“We have a collective responsibility to reduce energy consumption,” according to Hugo Hendriks, Director of Services at Brightlands Chemelot Campus. “Working on sustainability and circularity is in our DNA, and we need to take advantage of each other’s ideas and expertise.” At the same time, he believes Brightlands is too modest about communicating what is already happening.
Hugo Hendriks started working at Brightlands Chemelot Campus three years ago. At the time, his initial focus was on the services Brightlands provides as part of the leases at the campus. Due in part to rapidly rising prices, his attention quickly shifted to utilities.
Deposits and rates thrown off balance
“We source a lot of our energy through USG or DSM and supply this to our tenants,” Hendriks says. “Last year, we saw how the advance energy invoices and the actual costs started getting thrown way off balance. Since then, prices have been a regular topic of discussion during community board meetings held between Brightlands Chemelot Campus and representatives of the tenants at the campus.”
Just start
“Sometimes it’s hard to get everyone enthusiastic about new, large-scale projects when investments are involved,” Hendriks says. “To avoid debate about cost-sharing and delays, we decided as a campus to just start. If we will have saved a million by the end of the year, it will be easier to decide how we are going to divide 200,000 in costs.”
Enthusiastic reactions
In February, Brightlands Chemelot Campus announced that Energica’s Jozef Hurenkamp was working as an external specialist to get serious about savings for both the short- and long term. The contents of the plans and recommendations were shared with the community board in March. Hendriks: “Everyone was enthusiastic. People think what we do is not only logical, but also important. All of the tenants understand the importance of taking action.”
‘The numbers provided by suppliers show us effects that are a reasonably close match to the mathematical models. It looks good’
Working on numerical insight
The first real results will be visible soon. Right now, a lot of the work is still based on calculations, but the first signs are promising, Hendriks says. “The numbers provided by suppliers show us effects that are a reasonably close match to the mathematical models. It looks good.”
Ideas are welcome
Of course, all good, additional ideas are welcome, Hendriks emphasizes. “Our CEO Bert Kip also calls for this during the monthly Directors Community Breakfast Meetings. We are considering the suggestions we receive. We examine all new ideas to determine whether or not they are feasible. A few have already been put into practice, such as turning down the building lights at night, but there are also interesting new ideas. For example, whether we can transport residual heat from a factory at Chemelot to the campus or use our parking lots for solar panels. Other examples include applying sun and heat-reflective films which our customers have developed using their own innovative applications.”
‘We really need to show that the energy we invest is paying off’
Even if prices do go back down, attention remains high
Hendriks doesn’t believe the genie will ever get put back into the bottle when it comes to energy conservation, not even if prices eventually drop again. “Our customers are constantly working on sustainability, so as a campus we also should set a good example. I think it would be fantastic to find a way to work together on this. The high energy prices serve as a catalyst now, but working on sustainability and circularity is in our DNA. It’s actually a matter of principle.” Take waste processing, for example. “It would be nice if we could use plastic waste from the campus as a raw material in one of our customers’ pilot plants. We want to make our own waste circular, even if it’s only a small stream.”
Campus too modest for too long
Hendriks does feel however that Brightlands is too modest in terms of putting its own sustainability efforts in the limelight. “We actually don’t talk about it enough. What we do do well is promote our customers’ success and innovations,” he adds. “We’ve been buying green energy since 2019, even though we’re not obligated to do so. Or consider the fact that since the campus was founded, energy consumption has been cut in half. This is what Jozef Hurenkamp of Energica’s research has shown. So you can see what I mean; hardly anyone at the campus knew this.”
Confidence in the joint approach
Hendriks has confidence in the joint efforts Brightlands Chemelot Campus and its tenants are making. “We are going to actively share the numbers at the campus, how much we are saving, how much we have reduced our CO2 footprint and so on. We really need to show that the energy we invest in these efforts is paying off. And that if everyone is aware of how they can personally save or reduce their footprint, we can make huge strides together. We’re really going to work on this together.”
