Reduction of Energy a Priority at XenoTech
As part of our ongoing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we are always looking for opportunities to improve. From considering larger scale plans like switching to renewable energy to continuously implementing projects with small, individual impacts that add up to large energy savings overall. These efforts have allowed us to lower our electricity and gas usage for 4 consecutive years in a row. Some of the projects include replacing inefficient cascade freezers, changing to LED lights, and gaining better control of the air temperature throughout the building.
Starting with approximately 25 ultralow (-80oC) freezers, we have replaced 11 so far with Stirling freezers. Originally, the only -80oC freezers available were cascade units. A cascade freezer uses one stage to lower the temperature to below freezing and a second stage to take the temperature down to -80oC. This process is energy intensive and produces a large amount of heat. Stirling freezers have one compressor that can take the temperature down to -80C on its own. That change delivers a reduction of 20,000 kilowatt hours used—per freezer, per year. An additional benefit is that they use ethane gas instead of the various refrigerants in a cascade unit.
Another ongoing energy reduction project has been the replacement of fluorescent bulbs with LED. As bulbs and ballasts go bad, we replace them with low-energy LED bulbs. Once this project is completed, it will provide a savings of 132,000 kWh per year.
An additional contributing factor to our reduction in energy usage that is harder to quantify is the dedication and expertise of our Facilities and Maintenance personnel. The building was partially remodeled before we moved in, but the part that was not remodeled had some problems with duct work. Repairing the faulty ducts allowed better control of the temperature in the building and contributed to lowering our natural gas consumption.
Our future plans include sealing areas in the building that allow heat and air conditioning to escape, mitigating the inefficiencies in our reheat systems, and making use of walk-through barriers to contain the air conditioning where it’s needed. The bottom line is that we’re constantly working on lowering our energy consumption by replacing wasteful, inefficient equipment, maintaining tight control over the building’s temperature, and addressing inefficiencies. As we continue our ongoing efforts, we will continue seeing significant reduction in our energy usage.