Ford cuts energy use by 22% - Sustainability Report

Decreased energy consumption during vehicle manufacturing is just one highlight of Ford's annual Sustainability Report. The report is a comprehensive showcase of the company's efforts to tackle a myriad of sustainability challenges in a rapidly changing world. Other successful initiatives featured include reductions in water use, waste-to-landfill and CO2 emissions as well as improvements in vehicle fuel economy and safety.

"Sustainability has moved from the periphery to the centre of our strategy for succeeding in the marketplace and helping to address global challenges," said Robert Brown, vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering at Ford.

Less waste to landfills

Environmental reduction in energy consumption is just one result of Ford's focus on minimising the environmental impact of the vehicles it produces and the facilities where they are made. Each Ford facility uses measured environmental targets to track and accelerate improvements designed with the environment in mind. The targets are reviewed and updated annually.

In addition to its commitment to further reducing energy consumption, Ford also reduced the total amount of waste sent to landfills globally by 11.3% percent from 2010 to 2011; plans to further reduce its waste to landfill by 10% per vehicle this year; and reduced CO2 emissions from global operations in 2011 by 8% on a per-vehicle basis compared with 2010.

Electricity usage is monitored

"Integration of our sustainability initiatives into the Ford production system has enabled us to accelerate environmental improvements at our manufacturing facilities," said Andy Hobbs, director of environmental quality. "This enables all members of the Ford manufacturing team to contribute to meeting our environmental targets."

Ford has also made great strides in innovative energy reduction initiatives at its Silverton assembly plant, east of Pretoria. In the past, Ford relied entirely on the electricity billing information provided by the municipality. This meant there was no means of identifying departments that consumed more electricity than others, making it difficult to drive an effective energy saving programme.

In order to combat these challenges, Ford introduced the Departmental Electricity Metering and Monitoring System which became fully operational from October 2011. The system allows Ford to monitor real-time electricity usage by department and plot usage trends over extended periods.