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Energy

The Company continues to improve its performance in terms of energy use. The Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) for the year was 525 kWh delivered energy per tonne of product.

The Climate Change Agreement (CCA) returns indicate that the Group is on track to meet its Milestone 4 target at the end of September 2008.

The Group now operates at 40.2 kilogrammes of carbon per tonne of product, which is 10% less carbon emissions per tonne than in 2000 (Enviros).

Over the CCA year the Group achieved an overall reduction of 0.6% in its carbon emissions per tonne of product. Six of the Group’s manufacturing sites are or will be required to join the European Emissions Trading Scheme in 2008 and are working towards participation with this scheme.

For 2009, we have set ourselves a 10% energy reduction target which we will deliver through further process optimisation and energy efficiency measures. We are also keen to explore the potential for increasing on-site renewable power generation.

We do not currently use or intend to use biomass fuels, produced from primary agricultural products, in our production processes. We have developed an energy strategy and this involves evaluating alternative energy sources, which we consider to be appropriate to our business needs.

We operate a utility reduction programme, the results of which are tracked on a Carbon Trust funded database and we currently have projects looking at the viability of producing electricity and heat from process residues and waste; the feasibility of using wind turbines on certain sites; and the use of biomass fuels derived from waste and by-product materials.

Visit the Carbon Trust website: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/about/

Carbon Management

We have set ourselves a challenging target of achieving a 20% absolute reduction in carbon (CO2e) emissions by 2010 compared to 1990 and to show leadership nationally and internationally by aspiring to a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.

We will achieve this reduction in our ‘carbon footprint’ by being unrelenting in the pursuit of our goal to be the most energy efficient food manufacturer in the UK through optimising energy use and planned investment in ‘state of the art’ manufacturing processes, production methods and business operations.

Case Study 1 - Premier Foods’ success at the prestigious Lord Stafford Awards

An innovative system for reducing energy and water usage at our Worksop factory has been recognised with a prestigious Lord Stafford award.

These awards are made to companies who work in collaboration with universities in the East and West Midlands to develop innovative products or services that benefit the local environment or communities. Worksop has won the top award in the ‘Innovation for Sustainability’ category.

The monitoring system was developed through a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the Nottingham School of Chemical Engineering. A graduate student spent two years working with engineers at Worksop to develop the system, which has saved the site £150,000 a year and reduced its carbon footprint by between 7% and 10%.

The Knowledge Transfer partnership gave us the services of an expert in energy management, while it allowed the School of Chemical Engineering to test out its technologies on a live, large scale project. The innovative monitoring system allows engineers to see exactly where energy and water are being used in each of the four manufacturing centres and to target areas where it can be reduced.

Savings have come from 20-30 processes across the site, such as reducing the amount of steam consumed in cooking noodles before they go for frying. We now know exactly what’s going into the factory and it’s given us far more control over our processes.

Innovation with the Nottingham School of Chemical Engineering is set to continue with a new project to recycle waste oil being lined up for the future.