Toyota Meets EPA's Energy Star Challenge at Eight Facilities, with 24% Drop

Eight Toyota manufacturing sites in North American have reduced their energy intensity by 10 percent or more, meeting the standards of the EPA’s Energy Star Challenge for Industry, the company said.

Collectively, these eight sites have reduced energy intensity by nearly 24 percent from baseline; however, Toyota didn't state the start or end year for these percentages.

Improvement examples include:

• Bodine Aluminum, in Jackson, Tenn., replaced lighting in several plant areas with energy efficient florescent lights and sensors, reducing its energy intensity by 13.8 percent.
• Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Huntsville, Ala., installed Ultra Constant Discharge lighting in the plant’s parking lot, cutting its energy intensity by 24.1 percent.
• Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario, installed new hot water boiler controls allowing proper mixture without numerous adjustments, reducing their energy intensity by 28.5 percent.
• Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Princeton, Ind., improved its paint booth HVAC system by eliminating the use of outside air to cool and heat the paint booth. Current air intake is taken directly from the plant, making temperature consistent and reducing energy intensity by 36 percent.

The other sites recognized by the EPA are: Bodine Aluminum (St. Louis, Mo.); Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (San Antonio); and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia (Buffalo).

The Energy Star Challenge For Industry program is only awarded to individual industrial sites that are Energy Star partners.

Earlier this year, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA) received its eighth consecutive Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award for its energy efficiency improvements. Since 2006, Toyota’s U.S. manufacturing operations have received 18 Energy Star Plant Awards, given to manufacturing plants that demonstrate energy performance within the top 25 percent of their industry, the company said.

At least 30 of GM’s North American facilities have also met Energy Star Challenge goals, avoiding more than 778,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emission and saving GM $50 million in energy costs, the company announced last year.

Toyota Motor Sales in Torrance, Calif. last year installed a 1-MW CLEARgen fuel cell generator to provide peak electrical power and heat at the Toyota sales and marketing headquarters campus, expected to avoiding up to 10,000 tons of CO2.