save 122,000 kilowatt‑hours of electricity and 10,000 therms of natural gas annually—more than $70,000 in total savings.
“Savings like these are vital,” Fireclay Environment, Health, and Safety director David Galaviz said. “But the thing is, that’s part of our DNA as we work to become a more sustainable company.”
PG&E account manager Viet Nguyen first became aware of Fireclay’s energy efficiency concerns after calling the company to review any issues with its account. Earlier, Nguyen helped Fireclay resolve an issue when a meter error left the company owing the utility close to $1 million.
“They approached me,” he said, “and told me if they had to pay it, they’d be going out of business. Our team brought it down to about $700,000 and helped them qualify for California’s Economic Development Rate, which locks in low rates for five years.”
Once Fireclay was stabilized, the focus shifted to efficiency. Approximately 60% of Fireclay’s energy use is electrical, which is supplemented by a solar array. But Nguyen recommended a free audit from Cascade Energy, a third-party implementer for the optimization program for industrial facilities in PG&E’s territory.
Cascade Energy Engineer Mashail Arif said the process begins with an on-site visit to see what major the energy-using systems are and how the equipment is operating.
“We ask questions,” Arif said. “We review control systems and equipment drawings to get a baseline understanding of what’s going on. And then we’ll try to focus our projects or efforts on the systems that use the most energy.”
The result is what Arif called a “scoping report,” which includes a basic description of what was found on site, the equipment using the most energy, and recommended changes, along with savings and cost estimates.
“The initial list of projects can be quite broad,” she said, “and a customer might decide to only proceed with one or two that they think they can comfortably implement in the next year.”
Once a project has been selected, data loggers are installed to get a more accurate picture of how the equipment is operating.
“Our second report is much more detailed,” Arif said. “It’s almost like an investment-grade audit. It’ll include more accurate savings estimates and more accurate cost estimates.”
Galaviz said he did not know that when the company partnered with Cascade there would be such extensive data analysis.
“That, to me, proved to be one of the most important parts,” he said. “They’d say, ‘If you guys do a modification on your lighting to add motion sensors, this is how much you’re going to be saving.’”
One surprise came from monitoring some of the more critical machines, using tools from the PG&E lending library. A fan used 14% of the site’s energy, as it was running even when the kiln was not in use.
Once a company accepts an energy-saving proposal through the Industrial Systems Optimization Program, it is submitted to PG&E and reviewed by its engineers. If the numbers add up, PG&E steps in to help with financing up to $1 million, which is available to all customers who pay into the public purpose tax—about 98% of its customers.
“Let’s say the proposal is $100,000,” Nguyen said. “We let them borrow the whole $100,000 at 0% interest, and it doesn’t even show up on the books because we’re holding the bill. Over the next 10 months, we recoup the cost of the loan from their savings until it reaches the $100,000.”
Fireclay has the advantage, Galaviz said, of having an on-site engineer who can continue moving the data loggers from machine to machine to discover even more savings.
“We’ve been putting them around the facility and we’ve been trying to analyze and really go granular,” he said. “We are not only looking at our PG&E bill, but also at every single machine. This is something that Cascade helped us with.”
PG&E Communications Representative Stephanie Magallon said the optimization program is not limited to large energy consumers like Fireclay but could also be useful for a business like a liquor store, which relies heavily on refrigeration units.
“It is a chance to reduce their energy usage, reduce their energy bill, and improve their facilities at the same time,” she said. “One of the biggest and easiest things for them to do is to have a rate analysis done, to be sure they’re on the correct rate through our website.”
One of the easiest ways to save is by signing up for one of PG&E’s Demand Response programs, which Fireclay has already taken advantage of, according to Nguyen.
“If a customer can change the times they use energy,” he said, “like a manufacturing business working late at night instead of during the day, or agricultural businesses watering plants at different times, they can actually get money from PG&E for doing it.”
While it helps any company’s balance sheet to reduce its energy usage, Magallon said it is in PG&E’s best interests as well.
“If companies are able to reduce their energy,” she said, “it means we don’t have to build the larger infrastructure for energy that costs us even more money. It’s going to help their business, and at the same time, it’s going to make better use of our grid to connect more customers.”
To find out more about PG&E’s small and medium business support, building and renovation resources, free energy education programs and reduced rates for economic development, visit the PG&E Business Resources website.
Industrial Systems Optimization Program overview
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