VAN NUYS, CA — Aspire Bakeries unveiled the addition of Bloom Fuel Cells to its Van Nuys, CA bakery on Nov. 10. with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Tyson Yu, CEO of Aspire, was joined by bakery team members and Billy Brooks from project partner Bloom Energy.
The project, which has been in the works since 2019, will reduce demand on the greater Los Angeles grid since 75% of the bakery’s electricity is now generated by the on-site fuel cells, which utilize an electrochemical process to convert natural gas into electricity.
“The output of our new Bloom Fuel Cells is extremely low CO2 emissions, resulting in the equivalent of removing 140 cars off the road every year, and virtually no smog-forming particulate emissions that cause air pollution,” said Ashley Hoover, director of corporate responsibility and sustainability, Aspire Bakeries. “This benefits the local community and our planet.”
Hoover shared that Bloom served as a comprehensive partner on the shared savings project and managed the implementation of the project.
In addition to reduced demand on the grid, Hoover shared other benefits to the integration of the fuel cells into the Van Nuys operation.
“There are utility cost savings and the reliability of generating [electricity] on site,” Hoover explained. “The fuel cells also don’t combust because of the chemical reaction that’s happening in the fuel cells. So, it’s a cleaner way to generate electricity.”
The introduction of the fuel cells required the support of a cross functional team — from finance and procurement to the whole bakery team and maintenance and more.
“A lot of people came together to make this project happen,” Hoover shared, giving a nod to the support from the bakery team, which has worked with the onsite contractor and been hands-on in coordinating with Bloom. “It’s a pretty comprehensive project to install an alternative generation source on site and then hook it up to your facility and have everything go smoothly.”
This serves as the latest sustainability-oriented practice aimed at supporting Aspire’s commitment to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions 46% by 2030 from base year 2019, as outlined in its 2021 Sustainability Report. The company’s efforts have already resulted in carbon emission reductions of 11.5% since 2019, and 95% diversion of waste from landfill across its bakeries, Seven of its 14 bakeries are now zero-waste-to-landfill.
