nitiatives at the manufacturing stage
As part of its efforts to improve energy efficiency, Kao is promoting steady energy conservation efforts, while also actively promoting the introduction of Best Available Technology (BAT).
Initiatives in 2013 included, at our Wakayama Plant, an effort to reduce steam levels through the installation of the hot-water producing heat pump already actively being adopted by other plants. Additionally, at the Sakata Plant, work was done to reduce power consumption by installing an absorption chiller that utilizes excess waste steam.
In 2013 as a whole, there were 161 instances of such energy conservation activities that also led to cost reductions, resulting in an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 3,700 tons, and about 140 million yen in yearly cost reductions.
One way Kao is working to utilize energy that produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions is in its proactive promotion of the use of natural gas (city gas). In 2012, Kao USA switched from using coal-fired boilers to natural gas boilers, significantly reducing its CO2 emissions. At PT. Kao Indonesia Chemicals’ new plant, which came on line in 2013, they use compressed natural gas (CNG) purchased in tanks, instead of natural gas, whose infrastructure is not yet in place.