Shared energy goals in the pipeline
Involving staff in energy management pays surprising dividends for re¿nery.
Re¿ning NZ’s business is focused on turning crude oil into high quality fuel products for New Zealand – which of itself, is a fairly energy intensive process. In fact, it’s one of our biggest energy users, chewing through enough to power around 375,000 homes every year. “Energy is our largest single cost,” says Energy Manager Juan Videla. “The mix of fuels we use to ¿re up our furnaces includes some of the crude supplied by our customers. Switching that crude for a cleaner, ef¿cient fuel such as natural gas means we can turn more crude into fuel products, so there’s a lot of motivation to be a more energy ef¿cient consumer.” The re¿nery entered a partnership with the Energy Ef¿ciency and Conservation Authority (EECA) in 2016, setting a goal to adopt best practice over a three-year period. The mix of energy-saving projects in progress or up for consideration include monitoring energy consumption, improving turbine ef¿ciency and a phased change out of Àuorescents for LEDs across the Marsden Point site. Another area ripe for improvement is staff engagement. Pramesh Maharaj, who manages EECA’s relationship with the re¿nery says that tapping employees’ knowledge of their workplace is a must do for any business investing in energy management. “Getting staff more involved lets you stand on the shoulders of major plant improvements, and that can reap real bene¿ts.” He doesn’t just mean cost savings – it’s more visionary than that. “People are well aware of climate change. By involving staff in your business’s energy management, they can support their workplace to make a positive contribution towards a global issue,” says Maharaj. Taking an approach that’s been approved by other EECA partners as diverse as Watercare and Sealord, Videla invited staff to complete a short survey about energy management in the workplace. “Our people know we’re serious about energy management having seen us invest $365m in a new petrol making kit which has contributed majorly to our energy ef¿ciency and reduced CO2 emissions by around 10 percent,” he says. “The re¿nery’s workplace culture values diversity of thought and experience. A funnel of improvement ideas – all generated by our staff – has already lifted performance across the re¿nery. “Knowing that their contribution is valued made asking our people for energy saving ideas easy.” Some 120 workers of all stripes offered up ideas on ways to reduce energy wastage – from simple things like turning off lights and computers to process-related ideas that will need serious investigation. Videla says the next step will be to form an energy awareness team to go through the ideas on the table and make a plan to implement changes. They’re likely to include an internal communication campaign, bringing energy impact evaluations into engineering decisions, and a tool to help staff monitor and improve plant energy performance. It’s a good approach, says Maharaj. “The re¿nery can now form a small army of energy champions to get some of those suggestions in place. This motivates more staff to get involved – it snowballs.” With the re¿nery being such a huge consumer of energy, Videla understands the difference good energy management can make. “Real ef¿ciency comes when our people are aware of the role of energy in their day-to-day activities,” he says. “One person turning off one light – that doesn’t make much difference. But lots of people turning off lots of lights, computers, machinery – that’s where you start to see a change. That’s what we want from this campaign.” Find a Staff Engagement Toolkit, short videos and more tips and advice at www.eecabusiness.govt.nz.