Mack Trucks
At a Glance
Industry
Industrial Goods and Manufacturing
Project Types
Clean and Renewable Energy, Industrial Energy Efficiency
Year
2014
Location
Macungie, PA
Summary
Neha Nemade helped Mack Trucks save energy and money by finding a way to recover exhaust heat. She also recommended upgrades to facility hardware and created a tool for future work.
Goals
Neha Nemade, Mack Trucks’ fourth EDF Climate Corps fellow, was brought in to find energy saving opportunities, specifically in facilities operations.
Solutions
Nemade identified and recommended actionable changes such as managing energy consumption in vending machines and eliminating air leaks in compressed air systems. Nemade identified opportunities to recover up to 80 percent of exhaust heat from the burn-off ovens, which can be used to heat water in restrooms and showers. This translates into a savings of approximately 620,000 BTUs annually. Nemade further assisted Mack Trucks in assessing a solution to implement a renewable energy project by the end of 2014. She proposed that solar water heaters replace old and inefficient electric water heaters at more than 20 locations in the plant in a phase-wise implementation. This solution optimizes the challenges in justifying a return on high capital investment in solar projects. To support Mack Trucks’ continual efforts regarding energy efficiency, Nemade developed a dynamic excel tool to verify the return on investments for future lighting retrofit in the offices.
Potential Impact
In summary, the proposed projects could reduce upwards of 1,000,000 kilowatt hours of energy annually which is equivalent to approximately $71,800.