Building materials firm Tarmac has lauded the impact of its energy efficiency and demand side response initiatives after recording a significant fall in CO2 emissions.
Emissions have fallen by 27% since 1990 as Tarmac has made impressive progress towards its 2020 target of a 37% reduction. The company has also secured ISO 50001 certification for its entire business.
In its 2015 Sustainability Report, launched earlier this week, Tarmac placed particular importance on its ‘Ultimate Manufacturing-Optimise’ programme, which took place over a 48-week period last year and involved the group’s employees helping identify improvement opportunities.
The scheme took place at 80 of Tarmac’s quarries and identified more than 1,100 potential improvement opportunities, all of which will be pursued, and the Optimise programme is now expected to be rolled out to the company’s asphalt and marine plants.
Tarmac said it hoped that it would achieve “multi-million pound savings” in energy consumption through acting on the recommendations.
The company also witnessed the benefits of demand side response systems after partnering with Open Energi for its Dynamic Demand system, which it installed on more than 50 asphalt plants last year.
The system connects manufacturing facilities with intensive energy demands to the national grid and offers to adjust their energy consumption to help manage grid fluctuations. In return, National Grid pays Open Energi grid service fees, which are then shared with clients.
Tarmac confirmed that it is now due to bolster its links with Open Energi and introduce Dynamic Demand to around 200 bitumen tanks at more than 70 asphalt plants in the UK before the year’s end.
