As part of our product life-cycle assessments, we measured our GHG emissions and learned that the carbon embedded in PET resin, which is the material used to make most of our plastic bottles, accounts for 55% of our GHG emissions. This validated our earlier efforts to reduce the amount of plastic in our bottles, which led to our first-of-its-kind Eco-Shape® half-liter bottle. Moving to this lighter weight bottle, and improving on it since then, has resulted in a 12% total reduction, or 260 metric tons, of GHG emissions since 2005.
We continue to make progress toward our goal of reducing 20% of our carbon intensity by 2013 across our value chain. At the end of 2009, we had reduced carbon intensity by 15% based on 2006 figures. Carbon intensity refers to the amount of CO2 emissions relative to production volume. Our efforts include:
- Initiatives to lightweight all aspects of our packaging. (See Assessing our footprint and using less material)
- Operating nine LEED-certified bottling facilities. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a certification standard of the U.S. Green Building Council. (In these facilities, we reduced our energy use by 1.5 million kWh, carbon emissions by 2.1 million lbs, water use by 9 million gallons, and waste by 216 million lbs.)
- Achieving LEED silver certification for our new headquarters in Stamford, Conn. We added an employee shuttle to encourage use of public transportation, parking spaces for low-emission vehicles, and a white roof to reduce use of heating and air conditioning, among other LEED elements.
- Introducing hydrogen fuel cell forklifts and hybrid trucks in our manufacturing facilities.
- NWNA produces an average of 98% of our bottles on site, saving approximately 6.6 million gallons of fuel and preventing 67,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.
Read about our progress against goals set in 2008 on LEED and ISO 14001 certification and environmental impacts of our home and office delivery operations.
We have already pursued the obvious opportunities to reduce our energy use, which means future reductions will likely be achieved incrementally. The challenge will lie in identifying ways to reduce carbon emissions as we expand the footprint of our business.
The higher costs associated with using most types of renewable energy makes implementation on an enterprisewide basis cost-prohibitive at this time. As new technologies are advanced and the market for alternative energy expands, we are hopeful that the costs will decrease and investment in these energy sources will open up many possibilities. In the meantime, we are exploring renewable energy at select sites, such as the installation of solar panels we are currently undertaking in our Allentown, Pennsylvania, plant.
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Case Study – Hybrid Home and Office Delivery Trucks
Since November 2008, our Home and Office division has operated 14 Diesel-Electric Hybrid (DEH) delivery trucks, which result in a 25%-30% improvement in fuel economy and contribute to our carbon reduction efforts. In the summer of 2009, we were invited to participate in the first “Hybrid on the Hill” event in Washington, D.C., where we displayed one of our hybrid trucks. The event, coordinated by CALSTART, an organization dedicated to the growth of the clean transportation technologies industry, showcased 17 hybrid technology medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
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Case Study – LEED-Certified Buildings
In 2003, our Michigan plant was one of the first U.S. industrial plants of any kind to earn LEED certification and, seven years later, we now have nine plants with more LEED-certified manufacturing space than any beverage company in the U.S. Since our last report, we have received LEED certification for four of our facilities:
- Dallas, Texas (Silver rating, 2009)
- Kingfield, Maine (Gold rating, 2009)
- Breinigsville, Pennsylvania (Gold rating, 2009)
- Hollis, Maine (Silver rating, 2009)
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Some characteristics of LEED-certified beverage plants include the use of nontoxic building materials and maintenance, a design that enables water efficiency, better mechanisims for waste reduction, minimal impact exterior lighting, and constructed wetlands on-site.
