Office Hours Recording: Ch 5 & 6

In this Office Hours webinar, we were joined by Kevin Bargetto of Center of Effort and Gregory Gonzalez of Coastal Vineyard Care Associates to go over two SIP Certified chapters:

• Ch 5: Water Conservation and Quality
• Ch 6: Energy Conservation and Efficiency

 

Summary & Resources

Introduction

• 2024 SIP Certified Standards
• Required Questions Only
• Photos List

Chapter 6

* Requirements

• 6.1.1: Do you have an energy use assessment addressing the following (a PG&E energy use assessment or equivalent qualifies) and compare energy use annually?
  • Analyze your assessments for time of use. Consider how you can offset equipment run-time (pumps, chillers) and/or add timers.
  • Analyze historical trends. Are you improving your efficiency year over year?

• 6.1.3: Does your shop/office policy include:

Energy efficient light bulbs
Automatic sensors
Natural lighting
Other

• Skylights and large windows bring in natural light, reducing electricity use for lighting.
• Energy-efficient bulbs can be phased in if total replacement is not in the budget.

• 6.1.4: Are light duty jobs done with All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) instead of tractors or trucks?
  • ATVs and electric golf carts can be used in the vineyard instead of large trucks.
  • Electric tractors can be used for mowing, night-harvesting, etc.
    • This equipment can be powered by the sun if solar harvesting is available.
• 6.1.5: Do you use grazing animals within your vineyard or buffer zones to reduce mechanical workload?
  • Bringing in g​​​​​razing animals for weed control:
    • Reduces the need for chemical herbicides.
    • Reduces tractor run-time and diesel emissions.
• 6.1.6: Are irrigation applications occurring off peak when energy demand is at its lowest?
  • Pumps are one of a vineyard's largest energy needs. Addressing time of use for pumps can be the biggest bang for your buck.
• 6.1.9: Is there a lead employee responsible for reviewing each energy bill to address unusual reporting?; &
  6.1.10: Have you explored ways to reduce energy use at peak load times?
  • These two go hand-in-hand, and are a great opportunity to grab ME points!
• *6.2.1: The chiller system must be designed and sized appropriately for your winery.
  • Can be difficult, as an installation professional may be necessary.
• *6.2.2: You must employ measures to reduce chiller loads (e.g. building and tank insulation, night air cooling, off-peak evaporative cooling).
  • Knowing your peak-period with your energy provider is an asset here.
  • Example: Center of Effort set their chillers to kick on at a slightly higher temperature during their peak hours, thus reducing run-time during peak hours.
• *6.2.3: You must inspect your refrigeration system weekly and keep inspection logs when in use.
  • Be sure everything is working properly and stay on top of maintenance.
  • Kevin notes that one of the great things about SIP Certified is that it requires a watchful eye across all equipment. With diligent and regular inspections, issues can be caught before they get out of hand and break down or turn into large expenses.
• *6.3.3: Tanks must be inspected for coolant leaks and leaks must be recorded and promptly repaired.
  • Another benefit of SIP Certified is it helps you address lingering issues.
  • Kevin shares a story about a persistent, small leak in the winery. When the team decided to pursue certification, they were forced to take a deeper look and repair the leak to meet this Requirement. They put UV dye in their glycol, turned off all of the lights, and used a special flashlight to eventually find the source: a small, pinhole leak in the back of a tank. They made the repairs, and haven't had leaks since!
  • Center of Effort uses UpKeep, a maintenance software that puts everything on a timed checklist so their team knows when and what to do to keep up on their equipment.
• 6.3.5: Do you utilize an alternative method of cold stabilization (i.e. electro dialysis, mannoproteins, or carboxymethyl-cellulose products)?
  • If Center of Effort drops their house glycol down, their energy demand spikes. So they switched to using CMC-based products as a way to move around from traditional cold-stabilization and mitigate the excessive energy use.
• *6.5.1: Air compressors must be sized correctly and provide your winery with efficient and optimal performance.
  • Consider investing in energy-efficient compressors that only run when there's a demand for air.
    • These can also be put on cycle-timers to run during off-peak periods.
• *6.5.1: You must reduce heating and cooling loads by utilizing at least four of the following:

Building/tank/pipe insulation
Temperature controlled cellars
Louvered ventilation panels
Timed automatic door openers
Insulated doors/roll-up doors
Strip doors/high-speed roll-up doors
Weather stripping

• Timed automatic roll-up doors are a great way to keep the cellar temperature stable when forklift traffic is high.

• *6.6.1: At least 50 percent of electric lighting must be from energy-efficient bulbs (e.g. LED).
  • When replacing bulbs, remember all rooms: winery, hospitality spaces, offices, etc.
• *6.7.1: All temperature controlled rooms, including office and hospitality spaces, must have functioning thermostats that are programmed to conserve energy.
  • Program to run during off-peak hours.
• *6.7.2: Heating and cooling jackets must be turned off when tanks are not in use.
  • Center of Effort uses TankNET, a software that offers insight into every tank that is on/off.
• 6.7.4: Do you have on-demand hot water heater(s) at point of use locations?
  • Energy-efficient models are available.
  • Center of Effort uses multiple energy-efficient models throughout the cellar - this reduces waste in getting the hot water where it needs to go.
• 6.8.1: Do you use renewable energy sources including solar, wind, or other alternative power for a portion of your energy needs?
  • Center of Effort's tasting room and winery are 100% powered by the sun! Read their Sustainable Story here.

Chapter 5

* Requirements

• Overview of Chapter 5 & Water-Use Efficiency
  • SIP Certified prompts growers think of water as a precious resource rather than just another expense.
  • Chapter 5 offers growers opportunities to make small investigations that lead to massive results.
    • Tracking and analyzing data sets the foundation for discovering opportunities to conserve and enhance water-use efficiency.
  • Greg Gonzalez notes that when a grower wants to make improvements, they must first understand their systems.
    • He gives an example: a grower may want to be more efficient with their irrigation scheduling, but find themselves limited by their system. While they may want to implement a schedule of two four-hour sets, their system efficiency necessitates one eight-hour set to meet total water requirements. If the grower understands their water needs (*5.3.1, *5.3.2), tracks their pumping (5.2.11), conducts well pump (*6.4.1, 6.4.4) and distribution uniformity tests (*5.2.1, 5.2.7), and analyzes all of this data, they can start to identify where system improvements can be made.
• SIP Certified offers Regulatory Relief for growers in Regional Water Quality Control Board Region 3 in Ag Order 4.0.
  • Responses across several of the Standards chapters go into our ability to provide this regulatory relief, and most can be found here in Chapter 5.
• *5.9.1: Tanks and transfer lines must be cleaned and sanitized using a known quantity of water.
  • ​​​​​​​Center of Effort made informational sheets for their staff detailing the amount of water, chemicals, to use for each different tank size. With this process, they standardized their water-use for these cleaning tasks.
• *5.9.2: Water for cleaning must be applied using a high-pressure/low-volume nozzle fitted with a shut-off valve.
  • ​​​​​​​Using nozzles and/or pressure washers can save a significant amount of water in a short amount of time.
• *5.10.1: You must pre-clean crush operations, equipment and floors using brushes, push brooms and/or squeegees in a timely fashion to prevent grape material from drying on equipment surfaces before wash-down.
  • This should be included in team trainings on cleaning protocol.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​