Daimler Sustainability Report 2010 - Daimler Sustainability Report ...

share of the energy consumption is not dependent on
production volumes, the specific energy consumption
and thereby also the CO2 emissions per vehicle
increased at all divisions as a result of the steep decline
in production.
Analyses of various projects for the optimization of energy
use have showed us that the energy costs related to
technical infrastructure account for a disproportionate
share of total production-related energy costs. In what is
currently the biggest centrally managed energy savings
project, for example, Mercedes-Benz Cars achieved
considerable energy savings in 2009 by means of the
improved use of waste heat, optimization of air-compressor
and ventilation technologies, and the requirement-based
operation of heating, lighting, and systems,
etc. At the Ludwigsfelde vans plant, ventilation during
production lulls was optimized, yielding savings of 455
megawatt-hours of electricity and 2,000 megawatthours
of district heating. And in the smart assembly
plant in Hambach, France, we saved a total of 6,000
megawatt-hours of heating energy thanks to improved
control of the production halls’ heating and ventilation
systems as well as the air intake and discharge volumes
in the paint shop. At the Detroit Diesel Corporation’s
engine plant in Redford, Michigan, a large-scale program
that involved employees and featured internal “energy
ambassadors” led to 15 percent savings in heating, ventilation,
and air conditioning. At Daimler Trucks North
America’s Mount Holly and Cleveland plants, raising
employee awareness, introducing new measures for
shutting down systems when not in use, and optimizing
air conditioning contributed to reductions in energy use
of up to 70 percent during downtimes and 30 percent
during production periods. One factor here was the use
of large fans that improved air circulation so much that
less energy was needed for cooling in summer and heating
in winter.
CO2 emissions. As a result of savings measures and decreased
production, energy-related CO2 emissions of all
plants in 2009 fell by 15.8 percent to 3.04 million tons
(3.35 million UStons). Emissions of other greenhouse
gases, such as coolants, are negligible. When weighted
for their impact on the climate, these gases account for
less than one one-thousandth of Daimler’s total greenhouse
gas emissions. q A
5.3 Air pollution control. The production of vehicles at
Daimler plants creates several air pollutants, most
notably in the form of solvents (volatile organic carbon
compounds, or VOCs) that are released from the paint
shops. �
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Other pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon
monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and dust, are
emitted into the atmosphere primarily through combustion
processes in furnaces and at engine test rigs. It
Environmental protection,
innovation, and safety
remains the company’s goal to maintain the low level of
emissions achieved in recent years and to reduce emissions
even further wherever this is technically and economically
feasible.
Painting technology for passenger cars has already
reached such a very high standard that only minor additional
reductions in emissions can be achieved. The
introduction of water-based paints in the 1990s reduced
solvent emissions at the passenger car production
plants by about 70 percent. Even bigger reductions are
possible in the painting of commercial vehicles and powertrains,
however, thanks to innovative solutions. The
EvoBus plant in Neu-Ulm, Germany, for example, developed
the world’s first fully automated paint shop with
robots and electrostatic application technology for
painting buses. The project was realized in cooperation
with the manufacturer of the machinery, and the paint
shop was put into operation in 2008. Compared to the
previous manually operated paint shop, the new facility
not only reduces paint use and the amounts of paint
sludge to be disposed of; it has also cut solvent emissions
by 44 percent and energy use by 50 percent. In
addition, Daimler has achieved yet another pioneering
innovation in surface technology in the axle-painting
process at the Gaggenau plant. Here, an entirely new
coating technology with a paint material was developed.
It combines primer and protective coating and hardens
under ultraviolet light in only 90 seconds. The new technology
is very successful: There are no solvent emissions,
no paint sludge to dispose of, and energy consumption
has been reduced by 30 percent. q B
5.4 Waste prevention and recycling. When it comes
to waste management, we believe that prevention and
recycling are better than disposal. The reconditioning
and reuse of raw, process, and operating materials has
thus been standard practice at the our plants for many
years now. Moreover, we use innovative technologies
and eco-friendly production planning processes in order
to avoid the creation of waste from the outset. q C
At the Untertürkheim location, for example, we have
developed a process that extracts machining oil from
the wastewater produced during parts cleaning and
recycles it for immediate re-use. Extracting the recycling
material helps to protect the environment and reduces
costs by about 45 percent compared with the non-recycled
product. The Detroit Diesel Corporation in Redford,
Michigan, reports impressive results regarding its waste
prevention and recycling activities. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has classified the plant there
as a “Small Quantity Generator” because it produces
less than one ton of hazardous waste per month, thanks
to measures that enable targeted waste separation and
the prevention of hazardous wastes. In October 2009
the Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation facility in
Gaffney, South Carolina, marked an important milestone
q A
Details on how CO2 emissions are
calculated:
Online 317
q
B
Information on UV painting:
Online 318
q C
More about the documentation of
waste:
Online 319
q
For further information, please enter
the corresponding number into the
search field at
http://sustainability.daimler.com
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