UK/INTERNATIONAL
A guest post on the Hydrofinity website by LTC Worldwide’s Steve Anderton is well worth a read for managers of hotel on premise laundries (OPL) who have ambitions to halve their running costs…and who wouldn’t?
In the blog, after a salutary story about a Scottish hotel owner who learned the hard way that tumble drying is the most expensive and least energy efficient step in the laundering process, Anderton recommends launderers first download the Carbon Trust’s Booklet CTV040 “Energy Saving Opportunities in Laundries – How to Reduce the Energy Bill and Carbon Footprint in your Laundry”.( Go to www.carbontrust.co.uk and put ‘Energy saving in Laundries’ into the search engine to download your copy.)
Although the guide was published in 2009, Anderton says its advice remains relevant today and should enable the groundwork for a serious cost reduction programme. The publication gives targets for energy consumption by launderers in kWh/kg of dry laundry sold, for various sizes of laundry operation. He reckons it is now possible to improve on these 2009 targets (typically by at least 20%).
After recommending getting the whole team on board and acknowledging that all individuals have a contribution to make to the outcome, Anderton paints a picture of best possible practice in each laundry area and discipline from sorting to ironing. He also sets out how to tune the ironer to minimise energy consumption and maximise productivity in order to dry textiles straight from the washer extractor thereby completely cutting out costly tumble drying.
Anderton concludes: “Laundering using minimum energy, water and chemicals does not require expensive investment in new equipment or in energy recycling systems. Getting the management right first is the essential starting step, with rich rewards still available in most laundries, from the largest down to the tiniest.”
