Ice River Springs and Eversource Partner for Energy Savings

 

Mark Gott

Pittsfield, MA – For Ice River Springs, sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint are two key elements in the company’s corporate strategy.

“We strive every day to reduce our environmental impact,” said Ice River Springs plant manager Mark Gott. “We aim to innovate and are always looking for new ways to recycle, reduce energy consumption, and minimize waste.”

In 2015, Eversource approached the Canadian-based private label bottled water producer to help them better manage their energy use by connecting them with solutions for savings through energy efficiency upgrades at their Pittsfield facility. The two companies took a comprehensive approach to the facility upgrades and conducted several compressed air engineering assessments. As a result, Ice River Springs added a more efficient compressed air system and upgraded its blow-mold equipment for the bottle-making processes.

Ice River Springs plant

Ice River Springs has since increased its production by 32% while reducing its energy consumption by 25% per case of bottles produced.

“Ice River Springs is truly a pioneer in the energy efficiency and sustainability space,” said Eversource vice president of energy efficiency, Tilak Subrahmanian. “It is always a pleasure to partner with like-minded companies, and we are excited to continue our work with them to cut energy costs, grow efficiently, and contribute to a cleaner and healthier environment.”

The energy-saving improvements helped Ice River Springs save almost 2 million kilowatt-hours and nearly a quarter of a million dollars annually.

Eversource will be working with Ice River Springs on future energy-saving improvements, including LED lighting and controls, and newly approved initiatives to reduce peak demand-related charges.

Ice River Springs is the only beverage company in North America with a closed loop recycling facility, where it recycles millions of pounds of plastic each year and produces 100% recycled content bottles. All of the company’s bottling facilities have achieved zero waste to landfill through employee engagement and working with the local communities. The company will also soon launch a new two-megawatt rooftop solar system at its Pittsfield facility.

“We invest in reducing our environmental impact through carbon reduction, paper reduction, waste reduction, healthy living, and so much more,” said Ice River Springs sustainability manager, Crystal Howe. “I tell my colleagues that sustainability is the cake, it is our foundation. The cost savings, the jobs and growth, the customer engagement and the opening of new doors — that’s the icing on the cake that comes with sustainability.”

“For our retail customers, we run a vertically integrated operation and work to minimize our costs so that we can deliver high quality bottled water at a great value,” said Gott. “The Eversource team was such a resource to us. We examined every option with them to reduce energy consumption, as well as natural gas and propane use to get the most savings.”

“We want to be the most environmentally friendly bottling company in North America,” said Howe.  “As we grow this culture, we have found that the most impactful way to reduce our carbon footprint is through energy savings, and Eversource has been a tremendous resource for this.”