Lockheed Martin’s Ampthill site was recently awarded ISO50001 certification for energy management after an energy efficiency drive saw bills come down by more than £150,000. While the company says not all of sites will be able to achieve the same level of energy efficiency, the flagship location will act as a guide to others seeking to follow a similar route.
Graham Harraway, director of operations at Lockheed Martin’s Ampthill site told Clean Energy News how his facility made the grade, how the firm stands to benefit from the new measures, and what the future holds for Lockheed Martin’s clean energy efforts.
What prompted Lockheed Martin to make the changes necessary to achieve ISO50001?
In September 2014, when the government passed the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS), the decision was made by the leadership of Lockheed Martin UK Ampthill to start a project to get the site certified to the International Energy Management Standard ISO50001. By becoming certified, the Ampthill business would be exempt from ESOS.
More importantly, the team wanted to embed an energy management system into the business. We had been putting procedures and projects in place for the past few years, but working towards the certification would formalise that, establishing a systematic and sustainable approach to measuring and managing our energy and providing a commitment to continual improvement.
How has Lockheed Martin worked to achieve the ISO50001 certification for Ampthill?
We’ve taken a very structured approach to energy management at Lockheed Martin UK over the last five years. Back in 2010 the organisation’s corporate energy, environment, safety and health (EESH) team looked at ways to drive energy management into its operations, and following on from that we formed an energy conservation committee here at the Ampthill site. The aim of our committee was to identify and implement projects, both large and small, to ensure energy and its use were core considerations when undertaking existing and new work.
We introduced 77 sub-meters at strategic locations on site, ensured that energy efficiency formed an important part of HVAC and lighting when upgrading buildings, and implemented IT-based energy management tools and policies and procedures. All this ultimately positioned us to work towards and receive successful accreditation to ISO5001 in 2015.
How was Lockheed Martin able to lower the electricity demand of the Lockheed site?
The reductions are down to the successful introduction of energy efficiency measures over the past few years, such as installing temperature and time controls on warm water boilers back in 2011, which has brought about an annual saving of more than £50,000 and a payback period of just six months on the investment.
We are currently replacing fuel oil heating systems across the site with energy efficient electrical units. This work will be completed by the end of February and bring in a potential annual saving of £131,000. During 2015 we replaced more than 80 400 watt halogen bulbs with efficient T5 lighting, which is saving the company around £3,500 a year. Next year we’ll be reviewing the business case for solar power for part of the site.
Were employees involved through efforts to lower waste?
Absolutely. It’s essential to have buy-in from staff if you want to make successful changes that last, and with everyone on board at Ampthill we’ve made great strides in both recycling and energy efficiency. We’ve run a waste recycling programme for a number of years now, working with our communications team for a ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ campaign.
We run programmes to make recycling as easy as possible and let people know the total waste recycled – at the moment our employee recycling rate stands at a very impressive 91%.
We continue to have great support from senior management which makes sure these important issues have the necessary gravitas to become an embedded part of our business here at the Ampthill site.
How much did gaining ISO50001 cost the company?
The costs for achieving the ISO50001 standard were substantially reduced because of the policies, procedures and culture we’ve been putting place since we started on this journey in 2010. Although the standard requires additional protocols, we weren’t starting from square one so we were able to successfully implement the standard in just nine months.
Will similar efforts be made at other sites?
As a corporation, Lockheed Martin is always looking to put energy efficiency at the core of our business across all of our sites. However, because our business is so diverse, the ISO50001 standard is not necessarily the best way to drive improvements at all locations.
Ampthill is the first Lockheed Martin site to be certified to ISO50001, and the lessons we’ve learned and process we’ve followed means we can now provide the whole of Lockheed Martin with a framework to become certified as well. That’s something we’re very proud of.
£184,500 annual savings offered by ISO50001 measures at Ampthill
- £131,000 potential savings from replacing fuel oil heating systems with energy efficient electrical units
- £50,000 saved by installing temperature and time controls on warm water boilers, paying back the cost in just six months
- £3,500 from replacing 80 400W halogen bulbs with efficient T5 fluorescent lighting
