ABBOTT PARK, IL — Fuel switching and a shift to renewable energy allowed health care company Abbott to cut its coal and oil consumption by 15 percent last year across its global operations, relative to 2006 levels.
When normalized against sales, which have grown since 2006, the decline in the company’s coal and oil use is even greater: a 35 percent reduction.
Abbott made the announcement this week, revealing that it has already exceeded its 2011 goals for purchased electricity and fossil fuel use three years ahead of schedule. The company planned a 12 percent decline in both overall electricity purchases and fossil fuel consumption, relative to 2006 baselines and normalized to sales.
In 2008, Abbott bought 11 percent fewer megawatts of electricity in absolute terms, or a 32 percent reduction when normalized against sales.
The company attributes its successes to several initiatives. They include the introduction of more energy efficient equipment, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, new lighting retrofits at facilities in Casa Grande, Ariz., and Des Plaines, Ill., and variable frequency drives in available equipment to ensure minimal power use.
Abbott also invested in onsite green power generation, including rooftop solar power installations at commercial offices and manufacturing plants in Temecula, Calif., Delkenheim, Germany, Campoverde, Italy and Ludwigshafen, Germany.
The Delkenheim and Campoverde pharmaceutical facilities also use energy supplied by onsite co-generation systems that both generate electricity and reuse waste heat to make steam. The Campoverde site sources 85 percent of its electricity from its co-generation system.
An additional 10 major energy savings projects are scheduled annually at existing Abbott sites to further drive energy use reductions.
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