“We made a pledge to become a net-zero company by 2030, and I wanted to have sustainability as part of our ethos from day one” — Augusto Carneiro, Founder and Chief Friendship Officer of Nossa Familia Coffee.
Nossa Familia Coffee, a renowned coffee provider based out of Portland, OR, has placed sustainability at the core of their company mission — a mission that’s been reinforced by their commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
In an effort to reach this lofty goal, their team leveraged PEC’s efficiency expertise to deploy two energy solutions at their NW Portland HQ location:
- An energy-efficient LED retrofit in their warehouse and roasting facility
- Electric vehicle charging stations for their electric van fleets
Pairing these solutions with their purchase of electric vans for coffee delivery, as well as their investment into energy-efficient coffee roasting technology, has helped put Nossa on a track to reach their net-zero aspirations and beyond — setting a new standard for coffee suppliers throughout the region.
Capturing 62% energy savings with an LED upgrade
Nossa Familia finds the right light to make a dark roast ☕
After becoming an early adopter of Loring Roasters — innovative coffee roasting equipment that operates 20% more efficiently than traditional roasters — Nossa searched for ways to continue building on their emission reduction efforts. Through chatting with other roasters, they uncovered the potential impact of upgrading their facility lighting to an energy-efficient LED system. That’s when they got connected with our team here at PEC:
“One of my coffee roaster friends introduced me to PEC, and it almost seemed too good to be true. It wasn’t going to cost that much up front, and within a year we’re saving hundreds of dollars on lighting”.
— Augusto Carneiro
Customizing a retrofit for Nossa Familia’s operations
As with any PEC LED retrofit, our process with Nossa Familia first began with a thorough energy audit of their current lighting system, where our team performed an on-site assessment of their facility. This assessment includes:
- Counting the number of fixtures in the space
- Documenting the fixture technology
- Assessing the current light levels (measured in foot candles) and;
- Identifying any existing control sensors
- and more
We also worked with the Nossa team to understand how the existing space was used throughout the day, allowing our Sales Engineers to create a retrofit design that both reduces energy and improves light levels for the day-to-day operations.
Following the audit and design creation, we were able to calculate the expected savings on energy use, energy spend, project incentives, and payback period for the retrofit, giving Nossa Familia a clear scope of what to expect before moving forward with the new lighting.
With this project, Nossa Familia captured a 62% reduction in annual energy use, and is projected to save approximately 30,444 kWh’s by the end of 2022! This translates to the CO2 emissions of:
- 2,624,456 smartphones charged
- 23,871 pounds of coal burned
- ~3 homes’ total energy usage for a year
Powering emission-free coffee delivery with EV Fleet charging
Continuing to drive towards greater sustainability, Nossa Familia transitioned their delivery fleets from gas to electric vans, projecting to save roughly 650 gallons of diesel gas used each year (equating to an additional 14,500 lbs. of CO2 avoided!).
However, a commonly understated complexity of powering electric vehicle (EV) fleets is the work needed to implement EV charging stations. Some of the key factors that need be considered are:
- Identifying the best charger for the business model (in Nossa’s case, fleet charging)
- Determining the charger level needed (1, 2, or 3) that best fits the use case
- Scoping and building out the electrical infrastructure needed for charger locations (digging trenches to run wires, laying concrete pads for charger mounting, etc.)
- Gathering project incentives from utility providers that may be available to help fund the project
Each of these considerations can result in hours of research and uncertainty around your investment. PEC helped serve as the “easy button” for Nossa to handle this entire process end-to-end, helping them access the best charging solution for their use case and gather the max amount of incentives available for their efficiency project — all while staying focused on their day-to-day responsibilities.
“I believe we are going to be the first coffee roaster in Portland, maybe Oregon, to have fully electric deliveries, and as part of that we needed charging infrastructure. And that’s not a simple project . . . having everything handed to us was really great.”
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