The Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Roanoke plant has reduced its carbon emissions by 12 percent since 2004, completing a challenge by the Coca-Cola Company and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The Energy Challenge was launched in January, 2011 as an effort to improve plant performance at Coca-Cola’s 850 plants worldwide. It became part of the larger the corporation’s larger carbon reduction strategy, the bottling company said.
The steps include regular surveying to find and repair compressed air and steam leaks, surveying to find and repair hot and cold pipe insulation (including valves) and reducing compressed air pressure to the minimum acceptable level. These and the other steps, if implemented across all of Coca-Cola’s bottling plants, would enable the company to meet as much as 70 percent of its carbon reduction goals.
Gains beyond a single company – as great as those can be – are possible. “The New Climate Economy,” a study by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, found that steps such as low emission buses, roof-mounted solar power, super-efficient buildings and progressive urban planning could save $16.6 trillion of net savings by 2050.That savings would be based on an initial investment of $977 billion in low-emission transport, building efficiency and waste management, according to a report on the study at businessGreen. The study was conducted at Leeds University in England.