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Conserving Energy and Preventing Global Warming
Activities and Results
Coolant System Improvements
To consistently supply coolant and optimize energy consumption, the Yamaguchi plant converted the centralized coolant system in Factory 3 to a high-efficiency, energy-saving inverter control unit in December 2018. As a result, the Yamaguchi plant was able to reduce its energy consumption by about 65,500 kWh/year, or about 15.4 kL of crude oil per year. The facility also decreased its CO2 emissions by approximately 46 tons/year.
Inverters added to Factory 3’s centralized coolant system
Propane Storage Area Improvements
To make better use of propane in the carburization process, improvements were made to the propane storage area at the DALIAN THK plant. They revised the layout of pipes that carry propane to the carburizing furnaces and installed a liquid phase apparatus (vaporizing furnace) to regulate pressure. This has allowed a stable amount of gas to be supplied even in the winter, when the yield was lower, leading to a 1,350 kg/year reduction in propane use and a 4.05 ton/year reduction in CO2 emissions.
Air Conditioner Upgrade
To reduce energy consumption, TMA upgraded the HVAC units in the LM Guide plant to eight Carrier high-efficiency units. The new units are capable of controlling air temperature 52% more efficiently and reduce annual energy consumption by 408,000 kWh and CO2 emissions by 315 tons.
Upgrading to LED Lighting
In order to reduce energy consumption and curb CO2 emissions, the THK Group manufacturing facilities have been switching from fluorescent and mercury lighting to long-lasting, high-efficiency LED lighting.
The Gifu plant converted 316 metal halide lamps in the factory building and test building, reducing annual energy consumption by 674,652 kWh and CO2 emissions by 242 tons.
The Kofu plant converted 234 fluorescent lights in the office building, Factory 2, and Factory 3, reducing annual energy consumption by 24,709 kWh and CO2 emissions by 9.82 tons.
To assure a well-lit production environment, the Wuxi plant converted 878 lights in the factory building and 580 lights in areas such as the assembly room, reducing annual energy consumption by 977,521 kWh and CO2 emissions by 791 tons.
Reducing Our CO2 from Transportation
Our CO2 emissions from transporting products and components rose from 4,665 tons of CO2 last year to 5,385 tons, an increase of 720 tons (about 15%). Because of our increased production and higher ratio of trucks used for transit, our energy consumption (ratio of energy use to freight transport in ton-kilometers) increased by about 1.7%, from 59.3 last year to 60.3.
- * The data collection period was from April to March for the 2014 to 2017 fiscal years and from January to December for the 2018 fiscal year.
More Efficient Container Transport
As part of its efforts to reduce its impact on the environment, THK China has worked to consolidate shipping trucks and improve shipping efficiency. The products sent by ship every week from Japan for customers in China are unloaded from the boat and loaded onto trucks at the Port of Dalian. Previously, the contents of unloaded containers would be transferred to trucks used for ground transportation and sent to the distribution center. As of June 2018, the entire container itself is now loaded onto the bed of a truck and transported to the distribution center. As a result of this improvement, they were able to reduce the average number of trucks used per month from 15.2 to 4.9, lowering annual CO2 emissions by around 32%. They will continue to promote activities aimed at greater transportation efficiency.
