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Dubuque, Iowa, Bakery Earns EPA 2019 ENERGY STAR® Manufacturing Plant Certification

03/11/2020
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EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

Environmental News
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EPA seal(Lenexa, Kan., March 11, 2020) - Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc., a commercial bread and roll baking company in Dubuque, Iowa, has once again been certified as an Energy Star Manufacturing Plant. The plant is one of 95 U.S. manufacturing plants to earn ENERGY STAR certification for being among the most energy-efficient plants in their industries during 2019.

Compared to average facilities, these plants saved $520 million on energy bills and nearly 100 trillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy, enough to meet the annual energy needs of almost 670,000 American households. Through superior energy efficiency performance, these manufacturing plants also significantly reduced air pollution, avoiding over 6 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

“The magnitude of these plants’ savings indicates that manufacturers in the United States have a lot to gain by investing in energy efficiency,” said EPA Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Anne Idsal. “Energy management is a win-win: saving money for manufacturers and protecting our environment.”

ENERGY STAR plant certification is available for 20 manufacturing sectors. Plants use industry-specific performance indicators to assess how their energy use compares to plants with similar operating characteristics. Plants with verified energy performance within the top 25% of similar plants in an industry are eligible for ENERGY STAR certification.

In 2019, EPA updated its Energy Performance Indicators (EPIs) in cement, frozen fried potato, and cookie and cracker manufacturing plants through close work with the industries and as a result of energy efficiency gains across these sectors. EPA also released EPIs for the nitrogenous fertilizer and fluid dairy manufacturing sectors.

Plants from the automotive, baking, cement, corn refining, food processing, glass manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, fertilizer manufacturing, and petroleum refining sectors are among those that qualified for certification in 2019.

About the ENERGY STAR Industrial Program

Since 2006, the ENERGY STAR Industrial Program has annually certified manufacturing plants for performing within the top 25% of energy performance in their industries nationwide. More than 200 plants have achieved this distinction since 2006.

See a list of all certified plants and learn more about how ENERGY STAR and industry work together.

About ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR® is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, providing simple, credible and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state and local organizations – including more than 40% of the Fortune 500® – rely on their partnership with EPA to deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions.

Since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped save American families and businesses nearly 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity and achieve over 3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions – all through voluntary action.

In 2017 alone, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped Americans avoid $30 billion in energy costs. Learn more about ENERGY STAR and ENERGY STAR by the Numbers.

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