Background

Because of the varied composition, the West Hartford facility presents a variety of energy efficiency issues ranging from temperature control in offices to weatherization in old and new buildings to machine recommissioning in manufacturing. The site has also undergone building upgrades and additions over the years, which brings further variety to the systems and building materials in place. Collectively, the energy efficiency projects implemented by Legrand at this site are expected to yield a 10% energy intensity reduction and over $100,000 per year in cost savings.

To identify energy saving opportunities, Legrand’s energy managers drew from projects uncovered during its 2010 participation in the Green Collar Championship program, when training was provided to existing employees to conduct internal energy audits. Through energy audits at manufacturing, warehouse and office facilities, Legrand has identified energy efficiency opportunities with payback periods spanning immediate results to six years. Legrand is looking to the combination of technology and behavior change to improve its energy intensity across all its U.S. locations.

Solutions

Legrand has partnered with its local utility to uncover incentives that will provide partial reimbursement for some of the installation costs of the energy efficiency projects. In the first half of 2012, Legrand hired an electrical sub-contractor to install inductive lighting in the parking lots and lighting controls in portions of the factory. In addition, a small air compressor has been installed, which is being used overnight as a substitute for the existing large air compressors. Other key projects include:

• Installing motion sensors. Following an energy audit in 2010, Legrand discovered that the exhaust fans in 11 of 17 of its restrooms were running 24-7, 365 days a year. To address this energy waste, Legrand installed WattStopper motion sensors in many of its offices and all its bathrooms.
• Manufacturing process changes. Plant managers had known for years that the paint lines used in manufacturing consumed vast amounts of energy. Spurred on by the Green Collar Championship training, productivity was improved in one department which allowed Legrand to reduce the operation of one of its paint lines to one shift instead of two. As of September 2012, this has resulted in year to date savings of 22,300 hundred cubic feet (ccf) of natural gas and over 935,000 gallons of water.
• Weatherization. During an in-house energy audit, made possible through the Green Collar program, a Connecticut Partnership between the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and CONNSTEP, Legrand found 36 doors and 10 dock levers that lacked adequate weather-stripping. In response, Legrand associates weather-stripped all man doors, overhead doors, and dock levelers in its manufacturing facility. In 2013, Legrand will re-inspect the weather-stripping for damage and make repairs or replace as needed.
• Installing new insulation. The ovens of Legrand’s paint lines consumed a lot of energy and often made workers close to the ovens uncomfortably warm. Additional insulation was added to the ovens of the paint lines, which the University of Massachusetts Industrial Assessment Center estimated would save about 10,200 ccf of natural gas annually.

Moving forward in 2013, Legrand has identified a series of new projects that it believes will allow it to meet, and possibly surpass its goal of a 10% reduction in energy intensity in 2 years at its showcase site.

• Lighting controls. Currently Legrand does not have the ability to isolate the lighting in various portions of the facility buildings. This results in wasted energy when the whole building is not in use. By installing WattStopper lighting controls in two of its factory buildings, the company can eliminate the wasted electricity of unused lighting.
• Re-lamp Fixtures. Legrand plans to replace its existing 32 watt bulbs with high efficiency 25 watt bulbs in its office areas, which it expects will lead to savings of about 26,444 kWh/year.

Additionally, Legrand is installing a submetering system throughout its headquarters facility in order to bring greater visibility to energy efficiency opportunities such as the reconfiguration of existing systems, equipment updates, and employee behavior changes to support the company’s energy management goals.

Other Benefits

In addition to implementing energy efficiency projects, Legrand is looking to the combination of people, process changes and technology to improve its energy intensity across all its U.S. locations. Legrand is conducting a corporate wide energy awareness campaign, which includes regular communications to employees on energy facts, internal success stories and tips for how employees can contribute to the energy savings goals.

The submeters currently being installed at the Legrand headquarters building will soon be feeding into a dashboard that will make detailed energy use visible to employees. In the interim, the energy site manager will leverage real-time energy usage data to analyze the patterns in both consumption and peak usage to gain further insight into different sites' behavior and potential. Using cloud technology, data from the submeters will be fed to a user-friendly dashboard that will make detailed energy use data available for employees to view. Eventually, the dashboard system will be rolled out to all Legrand's applicable U.S. facilities. It is part of a broader corporate-wide strategy to educate employees to allow them to identify and act on energy saving projects.