ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AT OUR PRODUCTION SITES

Responsibility for environmental protection at LEDVANCE lies clearly with company management and is supervised by the EHS department which handles company-wide coordination and continued development. At individual plants, managers and their department heads are responsible for practical implementation. The plants receive support and advice from our environmental experts on energy, water, waste, chemicals and air pollution.

Environmentally sound production techniques in LEDVANCE factories help us achieve our objectives for environmental protection and cut production costs at the same time. To this end, we have implemented environmental management systems at our production sites, which are certified according to the international standard ISO 14001.

In order to give an insight into how our objectives for environmental protection are implemented into the LEDVANCE production process, we have collected a number of examples, showing how individual sites are striving to lower their environmental impact.

Objective

 

The consumption of energy and water has to be reduced at LEDVANCE's Molsheim site in France.

Solution

 

We have reduced the consumption of gas by 23% over five years by replacing the burners on our high-performance production lines.

Moreover we have reduced the volume of water used for cooling systems by 69% by adopting a new technology (adiabatic cooling tower). And this has also allowed us to reduce the risk of releasing legionella bacteria into the environment and avoid the use of dangerous chemical products.

Consumption at the plant has been reduced by optimising the use of energy and water and by investing in new and more efficient technologies.
Objective

The reduction of hazardous substances in production is of great importance for LEDVANCE. For this reason, the LEDVANCE SYLVANIA plant in Versailles, Kentucky, strove for a solution to eliminate lead in all linear fluorescent lamps manufactured at the site. Furthermore the plant initiated processes to reduce energy consumption and the associated CO2 emissions.

Solution

 

In 2010, the glass plant in Versailles underwent a major furnace-rebuilding project, designed to completely eliminate lead from the glass used to manufacture linear fluorescent lamps. Using the new oxy-fuel glass melting technology, the site further managed to cut energy as well as resource consumption and save on NOx emissions. The natural gas usage could be reduced by 28 percent and NOx emissions by 80 percent. Above that the technology improves furnace performance and therefore saves about US$ 3 000 000 annually in energy costs.
To achieve energy reduction goals the Versailles plant was subjected to lighting upgrades. By installing lower-wattage lamps, more efficient systems, and lighting control technologies, the site managed to reduce energy consumption by 1 500 000 kWh annually while upholding the same lighting standards, avoiding 1400 tons of CO2 emissions from power plants.

INTERNAL MONITORING AND ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSES

We regularly monitor our environmental management and conduct audits to test the progress made in environmental protection and ensure that it complies with the EHS guidelines. This monitoring and analysis is carried out by our EHS department. LEDVANCE uses these results to ensure that all relevant legal and other requirements are respected and to explore innovative ways of improving environmental protection at LEDVANCE. For environmental reporting we have globally implemented a web-based EHS software suite. Each LEDVANCE site exceeding a defined threshold in energy consumption, emissions or waste production is required to quarterly report its environmental figures.