Environmental Achievements Volvo Trucks North America New River Valley Plant Dublin, VA

Transcription

1 Environmental Achievements Volvo Trucks North America New River Valley Plant Dublin, VA Overview The New River Valley (NRV) Plant, located in Dublin, Va., manufactures and assembles Volvo brand trucks. The facility was first certified to the ISO standard in November 2000 and recertified in Since 2000, the NRV plant has made substantial progress toward its goals of minimizing the impacts of its operations on the environment and the community, through efforts to: Ensure compliance with environmental regulatory requirements Enhance its emergency management program Develop and implement waste reduction programs (reuse, reduce and recycle) Reduce consumption of natural resources specifically energy and water consumption Energy Reduction and Air Emissions NRV recognizes that its energy use contributes to the production of greenhouse gases and ultimately to climate change. As a result, the operation has set a goal of establishing contracts in 2010 that would lead to the plant being carbon-neutral. Since 2002, the facility has aggressively pursued a range of energy reduction strategies, including conserving energy, substituting less-polluting fuels, planting thousands of pine trees, and adopting new energy technology especially renewable energy systems, including a 10KW wind turbine used to power signage facing I-81. 1

2 The 10KW wind turbine, installed in the summer of 2007, was operational by the fall of In 2008 and 2009, the plant realized its greatest reductions in energy use as compared to 2003, a year of comparable shift operations and truck production. By 2008, the reductions were largely attributed to reductions in natural gas use, due to the benefits achieved using a building automation system. In 2009, employees participated in a competition to provide ideas for quick solutions to energy savings. Ideas from this competition and the NRV Energy Committee included reduced use of lighting throughout the plant and administrative areas, changes in lighting systems, the installation of a solar thermal boiler unit to replace a natural gas unit, improved compressed air systems, changes in space heating to natural gas infrared systems and a solar wall pilot project. Since the baseline year of 2003, energy use has been reduced by approximately 38% as of Change in Energy Baseline 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% % Percent Change per SF -20.0% -30.0% -40.0% -50.0% Results as Compared to 2003, With 2007 & 2008 Having Comparable Production to

3 As of early 2010, plant personnel are pursuing the following projects to complete the planning phase for a carbon-neutral plant: Negotiating terms for purchase of wind energy produced in the state Evaluating the benefits of purchasing landfill gas, a biogenic fuel, to replace natural gas Examining the benefits of installing two 2MW wind turbines on the NRV plant property Evaluating proposals to install a biomass plant onsite to replace existing natural gas boilers Water Use Recognizing that water is a valuable resource, the NRV Plant strives to reduce water consumption throughout the facility with the goal of recycling 100% of all process wastewater generated at the facility. For example, with the installation of a wastewater treatment system, water used in the truck painting process can be 80% reused in the paint shop s electrocoat process. As a result of these and other changes, water use since 2003 has been reduced by approximately 35.5 million gallons per year or a 57% reduction in overall water use. 10. Plantwide Total Water Use Base Dec-04 Dec-05 Dec-06 Dec-07 Dec-08 Dec-09 x 10 Million gals O r Percent Reduction Water Purchased - 10 Million gals Overall Percent Reduction By Year 3

4 NRV Plant Process Wastewater Recycling and Reuse System 2 (more) 4

5 Waste Management The NRV plant currently has programs to ensure that the following materials are recycled or used for waste-to-energy programs: paper, cardboard, wood, plastic, steel, small appliances, batteries, light bulbs, paint sludge and waste paint solvent. As a result of the plant s aggressive recycling programs, the amount of waste disposed of in landfills has significantly decreased. For example, in 2002, the amount of waste avoiding landfill or recycled was 39%, and as of 2008 and 2009, the plant waste recycled was 83.6 and 81.7%, respectively. As of April 2010, the plant has identified a local compost facility for receiving food waste from the cafeteria. This compost facility is one of two facilities licensed and permitted to operate in the state of Virginia. Percent Recycled of Total Waste Generated (Recycled + Landfilled Amount) Percent Waste Recycling Public Recognition for NRV Plant s Environmental Efforts Became one of 32 charter members of the DOE s Save Energy Now program (2009) Member of EPA s Climate Leaders since 2005 Designated as an Exemplary Environmental Enterprise (E4) by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VaDEQ) Recipient of the 2006 Volvo Group Environmental Award 2005 Virginia Governor s Environmental Excellence Award Gold Level 2008 Virginia Governor s Environmental Excellence Award Gold Level and Flag ( Videos Patrick Collignon, NRV plant manager, discusses his environmental goals for the facility Features the Volvo Group s first carbon-neutral manufacturing plant in Ghent, Belgium Updated April