Water Benchmark Results – Phase 4 & Electricity Benchmark Results – Phase 1
Phase 4 Data Collection
Data Collection Tool Changes from Phase 3
- Additional data capture fields for drenching and pre-sorting
- Additional data capture fields for water sources
- Moved the “pack line processes” section to a “water management practices” tab
- Added a tab with data fields to capture information on water recycling technologies applied
- Incorporation of electricity use and cost data capture fields
- Added a tab with data fields to capture information on the energy management practices applied
Participation
- 21 packhouses responded to the request for data:
- 12 participated (including four from phases 1, 2, and 3)
- 3 are interested and committed to providing data in future rounds
- 5 declined to participate
- 1 did not respond
Data Overview
- All phase 4 datasets run from Jan to Dec 2020
Water Benchmark Results Calculated For:
- Packing line
- Cold storage
- Ablutions/office/canteen
Electricity Benchmark Results Calculated For:
- Packing operations
- CA (Controlled Atmosphere) operations
- RA (Regular Atmosphere) operations
Benchmark Process
- Data collection tool training provided
- Packhouses captured data (support provided where required)
- Data was sense-checked with the packhouse
- All results were displayed:
- Blue columns on graphs: data was complete and within the sense check “range”
- Yellow columns: estimated data
- Notes below the graphs provide more information
Water Benchmark Results
Drenching
- Packhouse I & N: Drenching water use not recorded and could not be estimated. Metering was installed in 2021.
Pre-sort
- Only packhouses with a dedicated pre-sort line are shown.
- Only packhouse M could provide metered water use data for the pre-sort line; other benchmarks are estimates due to lack of metering.
Packing Line
- Packhouse B: Figure includes water used for ablutions and garden irrigation, forming part of the packing line water use figure.
- Packhouse I: Water is kept in flumes for three months before being drained into reed beds for natural filtration.
- Packhouse C: Flumes drained once every two weeks.
- Packhouse L: Very low benchmark; flumes only drained 2–3 times a year, otherwise only topped up.
Cold Storage
- Includes all cold storage water consumption, with cooling towers making up the majority.
- Packhouse L: Cold storage water consumption used to “balance” total water consumption.
- Packhouse N: Cold storage water consumption not metered and could not be estimated. Metering installed in 2021.
Ablutions, Canteen & Offices
- Includes water consumption from ablutions, canteen, and offices.
- Packhouse M: Water consumption forms part of “other” water consumption calculation and could not be clearly allocated.
- Packhouse N: Not metered separately and could not be estimated. Metering installed in 2021.
Overall Packhouse Benchmark
- Combined results for all areas.
Year-on-Year Comparison
- Packing Line: Best to use Packhouse A’s data over all four years.
- Cold Store: Best to use Packhouse A’s data over all four years.
- Ablutions, Canteen & Offices: Best to use Packhouse A’s results for 2018 and 2019 (2017 data not allocated correctly).
Water Usage Profiles
- Displays the water use percentage profile per packhouse.
Electricity Benchmark Results
Packing Operations
- Includes all operational electricity consumption in the packhouse (pre-sort, packing lines, ablutions, canteens, and offices).
- Packhouse I: Benchmark includes RA operations consumption use.
- Packhouse N: Benchmark includes CA and RA storage electricity consumption as allocation between different areas was not possible.
CA Operations
- Includes all electricity consumption relevant only to CA operations (refrigeration plant, compressors, condensers, fans, cooling towers, etc.).
RA Operations
- Includes all electricity consumption relevant only to RA operations (refrigeration plant, compressors, condensers, fans, cooling towers, etc.).
Overall Electricity Consumption Benchmark
- Combined results for all areas.
Electricity Use Profiles
- Displays the electricity use percentage profile per packhouse.
Electricity Cost Benchmark
- Comparison of electricity costs across packhouses.
Conclusions
Phase 4 Positives
- Three new packhouses participated.
- Year-on-year comparisons and trends are starting to emerge.
- Water usage appears to be stabilizing and even decreasing.
- Increased awareness of metering blind spots and data quality issues for each specific packhouse.
- Increased awareness of the project; three more packhouses committed to participate in future.
- Most packhouses already have some water and energy saving practices in place and have plans to implement more.
- More accurate packing line benchmarks (drenching and pre-sort split out).
- Energy benchmarking initiated.
Phase 4 Challenges
- Was unable to achieve the 15 packhouse participation goal.
- Data quality remains a concern.
Thank You
Dianca Yssel
Blue North Sustainability
dianca@bluenorth.co.za
063 688 5593
www.bluenorth.co.za
@BlueNorthSA