Energy management

We are reducing the amount of energy we consume so that we can increase efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions.

In 2011, GIZEH implemented an energy management system as per ISO 50001 which is based on a management model aimed to save energy in a sustainable manner. In 2020, the adaptation to the new ISO 50001:2018 took place.

Not only do the improvements made reduce both energy consumption and production costs, but they also reduce CO2 emissions and, in doing so, impede global warming.

Internal and external audits are carried out at GIZEH every year. They aim to determine whether objectives are being achieved.

Over the past ten years, we have installed around 270 measurement stations and invested over 2.3 million euros in energy efficiency measures, corresponding to an average yearly investment of 230,000 euros. Our efforts have produced the following results:

  • CO2 emissions dropped by 23.6% per kg of material used. This means an average reduction of 2.36% per year.
  • Power consumption reduced by 22.6% for each kg of material used. That’s an average of 2.26% per year.

Some specific measures are listed below, showing examples of the systematic steps we took in order to increase resource efficiency.

Compressed air/cold

  • Investing in new air compressors,
  • Dividing the compressed air network into levels of 8 bar and 6 bar,
  • Purchasing new refrigerant dryers and filtering systems,
  • Adding free cooling to the cooling circuit in the winter season,
  • Separating the cooling circuit for molds and oil,
  • Reducing leakages.

Room heating/process heat/hot water

  • Systematically recovering waste heat from compressors and using it to heat all buildings and water,
  • Investing in new systems/optimizing settings,
  • Increasing efficiency in steam production by pre-heating feed water,
  • Insulating injection molding and extruder cylinders.

Lighting

  • Transitioning to LED outdoor lighting,
  • Transitioning to LED indoor lighting (using motion sensors),
  • Modifying the emergency lighting system.

Information and communication technology

  • Server virtualization,
  • New printing concept (central printer).

Mobility

  • Acquisition of first plug-in hybrid vehicles for the company's internal fleet
  • Off-setting of emissions emitted by the company's internal fleet via DKV Climate fuel card

In addition to increasing energy efficiency and reducing emissions, we are also driving the replacement of fossil fuels forward by producing our own green power.

Energy supply

  • Installing solar panels with a 38 kWp output,
  • Installing solar panels with a 129 kWp output in Elsterwerda.

Waste management

In addition to the active measures we take to use energy more efficiently and cost effectively, we are working systematically on recycling operational waste to the greatest extent possible, whilst also reducing the total waste produced on an ongoing basis. This translates to substantial raw materials, reduces CO2 emissions and makes a significant contribution to protecting the environment. Great successes have been achieved in recent years through the consistent implementation of these measures:

  • Production scrap could be reduced by 57%
  • The amount of unsorted waste could be halved
  • Waste volume of polypropylene plastic was reduced from 435 tons to 188 tons

The following specific measures show examples of waste reduction.

  • State-of-the-art technology such as the inline processing, allowing rejects to be fed directly back into the production process.
  • Optimisation of production planning.
  • To this end, we regularly align the separation of waste material (e.g. by color) to current production and the associated waste volume.
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