The Environmental Protection Agency and IDFA continue to collaborate on ways to help promote energy efficiency in U.S. dairy processing plants. EPA released this week its latest draft of ENERGY STAR® Energy Performance Indicators (EPI) for benchmarking the energy performance of fluid milk and ice cream processing plants. IDFA and the ENERGY STAR® program are asking dairy companies to test and evaluate the draft tools.
The EPIs for ice cream and fluid milk reflect the request from the dairy industry to evaluate the impact of climate and weather on energy use in dairy processing plants. EPA evaluated these variables and included an adjustment for cooling degree days in the new drafts, according to Walt Tunnessen, national program manager for ENERGY STAR® who was a featured speaker this week at IDFA’s Regulatory RoundUP.
To help members use the tools, EPA will host a call and web conference on Thursday, July 10, at 2:00 p.m. The speakers will explain the updates, offer tips for testing the EPIs and answer questions. The goal is to hold a follow-up conference in mid-August to discuss the results of the testing.
In 2010, IDFA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with EPA to promote increased energy efficiency in U.S. dairy processing plants. Through the agency’s ENERGY STAR® program, IDFA and EPA work together to provide valuable management tools to help dairy processors measure and control energy in their manufacturing facilities and document energy savings achieved.
For more information, contact Clay Detlefsen, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and counsel, at cdetlefsen@idfa.org.
The conference call number is 866-299-3188 and the conference code is 202-343-9965.
To access the web conference, click on the link below on the day of the meeting, July 2, and sign in as a guest. https://epa.connectsolutions.com/dairyepi