Clean energy is vital for sustainability. Our responsibility targets express our commitment to annually improving our energy efficiency and increasing our use of renewable fuels.
Fossil raw materials can be replaced with wood-based products and solutions in many applications, but this consumes a large amount of heat and electricity. As UPM produces and consumes significant amounts of energy, the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7, Affordable and Clean Energy, is one of our six focus goals.
“Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy while at the same improving energy efficiency is crucial for mitigating climate change. Energy efficiency not only reduces emissions, but it also saves natural resources and money, so it’s smart both for the environment and our bottom line,” says Pasi Svinhufvud, UPM Energy Manager, Thermal Power, HSEQ.
UPM has a remarkable share of climate friendly energy production. UPM Energy is the second-largest electricity producer in Finland, and its diverse portfolio includes mainly hydroelectric and nuclear power. In addition, many UPM businesses operate their own power plants to generate energy for our paper, pulp, and plywood mills and sawmills.
UPM has been committed to cleaner energy for decades, as expressed in our responsibility targets for 2030. We aim to further improve our annual energy efficiency by 1 per cent each year and to ensure that at least 70 per cent of the fuels we use are renewable.
Audits improve energy efficiency
Audits, innovations and UPM’s own energy efficiency network provide a tangible framework for achieving our energy efficiency goals. Since 1997, we have run regular audits to map untapped potential for improvement across our businesses. We have already achieved significant improvements thanks to audits, investments and advances in material efficiency.
“Our energy auditing experts conduct a careful inspection of the practices and technology in place at each mill,” describes Svinhufvud. “As we have already addressed every conceivable major issue, achieving a further one per cent improvement in energy efficiency requires a constant effort. Whereas past audits covered entire mills, these days we focus on making improvements in more narrowly defined areas.”
In tandem with its work to improve energy efficiency, UPM has steadily been replacing fossil fuels, primarily with wood-based biomass such as leftover bark and black liqour from industrial side streams. UPM has set up new biomass power plants in Finland the UK and other locations. Fossil consumption has also been reduced by replacing coal with natural gas in Germany and by discontinuing coal and peat use in Finland.
“We aim to ensure that 70 per cent of our fuels are renewable, and we foresee no challenge in meeting this target. For instance, we are currently renewing our Finnish hydropower plants using new technology that allows us to extract more energy from the same quantity of water,” notes Svinhufvud.
more at source: https://www.upm.com/articles/energy/21/towards-efficient-and-sustainable-energy-use/