DuPont Cuts Energy Consumption 8%- For Starters

DuPont's Corporate Energy Leadership Team (CELT) faced adifficult challenge at its inception in 1991-reducing the industrygiant's $900 million annual domestic en ergy bill. Seven later ,DuPont 's annual energy costs are down to $800 million, and energyconsumption has shrunk by more than 8%. And the team is on tracktoward future reduction goals.Headed by Daniel J . Logan, Conoco Power's Southern EnergyAsset Team director , CELT is a network of about 30 employees fromall ar eas of DuPont who volunteer their knowledge, skills and timetoward attainment of energy excellence. Supported by upp er manage-ment , the group uses persuasion rather than mandates to further itsobjectives .Key to persuading the company was the team 's 1992 JumpStart commitment to reduce out-of-pocket energy expenditures im-mediately . "We said, 'Over a four-month peri od, we're going to save$6 million out-of-pock et on energy costs.' That was our goal ," Logansa ys . "We actually ended up doubling that . We saved over $12 mil-lion ."The gr eatest savings- 26% of the total- came from shuttingdown spare or unne eded equipment . Equipm ent tune-ups to improveperformance and renegotiation of fuel contracts also lowered energycost s.