Global materials manufactdurer Fujifilm today announced that its primary U.S. manufacturing complex, located in Greenwood, S.C., will begin using methane gas from a local community landfill to power approximately 40 percent of the facility's operations.
Methane gas will be extracted from the landfill and piped into the Fujifilm complex, where it will then be used in two of the facility's four boilers. The facility will use approximately 197 billion BTUs of methane-generated energy from the landfill per year -- equivalent to the energy used to heat 5,000 homes.
By using the methane as energy the facility is preventing methane emissions, which are more than twenty times more damaging to the ozone than carbon dioxide, from being released into the atmosphere from the landfill. The amount of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions avoided by this Fujifilm effort would be similar to that generated by 208,000 barrels of oil each year, or the equivalent of the emissions from more than 17,000 vehicles each year.
Globally, Fujifilm has announced a range of measures related to sustainability such as designing products that take the environment into account, reducing packaging materials and greenhouse gas emissions, committing itself to habitat and species preservation and the active pursuit of new fuel sources.
By 2010, Fujifilm intends to reduce global energy consumption at its large manufacturing facilities by 10% from its 1999 numbers, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% from its 1990 numbers.
For more information, visit http://www.fujifilm.com/
Interested in information related to sustainable manufacturing best practices? Bookmark our Making Green page, and check back daily for updated content.
