Happy Sustainability Day! You may not realize that the last Wednesday of every October is dedicated to reminding us of the importance of caring for our planet. Maybe you rode your bike to work today, replaced a burned-out lightbulb with an efficient LED bulb or made sure to turn off the water while brushing your teeth. (You won’t believe how much water this simple act will save. My fifth-grade teacher imparted this wisdom to me many, many, many years ago.)
We do our best to live our values here at Promega and we like to think that every day is one to prioritize and practice sustainable living. Like so many others, we are certainly learning along the way, and have a long way to go. But we were excited to announce this summer that Promega now draws over 20% of our global electricity from renewable sources. Investments in solar arrays have led to a ten-fold increase in renewable energy usage in the last three years.
Reducing Electricity Usage
Minimizing electricity usage at all our branches, distribution and manufacturing locations around the world is a priority since Promega has a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50% as indexed to revenue by 2030. Electricity makes up nearly half of Promega emissions, so we are doing what we can to lessen this impact.
Our three largest solar arrays, all located on the main Madison, Wisconsin campus, generate over 2 million kWh annually. We also partnered last year with Madison Gas & Electric’s O’Brien Solar Fields project to supply Promega with renewable energy to power more than 10% of its annual electrical consumption. Additional Promega facilities around the world generate or purchase renewable energy, including branch offices in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Even with two significant new facilities coming online in the past year in Madison, and including the energy used by employees working remotely, we’ve reduced our electricity usage by 23% since 2019, as indexed to revenue. Recent investments to maximize energy efficiency include a central utility plant that reduces energy needed for chilled water and retrofits for LED lighting on our corporate campus.
We’re a company with a 100-year vision. Sustainable growth is our priority every day and we continually look for opportunities to integrate into our facilities and operations the environmental best practices from around the world that will better position us for the future.
Celebrate Sustainability Day
Smaller, everyday actions toward sustainability are just as important as long-term goals. Here are a few simple ways to celebrate Sustainability Day and be more sustainable in your daily life:
- Compost
- Take shorter showers
- Donate items you no longer need
- RECYCLE!
- Unplug devices you aren’t using
- Turn off your lights in vacant rooms
- Use reusable shopping bags
- Opt-out to junk mail
- Use a reusable water bottle
- Go paperless
Curious to know more? Explore our Corporate Responsibility website or check out our 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report which documents how we align sustainable practices with positive social, environmental and business outcomes. And we’d love to hear your feedback. Please share your own successes and challenges so we can all learn together how to better live and work sustainably.
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