Bayer has launched a group-wide climate programme to further reduce its CO2 emissions and, as part of this, has introduced a new assessment tool - the Bayer Climat Check - for optimizing production processes.
Climate Check is an ecological assessment of production processes rather than simply an energy or financial assessment process. It includes an evaluation of all raw materials, energy requirements and logistics involved in a process until the finished goods leave the factory gate.
Using this tool, Bayer intends to carry out a systematic analysis of 100 production plants across the world (representing around 85% of the company's CO2 emissions) to identify potential savings by the end of 2009.
Bayer chairman Werner Wenning said: "Now more than ever, it is essential to step up climate protection. We need a turnaround with CO2 emissions and we also need innovative solutions to master the consequences of climate change. Bayer intends to make specific contribution to this."
Reduction measures will extend from improvement of individual pumps and motors, through complex switch arrangements of heat flows to innovative developments such as using new micro-reaction technology.
Micro-reaction technology enables chemical synthesis to take place much more safely in smaller production plants. Such plants can be controlled more effectively and monitored more precisely. This means that yields are higher and the use of resource is minimised. As a result, Bayer hopes this innovative technology will help improve its CO2 balance sheet.
The global manufacturer aims to identify an additional reduction potential of 5-10% in its direct and indirect emissions of green house gases.
The big plants in its MaterialsScience division used for the production of MDI and TDI - raw materials for the production of polyurethane - are the bigger CO2 emitters, explained Dr Klaus Sommer, senior vice-president of Bayer Technology Services. Here, the company aims to decrease specific greenhouse gas emissions per ton of solid product by 25%.
Bayer HealthCare is much less energy intensive but the company still hopes to reduce its CO2 emissions by 5%. Bayer Copscience, meanwhile, will look to decrease emissions by 15%. The tool will also be applied to all new projects and investments.
The Bayer Climate Checkl is being certified by TÃœV Sud, a leading auditor in the field of climate protection. It will also be offered to other companies commercially as a tool for reducing CO2 emissions.
The company is also pioneering the construction of zero emission office buildings. Using new insulation, glazing and solar energy cell technology, the building will be of an innovative design that best suits the local climate in order to reduce energy consumption due to lighting, heating and cooling. The first such building will be built at one of Bayer's sites in India.