Energy Management

We are continuously working to increase our energy efficiency. We are also looking to generate more of our own electricity from renewable sources.

Energy management is an important means of increasing our efficiency – and thus harbors a lot of potential in both environmental and economic terms. It is also essential for achieving our climate protection targets. Our environmental and energy policy, which is available online, is commensurate with this. Among other things, it commits us to continuously and systematically reducing our energy consumption and emissions and to steadily improving our performance in the overriding areas of energy and the environment. www.blg-logistics.com/en/sustainability

Our on-site energy officers are responsible for energy planning at the individual locations. In addition to systematic data capture, their remit involves regular energetic evaluations as well as documenting planned and implemented measures. All activities are monitored and managed by a central Controlling department. In the reporting year, our energy management system was recertified according to DIN EN ISO 50001 at 27 locations. Furthermore, since 2014 our environmental management system has already been certified in accordance with DIN EN ISO 14001 at all our German auto terminals and transport centers in the AUTOMOBILE Division as well as at 13 more locations in the CONTRACT Division.

Our consumption data as a basis

If we are to permanently reduce our energy consumption – and hence our greenhouse gas emissions – we need to know which are the biggest energy consumers. For this, we rely on decentralized recording, validation and evaluation by our energy officers on site. Not included are sites, plants and vehicles whose energy consumption is beyond our control. The consumption of all fully consolidated companies is aggregated and calculated by the central Sustainability and Digitalization department as part of the annual energy and CO₂ accounting.

To further increase data transparency and in particular to facilitate the identification, recording and tracking of measures, we introduced the EnEffCo energy management software in the reporting year. This enables not only more detailed, but also largely automated recording and evaluation of our energy consumption and thus even more targeted determination of savings potential. Our German sites will gradually be incorporated in 2022, so that automated monitoring via user-defined dashboards will also be possible across sites and businesses. We are currently preparing additional functions, including alarm and ticket functions, which will enable anomalies to be systematically detected and processed.

Percentage share of energy consumption 2021

broken down according to divisions and business areas

Energy consumption in the reporting year

Compared with the previous year, our total consumption increased by around 6.4 percent to 272 million kWh, which was to be expected due to the restrictions on business operations prevailing in 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The comparatively cold start to 2021 and an additional hardening plant for industrial logistics at one of our Bremen sites are two factors that explain the increase in natural gas consumption.

Compared with 2019, we nevertheless succeeded in reducing consumption by 2.2 percent. The renewed reduction in diesel consumption is partly attributable to the ongoing shortage of parts in the reporting year.

Absolute energy consumption

broken down according to energy sources

	Liters	2021 MWh	2020 MWh	2019 MWh
Electricity		55,008	52,499	54,044
Germany		54,412	52,183	53,868
Self-generated electricity (utilized)		345	73	37
Self-generated electricity (fed into grid)		-	10	5
Foreign		251	243	139
Natural gas		77,282	63,703	69,067
Germany		77,160	63,649	68,912
Foreign		122	54	155
District heat		192	163	117
Germany		192	163	117
Foreign		–	–	–
Heating oil	1,036,083	10,309	10,001	11,366
Germany	1,036,083	10,309	10,001	11,366
Foreign	–	–	–	–
Diesel	12,694,468	125,929	126,416	139,905
Germany	8,369,097	83,022	85,774	99,511
Foreign	4,325,371	42,907	40,642	40,394
Gasoline	352,195	3,103	2,746	3,337
Germany	345,289	3,042	2,674	3,167
Foreign	6,906	61	72	170
Vehicle gas		82	109	85
Germany		25	31	50
Foreign		57	78	35
Total energy consumption		271,905	255,637	277,921
Germany		228,507	214,548	237,028
Foreign		43,398	41,089	40,893

More efficiency lies in the details

We continued or completed a number of major projects in the reporting year, including the LED conversion of further areas at our largest industrial logistics site in Bremen, as well as in Emmerich and also in Eisenach. There, we expect to save around 225,000 kWh – equivalent to 60 percent – of the annual lighting energy. We also continued or completed LED projects already underway at our auto terminals. Despite all the progress made, we again felt the effects of the restrictions in the second pandemic year, so that some of the projects already rescheduled for 2020 had to be postponed for another year.

Individual optimization measures at the respective sites also contribute in aggregate to achieving our climate targets. This also included optimizing existing conveyor technology – such as reducing the speed in the automatic small parts warehouse while maintaining the same performance – or the additional installation of light barriers. This will enable us to save a further 75,000 kWh. In Falkensee, we can reduce our energy consumption by around 6,300 kWh a year by lowering the temperature in the sprinkler rooms. We can save a further 2,000 kWh per year thanks to new electric heaters with timers in our container offices.

In order to identify further potential for reducing our energy requirements in the future, we will continue to work on optimizing our meter structures and technology, conduct detailed load curve analyses, and apply the comprehensive heating check developed in 2021 across the board.

Knowledge raises awareness

Once again in the reporting year, we kept our employees continuously informed about and sensitized to topics related to energy efficiency via various formats such as training courses and notices. Due to COVID, our Technik-Treffen technical meetings, as a central instrument, could not take place live on site for the second year in a row. Nevertheless, we held online training sessions and regular digital exchanges for and with all energy officers again during the year, as well as newly introduced, four-weekly open Q&A sessions. To further raise awareness among our administrative staff, an e-learning module on environmental and energy management was developed and will be rolled out in 2022. With this, we aim to ensure that everyone is aware of our environmental and energy policy and the related corporate objectives. We also want to raise their awareness of related issues in general, as well as their understanding of how they can contribute to environmental and energy management in their daily work.

Operating a state-of-the-art, highly efficient logistics center with green energy generated on site? That is exactly what we are planning for C3 Bremen. At the heart of the project: a new dimension of PV system and a holistic energy concept.

View SDG Story

Using clean energy, reducing consumption

Since 2019, a photovoltaic system with a generator area of 430 square meters and an output of 74 kWp has been in operation on the roof of the car terminal in Kelheim. In the reporting year, we were for the first time able to use 100 percent of the electricity generated to cover our own needs. A similar system ten times the size went into operation at the Waiblingen site in 2020, enabling around half of the electricity required there to be covered by solar energy. Taken together, the two systems covered an electricity requirement of around 345,000 kWh, which is equivalent to a saving of 76 t CO₂e. In the future, we will explore the PV potential of additional locations. For example, the construction of a PV system with an output of up to 10 MWp is currently being planned on the roof of the C3 logistics facility that is being built in Bremen, making this the largest contiguous rooftop installation in Germany. Through additional measures such as an integrated energy concept, we are striving to achieve a Platinum Sustainable Building Certificate from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen – DGNB, as well as “climate-positive” status for the site.

Our company BLG AutoTransport offers transport services for new and used vehicles and in the reporting year operated its own fleet of 187 trucks in Germany. Having already expanded the fleet by 85 new vehicles in 2018 and 2020, we acquired a further 15 in the reporting year. In the meantime, 100 percent of the fleet complies with the EURO 6 standard. In 2021, we succeeded in further reducing BLG AutoTransport’s average diesel consumption. At 29.4 liters per 100 kilometers, this was again below the previous year’s figure.

Specific diesel consumption of own automobile transport fleet (D)

liters/100 kilometers

We are also constantly working to modernize the forklift fleets we use, increasingly focusing on lithium-ion and high-frequency charging technology. According to the manufacturer, a modern lithium-ion forklift produces around 16 percent lower CO₂ emissions than a comparable lead-acid forklift, from production through to the use phase. At one of our sites, we have also gained experience with the use of hydrogen forklifts.

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