Ford Reduces Global Energy Consumption

Operational energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are inextricably linked. The majority of our facilities' energy comes from fossil fuel sources, hence operational energy use is an important source of our companywide GHG emissions. Our efforts to reduce energy use and increase the use of renewable energy are also part of our strategy to reduce our GHG emissions and overall climate impacts.

Ford has reduced global energy consumption by 44 percent since 2000 and reduced energy consumption per vehicle by 17.7 percent during the same period. In 2009, Ford improved energy efficiency in its North American operations by 4.6 percent, resulting in savings of approximately $15 million. We measure energy efficiency in North America using our Energy Efficiency Index.1 To drive continued progress, we have set targets to improve our facility energy efficiency by 3 percent globally and 3 percent in North America in 2010.

Ford Worldwide Facility Energy Consumption

We reduced our total facilities-related carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 50 percent, or 4.8 million metric tons, from 2000 to 2009. During this same period, we reduced facilities-related CO2 emissions per vehicle by 27 percent. We have set a target to reduce our North American facility GHG emissions by 6 percent between 2000 and 2010 as part of our Chicago Climate Exchange commitment. The Company has also committed to reduce U.S. facility emissions by 10 percent per vehicle produced between 2002 and 2012, as part of an Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers program. Ford has already achieved a target to reduce absolute emissions from UK operations by 5 percent over the 2002–2006 timeframe, based on an average 1998–2000 baseline.

The EPA and U.S. Department of Energy again recognized Ford's energy-efficiency achievements by awarding us a 2010 Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award, which recognizes Ford's continued leadership and commitment to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. This is Ford's fifth consecutive year winning this prestigious award. The Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award requires organizations to demonstrate proficiency through the management of projects and programs, data collection and analysis, and communication actions, including community outreach and active participation in Energy Star industry forums. Among the achievements recognized by the award is a 30 percent improvement in the energy efficiency of Ford's U.S. facilities since 2000, equivalent to the amount of energy consumed by 110,000 homes.

Since 2007, we have been using a utility metering and monitoring system to collect incoming electricity and natural gas consumption data for all Ford plants in North America. We use this near-real-time information to create energy-use profiles for all Ford facilities and to improve decisions about nonproduction shutdowns and load shedding, which involves shutting down certain pre-arranged electric loads or devices when we reach an upper threshold of electric usage. During 2009, this metering and monitoring system was essential in helping us to minimize energy use during extended production slowdowns and production shutdowns. By using this tool and other best practices, Ford's manufacturing facilities reached record lows in energy use.

Ford continues to use energy performance contracting as a financing tool to upgrade and replace infrastructure at its plants, commercial buildings and research facilities. Through these contracts, Ford partners with suppliers to replace inefficient equipment, funding the capital investment over time through energy savings. Projects have been implemented to upgrade inefficient lighting systems, paint-booth process equipment and compressed air systems, and to significantly reduce the use of steam in our manufacturing facilities. Since 2000, Ford has invested more than $220 million in plant and facility energy-efficiency upgrades.

Ford has also established a three-year global effort to consolidate and redesign its data centers using best practices identified by the DOE and EPA's Energy Star program. First, we are consolidating data centers to dramatically reduce the number of managed facilities and their total energy demand. By the end of 2010, we will have consolidated 20 existing centers into just six, a reduction of 70 percent. We are also "virtualizing" 2,000 servers into just 100 physical servers. These consolidations will result in a 90 percent reduction in power needs and a 95 percent reduction in cooling needs.

During this process we are changing the layout of our remaining data centers to maximize their energy efficiency. By directing conditioned air into equipment racks as opposed to cooling entire server rooms, expensive chilled air is used much more efficiently, and the load on building cooling equipment is reduced. We have also developed and implemented global data center design specifications, so that all new and remodeled data centers will meet high energy-efficiency standards. This three-year data center initiative is projected to yield $35 million in operational cost efficiencies.

In 2010, we implemented a PC power management system to power down all of our desktop and notebook computers at night. The system, which is based on the NightWatchman® software application from 1E, overcomes many barriers of other power-down systems by allowing overnight data processing as needed, integrating power management and software delivery, and allowing custom power management solutions. We predict that this program will reduce our annual energy costs by $1.2 million and our annual CO2 emissions by 16,000 to 25,000 metric tons.

We have implemented a network-controlled system on plant air compressors in our powertrain and vehicle assembly plants. This industry best-in-class system significantly reduces energy consumption by improving the operational efficiency of large, centralized air compressors. It allows for the real-time collection of key performance data through an enterprise-wide, web-based data management tool. This data is then used to determine the overall efficiency of each system and identify savings opportunities. The savings opportunity reports are sent to plant managers, who can then initiate corrective actions. The system also allows for remote troubleshooting of the equipment, which can extend equipment life and reduce maintenance costs. The system is also being used for remote operation of equipment at select facilities. As of January 2010, we had installed these systems at 29 plants on 181 compressors.

In Europe, our Dagenham facility has reduced its electricity usage per engine manufactured by 12 percent over the past two years. This improvement was achieved by decreasing the use of energy-intense operations, such as the generation of compressed air for handheld tools on the production line. In addition, high-energy use equipment was scientifically optimized on Dagenham's new engine manufacturing lines. This equipment requires 70 percent less energy per engine than was used on the existing lines. In 2007, Dagenham won national awards from two organizations – Business Commitment to the Environment and Business in the Community – for the facility's CO2 reductions, energy efficiency efforts and other environmental actions.

Source: http://corporate.ford.com/

March 2011