Why Most Commercial Laundries Are Paying More for Energy Than They Need To

Every commercial laundry operator is feeling the pressure of rising operating costs. Labour remains a major challenge, utilities continue to fluctuate, and customers still expect the same quality and turnaround times.

When margins tighten, the natural response is often to look at major capital projects – a new boiler, electrification, heat pumps or the latest processing equipment.

But after working with industrial facilities across Australia and New Zealand, including commercial laundries, I’ve found that some of the biggest improvements in operational performance and profitability usually come long before those investments are made.

They come from understanding where energy is being wasted.

Commercial laundries are highly energy-intensive operations. Boilers, steam systems, hot water, dryers, tunnel washers and finishing equipment all consume significant amounts of energy every day.

Steam systems typically account for 50% to 75% of a commercial laundry’s total energy consumption.

Yet it’s common for operators to know exactly how many kilograms they process each shift without having the same visibility over where their energy is actually going.

That’s where opportunities are often hiding.

In many laundries, energy losses don’t come from one major failure. They build quietly over time through dozens of small inefficiencies that gradually become accepted as normal operating practice.

Steam traps fail without being noticed. Boiler controls drift away from their optimum settings. Condensate isn’t recovered as efficiently as it could be. Dryers continue running after linen is already dry. Compressed air systems develop leaks. Equipment starts early, finishes late, or runs during periods when production has slowed.

None of these issues are dramatic on their own.

Together, they can represent a significant and ongoing cost to the business.

In our experience, failed or poorly maintained steam traps alone can account for energy losses of 5% to 10% in a typical laundry operation.

The Australian Government’s energy efficiency guidance identifies process heat, steam systems and waste heat recovery as some of the largest opportunities for industrial businesses to improve energy performance. It notes that as much as 80% of energy lost as heat in manufacturing processes can be cost-effectively recovered and reused.

For commercial laundries, that creates a significant opportunity because heat is central to almost every stage of the operation.

Rather than immediately asking, “What new technology should we buy?”, I encourage operators to ask a different question: “Are we getting everything we can from the equipment we already own?”

Some of the highest-value opportunities we regularly see include:

• Optimising boiler performance and steam generation
• Improving steam distribution and condensate return
• Recovering heat from wastewater, exhaust air and ironing systems
• Matching washer, dryer and finishing equipment schedules more closely to production demand
• Identifying compressed air leaks and unnecessary utility loads
• Using metering and operational data to understand where energy is actually being consumed

Across the laundry and linen services facilities we have worked with, operational improvements of this kind have consistently delivered energy savings of between 20% and 30% – without a single dollar of capital investment.

These aren’t just energy initiatives. They’re operational improvements that reduce waste, improve plant performance and strengthen profitability without compromising throughput or customer service.

Only once those fundamentals are in place does it make sense to evaluate larger investments such as electrification, high-temperature heat pumps, thermal energy storage or renewable energy integration.

Those technologies are becoming increasingly important for commercial laundries. In fact, projects now underway in Australia and New Zealand are demonstrating how heat recovery, electrification, smart load management and real-time energy monitoring can reshape the next generation of industrial laundry operations.

But even the most advanced technology delivers a better return when it’s built on an efficient operation.

One question I often ask management teams is simple: “If your energy costs increased by another 20% next year, would you know exactly where to act first?”

Many businesses couldn’t answer that confidently.

For a mid-sized commercial laundry operation, a structured energy review can identify savings of $50k to $100k per year on average.

The operators who consistently improve profitability are rarely the ones chasing every new technology. They’re the ones who understand their energy systems, measure performance, remove waste and make investment decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions.

In today’s market, energy is no longer just another overhead. It’s an operational asset that deserves the same level of attention as labour, production and quality.

The commercial laundries that recognise that shift today will be the ones best placed to compete tomorrow.