Striving to reduce energy use and climate impacts

ABB’s mission is to help our customers to use electrical power efficiently, to increase industrial productivity and to lower environmental impact in a sustainable way. Just as we target mitigation of climate change, and energy and resource efficiency for ABB’s customers through our product and solution portfolio, we have also been working for many years to manage and reduce the impacts of our own operations.
As part of our Group-wide sustainability objective to progressively increase the efficiency of our own operations, we have set ourselves the target to reduce the energy intensity of our business by 20 percent by 2020 from a 2013 baseline. This is measured as megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy per million US dollars of sales and includes both direct fuel consumption and the use of electricity and district heating for manufacturing processes and to operate buildings.
To implement the objective, our most energy-intensive sites were required to undertake energy audits and all sites were required to develop an energy saving program. At our plants and offices, and along our value chain, actions to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions take many forms, as reported below.
Energy efficiency in operations
During 2014, we recorded a 1.6 percent improvement in the energy intensity of our operations, resulting in energy consumption of 66.02 MWh per million US dollar sales. Absolute energy consumption declined by 6 percent year on year, driven by reductions in electricity and gas consumption and a significant decrease in district heating. Approximately one-third of the absolute energy reduction was due to business divestments during 2014, which primarily impacted Group electricity and gas consumption.
Total energy use and energy intensity

A wide variety of energy savings projects were implemented across the company to achieve our 2014 result. More than 200 individual energy efficiency projects were reported across the Group, estimated to result in 34.4 GWh of energy savings.
Most commonly – and cost effectively – facilities implemented energy-efficient lighting solutions. Other activities included optimizing heating, ventilation and cooling processes, investments in more efficient equipment, investigating and optimizing compressed air systems, behavioral change programs, and implementing or updating heat recuperation from machines and processes, often using our own technology.
Energy use by type for 2014 (2013)

* Diesel consumption reported separately for the first time in 2014. Previously reported with oil consumption.
Some actions were as simple as reducing the temperature of a varnish oven, which not only reduced energy consumption at our facility in Ozark, Arkansas in the US, but also saved over $24,000 during the year.
Other activities were planned as part of multi-year, facility-wide or country-wide programs. For example, our plant at Ludvika in Sweden – one of our top five energy intensive facilities with more than 2,800 employees on-site – undertook a systematic review of energy consumption during 2013. With cross-functional coordination between real estate, environment and production engineering, they began a step-by-step improvement plan that is continuing into 2015.
Measures taken so far include upgrading lighting systems, repairs and upgrades in the compressed air systems, installation of energy metering, introducing timers on drying ovens and significant training for employees. The program is already showing results and is even exceeding expectations in some projects, such as installation of LED lighting and sensors. With further activities planned for 2015, including installation of heat recovery in the painting area, additional energy metering and further lighting upgrades, we expect to see increasing savings in future.
In other areas, ABB businesses are choosing to implement certified ISO 50001 energy management systems (EnMS) to guide their activities. In 2014, ABB in Spain decided to implement a unified EnMS for six of its manufacturing and service centers, while ABB in Egypt implemented an EnMS at its most energy-intensive site, covering three different business units, which will later be extended to other sites in the country. The program in Egypt not only focuses on energy efficiency but also includes investigation of renewable energy generation and alternatives to fossil fuels in transportation equipment.