Armstrong Fluid Technology is celebrating the second year of its sustainability initiative — Planet Proposition. According to the company, the initiative has been highly successful with significant energy savings achieved via its HVAC solutions.
The Planet Proposition sustainability initiative kicked off in 2013, with leadership teams at Armstrong sites in the USA, Canada, China, India, and the UK signing on to the charter. It has three strands: Our Solutions (energy efficient systems which help customers reduce energy consumption, save money, and lower carbon emissions); Our Environment (improved environmental performance in company operations); and Our Community (educating and supporting Armstrong stakeholders and neighbors to make environmentally responsible choices at work and at home).
Our Solutions. Since the introduction of the Energy Savings Dashboard, Armstrong says its Design Envelope HVAC solutions have saved customers more than 630 million kWh of energy, representing a carbon saving of more than 212,000 tons of CO2, and a cost saving of more than $60 million. This year the company has seen a particular commitment to drive down energy consumption in data centers and district energy schemes. Keys to the success of Armstrong solutions include demand-based control (matching energy usage automatically to varying requirements for heating and cooling throughout the day), off-site manufacture, and advanced system integration.
Our Environment. As part of Planet Proposition, Armstrong sites in the USA, Canada, China, and the UK are committed to reducing their own monthly electricity, gas, and water consumption. A program of energy monitoring has been in operation in all plants since 2014. This consists of data loggers on gas, electricity, and water meters feeding through Armstrong’s Eco-Pulse platform into a central display that shows current and historical consumption. This enables sites to trend patterns of use and to identify and address anomalies as they occur. The company found one particular success story in a 40% reduction in water consumption at Armstrong’s facility in Halesowen, West Midlands, UK, made possible by recycling the water used in the testing of packaged plant rooms.
Armstrong says it has also made solid progress towards the companies targets for waste minimization and recycling. The amount of waste sent to landfill is monitored on a monthly basis, as well as the amount recycled or used to produce energy. Improvements have led to significantly increased amounts of recycling in many of Armstrong’s facilities and the Halesowen site has achieved zero waste to landfill in the last year.
Our Community. A wide range of community projects have been organized throughout Planet Proposition’s second year, encompassing fundraising for local causes, employee health and well-being initiatives, links with education and local training outreach programs, student placements, an employee sustainable travel initiative, tree planting initiative, and the organization of green awareness days.
“This year’s achievements, across all three strands of our Planet Proposition, have been really impressive, particularly when you consider the pressures that the economic climate places on both companies and individuals,” said Steve Cooper, Armstrong Fluid Technology’s director of sustainable design. “Improving environmental performance has taken on greater importance for us over the last two years, and has become our new way of approaching business on an everyday basis.”
