Making raw milk into cheese, yogurt and drinking milk requires energy.

But since well before it was fashionable to think about energy efficiency, dairy companies have been focused on cutting the amount of heat and power they use.

After more than a decade of intensive restructuring since the demise of the state-run Milk Marketing Board, the UK now boasts one of the most efficient and up-to-date milk processing sectors in the world.

The term super-dairy has been coined to describe sites capable of processing more than 300 million litres of milk each year. Smaller, older or less efficient plants have been replaced. Dairy suppliers are increasingly positioned for seamless interaction with supermarket and food service distribution depots, and for supplying milk direct to outlets in major urban centres.

The focus now is on optimising plant performance to improve energy efficiency, and some startling gains have been made over the past five years.