Mile Hi Bakery received the 2014 Energy Design Assistance Achievement Award from its utility vendor for saving energy and cutting carbon dioxide.
The award comes from Xcel Energy, the Minneapolis-based electric and natural gas company that serves Denver. The bakery accepted the honor during Xcel’s 2015 Energy Efficiency Expo at Denver’s Sports Authority Field on April 14.
Now in full operation for more than a year, the new bakery saved 2,827,044 kilowatt hours (kWh) on its energy use and accomplished a carbon dioxide reduction of 1,607 tons during 2014.
When Mile Hi owners Tony Taddonio, chief executive officer, and Kristy Taddonio Mullins, president, decided to create a new bakery to handle the company’s growing food service business, they chose a brownfield site, a former beer distributor’s warehouse adjacent to Mile Hi’s existing campus. Making the new bakery as environmentally sustainable as possible, they put LEED Gold Certification at the top of their priority list.
Energy usage played a key role in accomplishing this goal. Mile Hi’s new plant team, led by bakery directors Bryan Sanchez and Paul Chan, worked with Xcel on several energy usage projects. One of these was implementation of an interruptible service option credit program. Another involved an energy consultation that rated the new facility.
