There's been a big push in recent years to take a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) approach to energy conservation. Going green and onboarding sustainable practices has a number of tax benefits and can allow your organization to grow by helping you realize operational efficiencies in unexpected places.

Energy Audit

Industry plant experts say that energy is the number-one cost, so it makes sense to start there when you're talking about making a comprehensive energy audit.

The sad part is that Plant Engineering found that fewer than half of industrial plants currently conduct a yearly energy audit.

The essential part of a yearly energy audit - beyond conducting one in the first place! - is to determine how much energy you're currently using at each of your industrial plants.

From there, you should determine what the source of that energy is so that you can potentially realize greener sources. Doing so might enable you to take advantage of federal subsidies for energy efficiency.

Industrial brick refractory coating services can help industrial plants further reduce their fuel consumption. The refractory coating used in this process is ideal for the following applications: kiln, forge, furnace, oven, and metal equipment.

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Reducing hazardous raw materials and donating wood scraps leftover from the manufacturing process, as examples, can drastically reduce your carbon footprint and put your company on the right path towards environmental stewardship.

Monitor HVAC and Lighting

Where does the energy that comes in to an industrial plant ultimately go? Usually towards heating, cooling, and lighting. A programmable thermostat is probably the easiest way to optimize your heating and cooling processes, but take a look around as well to ensure that your insulation is up to snuff.

Poor insulation in an industrial plant could mean that you're allowing your utility bills to skyrocket since so much heat is being allowed to exit the building.

On the lighting side of things, many industrial plants waste a ton of money every year by stubbornly resisting the move from incandescent light bulbs to LED bulbs, which can provide as many lumens as incandescent bulbs without producing nearly the heat.

Since providing light for a large industrial plant is no easy feat, the potential energy efficiency to be reaped from making the switch to LED bulbs is huge. LED bulbs will actually allow you to use three-fourths the energy and have your LED bulbs last 25 times longer than their incandescent counterparts.