Automobile manufacturer Ford has lauded the success of its energy efficiency drive after it hit a key energy efficiency target a year earlier than planned.
Ford has manufacturing facilities across the globe and has set established a number of initiatives to cut its energy and water use and emissions as part of a wider overhaul of its sustainability.
These drives, Ford’s 2015/16 sustainability report shows, have resulted in its first decrease in overall energy consumption.
Total consumption amounted to 14.6 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in the 2015/16 financial year (7.5 billion kWh of which was directly consumed by Ford), down just over 2% on the 14.94 billion kWh consumed in 2014/15.
This equated to around 2,244kWh of electricity per vehicle produced, which meant that the company had met its target of reducing energy use per vehicle produced by 30% according to a 2010 baseline.
Hitting the target in 2015 meant that Ford achieved its aim a year earlier than planned, and the company also remains on track to reduce its global CO2 emissions by 30% by 2025. Emissions fell 27% between 2010 and 2015.
While the company provided little insight into the precise technologies that had contributed towards its progress, it did note that a “significant” investment in LEDs and lighting controls had been successful.
“Setting goals and working toward stretch targets is our way of embracing the sustainability opportunities and challenges we face as a company and a society,” said Kim Pittel, vice president, sustainability, environment and safety engineering at Ford.