Canfor Taylor

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The situation

As a leading integrated forest products company, with more than 30 facilities in North America, Canfor has plenty of reasons to care about the cost of energy. And with the recent challenges facing the industry as a whole, it’s little wonder that the company has turned to energy conservation in such a big way.

Take their pulp mill in the District of Taylor, 18 kilometres south of Fort St. John. The mill produces 212,000 tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp a year using an energy-intensive BCTMP (bleached chemi-thermo mechanical pulping) process. That translates into plenty of opportunities to save. But without a formal system in place to identify and prioritize those opportunities, the people of Canfor Taylor knew that the savings would not be realized.

That’s when they turned to Power Smart for help in developing a Sustainable Energy Management Program (SEMP).

Think of a SEMP as the highest level of energy management for which a company can strive. SEMPs are all about making energy a permanent part of your company’s long-term vision. Since they’re based on a model of continuous improvement, they have an amazing ability to uncover additional ways to save year after year.

The solution

Like many organizations, Canfor faced two major hurdles in developing an energy plan: a lack of dedicated funds and lack of a compelling business case to get corporate-level support. Fortunately, Power Smart provided assistance on both fronts, with full or partial funding to carry out energy studies, hire a full-time energy manager and implement monitoring programs.

The process began with a fully funded Energy Management Assessment, which gave the company a snapshot of the opportunities open to them, as well as an understanding of what constitutes a good management system.

That was followed by an in-depth, plant-wide energy audit, also fully funded by BC Hydro. The findings of the audit equipped them with everything they needed to make an airtight business case for long-term energy management.

The next logical step was to hire a full-time, dedicated energy manager who could build the SEMP. Power Smart’s co-funding helped Canfor Taylor do exactly that with minimal effect on their operational budget.

The results

Since introducing their SEMP, the company’s energy efficiency efforts have accelerated greatly, with a number of high-impact programs already underway.

• Based on employee suggestions, they have automated their chip handling system and are initiating a Seair wastewater treatment project. They expect not only to see major energy savings, but also reduced maintenance costs and a big boost to morale.
• With Power Smart’s guidance and co-funding, they are on their way to implementing a Monitoring, Targeting and Reporting (MT&R) system [PDF, 277 Kb], a proven method for measuring and maintaining energy performance.
• They’ve opted to take advantage of Power Smart’s recently created Mechanical Pulping Initiative, designed specifically to help our pulp and paper customers to cut processing costs.
• They are preparing to launch an Employee Energy Awareness program at their site to get employees in every corner of the facility involved in saving energy.

The benefits

Work with the experts
Canfor Taylor guaranteed their success by working alongside the experts in energy management.

Save now, save for years
The company’s SEMP will be the engine that drives savings growth for years to come.

Become an energy leader
Canfor’s commitment to cutting-edge efficiency and environmental stewardship won’t go unnoticed by their customers and business peers.