Weyerhaeuser: Compressed Air System Improvement Saves Energy and Improves Production at a Sawmill (Revised)

In 2000, Weyerhaeuser Company, a U.S. Department of Energy Allied Partner in the Industrial Technologies Program, increased the efficiency of the compressed air system at its sawmill facility in Coburg, Oregon. This improved the system's performance and will save about 1.3 million kWh annually. Total project costs were $55,000; because annual energy cost savings were also $55,000, the simplepayback period was only 1 year. Subsequent improvements at six other company plants and mills are yielding 6.8 million kWh in energy savings and reducing annual energy costs by $250,000.