Coca-Cola receives Environmental Stewardship Award

The award was presented by Orion’s executive vice president, Michael Potts, to Coca-Cola Enterprises’ executives during a ceremony at its Downey, California, production facility.

CCE has almost completed a major lighting retrofit project to reduce energy consumption in its California facilities. According to the company, the project will decrease CCE’s energy consumption for lighting by 5.6 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) a year, with the potential to decrease 113 million kWh over the 20-year life of the new system. This is enough electricity to power 537 homes annually.

The project involves replacing more than 4,000 high-intensity discharge and fluorescent lights with Orion’s Compact Modular, high-intensity fluorescent system at 24 Coca-Cola Enterprises facilities throughout California.

CCE has also installed solar panels on the roof of its Los Angeles facility, has committed to making all sales and marketing equipment on average 20% more energy efficient by 2010, and has 10 hybrid electric trucks delivering products to customers throughout Los Angeles. In all, CCE has 142 hybrid electric delivery trucks, giving it the largest fleet of heavy duty hybrid delivery trucks in North America.

“At Coca-Cola Enterprises, corporate responsibility and sustainability is where the world touches our business and where our business touches the world,” said Terry Fitch, general manager and vice president of Coca-Cola Enterprises’ West Business Unit. “We’re doing everything we can to help reduce our carbon footprint in California and across the country, because we believe that responsible and sustainable business practices like this will not only help us manage through these complex times, but will also ensure the long-term growth of our company, sustainable development in our communities, and protection of the environment.”

As a result of the 5.6 million kWh annual reduction generated from the lighting retrofit, Coca-Cola Enterprises will help to divert 3,715 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Also, Coca-Cola Enterprises will reduce the amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) released by 15 tonnes a year and the amount of nitrogen oxides (NOX) by five tonnes a year. The power use reduction is the air-scrubbing equivalent of planting a 1,038-acre forest, or the energy equivalent of saving 466,962 gallons of gasoline each year.

Orion has deployed its energy management systems in 4,068 facilities across North America, including 108 of the Fortune 500 companies. Since 2001, Orion technology has displaced more than 386 megawatts, saving customers more than $455m and reducing indirect carbon dioxide emissions by four million tonnes.