Danfoss has become a charter member of the Save Energy Now® LEADER program, a new U.S. Department of Energy program providing technical assistance and resources to companies that pledge significant improvements in industrial energy efficiency.
The announcement was made Dec. 2 at a special ceremony at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. Robert Wilkins, president of Danfoss North America, signed a voluntary pledge that Danfoss will reduce its industrial energy intensity by 25 percent over the next decade.
Charter members must also establish energy use and energy intensity baselines, and develop an energy management plan over the next 12 months. In return, charter members will receive access to select DOE resources as well as national recognition for energy management achievements.
“We’re excited about participating in the Save Energy Now program,” Wilkins said. “Danfoss has been a proponent of environmental sustainability for 76 years, so this recognition is a perfect match with our core mission and values. All of our facilities worldwide are ISO14001 certified, and we continue to invest in those facilities to achieve aggressive energy reduction strategies.”
Danfoss is one of 32 charter members of the Save Energy Now program. Others include such industry giants as 3M, AT&T, Honeywell and Nissan North America.
“These companies’ commitments to energy efficiency not only generate significant energy and carbon savings, but also show the entire business community the profitable steps that can be taken to move us all toward a clean energy future,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “Working together with American manufacturers, we will leverage the potential of energy efficiency to create new jobs, make our economy more competitive and reduce carbon pollution.”
The U.S. industrial sector accounts for more than 18 million jobs in the United States, as well as nearly 30 percent of the energy used nationwide and 27 percent of the country’s carbon emissions. The Obama Administration has made major commitments to improving energy efficiency as a path toward enhancing energy security and strengthening the American economy, including more than $250 million in Recovery Act investments to improve the efficiency of the industrial and information technology sectors.
The LEADER program is a new component of the existing and successful Save Energy Now initiative through which companies partner with DOE to conduct energy audits and assessments designed to identify the opportunities for energy and cost savings in the companies’ operations. Participating businesses also have access to tools and training to implement recommendations designed to help reduce their energy use and lower operating costs. Over 2,000 plants received energy assessments through Save Energy Now from 2006 to 2009. To date, those assessments have identified opportunities for $1.3 billion in identified cost savings, 119 trillion Btu of natural gas savings, and 11.2 million metric tons of CO2 savings.
The 32 LEADER companies are:
• 3M (St. Paul, MN)
• AT&T (Dallas, TX)
• BPM, Inc. (Peshtigo, WI)
• Bridgestone (McMinnville, TN)
• Briggs & Stratton (Wauwatosa, WI)
• Cummins, Inc. (Columbus, IN)
• Danfoss (Baltimore, MD)
• Didion Milling (Johnson Creek, WI)
• The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, MI)
• Flambeau River Papers (Park Falls, WI)
• Honeywell (Morristown, NJ)
• Ingersoll Rand/Trane (Piscataway, NJ)
• Intel (Santa Clara, CA)
• JR Simplot (Boise, ID)
• Manitowoc Grey Iron Foundry (Manitowoc, WI)
• Mohawk Industries (Dalton, GA)
• Neenah Foundry (Neenah, WI)
• Nissan North America (Smyrna, TN)
• Osram Sylvania (Danvers, MA)
• Owens Corning (Toledo, OH)
• PPG Industries (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Quad/Graphics, Inc. (Sussex, WI)
• Schneider Electric (Palatine, IL)
• Serious Materials (Sunnyvale, CA)
• Shaw Industries (Dalton, GA)
• Sherwin-Williams, Richmond (Richmond, KY)
• Spirax Sarco, Inc. (Blythewood, SC)
• Thilmany Papers (Kaukauna, WI)
• ThyssenKrupp Waupaca (Waupaca, WI)
• United Technologies Corp. (Hartford, CT)
• Verso Paper (Memphis, TN)
• Volvo Trucks, Inc. (Dublin, VA)