
Managing Our Energy Usage
We are committed to successfully managing our energy use, adopting efficiency measures, and conserving energy across our asset footprint through implementation of best practices at our offices and facilities, as well as in our field operations, which we believe position us to minimize our carbon footprint, control costs, and contribute to a Company culture that values decreasing environmental impacts.
For our office facilities, we are committed to reducing our environmental impact as it relates to energy consumption across our owned and leased properties. Our LEED-certified Senior Operations and Maintenance Sustainability Manager directs these efforts, as we proactively evaluate strategies and continuously seek opportunities to reduce energy consumption. To minimize energy usage, we use online applications to set optimal lighting levels and manage the motion sensor sensitivity of facility lights. We also utilize centralized temperature controls, computer monitor sleep modes, and an extensive preventive maintenance program to quickly address energy consumption issues. In our owned facilities, we installed energy efficient LED lighting that uses up to 75% less energy than comparable fluorescent bulbs. We regularly evaluate new approaches to optimize and reduce our energy consumption from our facilities, such as replacing older redundant HVAC systems and older boiler units with newer, more efficient units. As the majority of our office-based employees are working remotely, all office HVAC systems are used only when necessary, and lighting levels have been lowered in vacant areas to reduce electricity consumption.
At our field operations, many of our compressor stations along our pipelines generate their own power, utilizing the available natural gas at the site. By generating energy directly from the available natural gas, rather than from gasoline- or diesel-powered generators that require separate fuel deliveries, we are able to more efficiently power our field operations. In 2021, we continued to investigate opportunities to generate cleaner, on-site energy to minimize our environmental impact.
To expand upon the solar panel installations constructed in 2020, we are also installing “solar flowers” at select locations with optimal site characteristics. Solar flowers are solar units shaped as a flower that are designed to rotate toward the direction of the sun to optimize energy generation. In 2021, we installed one additional solar flower at a rectifier, bringing our total to four; and we are investigating future sites at which to install additional units. Further, we are investigating opportunities to partner with a power company to generate electricity at our stations by recovering and using waste heat from compressor equipment.

Evaluating Our Approach to Energy Management
Equitrans collects data on our office energy consumption to assess the benefits resulting from our energy management procedures. We analyze our energy data to identify areas where we may decrease consumption through innovative management techniques and technological improvements. Energy conservation is important to Equitrans, and we will continue to pursue advances in this area to ensure that we are doing our part to protect the environment.
In 2021, our Senior Operations and Maintenance Sustainability Manager worked to decrease energy use at office locations by changing settings to maintain a pleasant working environment for employees, while also ensuring that our facilities were running efficiently from an energy conservation standpoint. As an ongoing energy management practice, we continue to change lighting and HVAC schedules to save energy wherever feasible. With the modifications that were implemented, and including the closing of one office and space reduction at another, our office building network as a whole used less energy during 2021, relative to 2020.
While there was a decrease in office electricity consumption in 2021, the majority of electricity consumed by the Company is for our field operations. Operational electricity consumption, and thus Companywide electricity consumption, increased in 2021 due to the addition of 14 new electricity accounts associated with the installation of rectifiers used for cathodic protection and connecting part of an existing station to the electric grid for the purchase of electricity, which is produced more efficiently versus using on-site generators.
Internal Energy Consumption (Gigajoules)1
|
20202
|
2021 |
Electricity Consumption
|
119,478
|
137,160 |
Heating Consumption
|
5,230
|
7,380 |
Cooling Consumption
|
4,127
|
4,127 |
Non-Renewable Sources: Total Consumption
|
128,835
|
148,667 |
Renewable Sources: Total Consumption
|
-
|
10.1 |