The Greening of Pharma

By Heidi Parsons, Managing Editor On behalf of and for use by the Energy Star Program, Boyd has developed indices like this for automotive assembly and cement manufacturing, as well as other sectors. “Energy management is about measuring. You don’t manage what you don’t measure,” he points out. This is the third year that the Energy Star Program has been working with pharmaceutical manufacturers to gather and analyze data. Energy Star’s Tunnessen says group members are performing a final “reality check” on the EPI in their facilities, and he expects to be able to release the tool this summer. “Then, after a year or two, we’ll probably revise it again,” Tunnessen remarks. Boyd explains that up to now, the companies that have submitted data to be analyzed for the purpose of developing the EPI are larger, branded pharma manufacturers and the data is primarily from smallmolecule drugmaking operations. “As more companies [with different types of facilities] come on board, and the people using the index raise issues about its applicability to their particular situations, we’ll need to make revisions,” which is fine with him, he says, because the more specific and granular the data, the more the tool can be adjusted to maximize its usefulness. “The most interesting problems are never the easy ones,” Boyd muses. He says the Energy Star Program has, as yet, had little success in attracting “more strictly manufacturing-focused” companies — contract manufacturers, that is — into the mix. Neither are many biologics manufacturing operations represented, nor any foreign facilities (however, plants that are located in Puerto Rico but owned by U.S.-based companies are included). Whereas Big Pharma companies can be guarded about revealing manufacturing-related information in some contexts, Boyd notes that energy efficiency is a significant exception. “Big Pharma energy managers don’t have ‘club secrets,’” he